“How’s it going?”

We ask this question pretty much every time we’re on the phone with an SAF member. Anecdotally, it gives us a sense of how the industry is doing.  But toward the end of last year, we wanted to get more of a “statistically accurate” sense for how our members are doing in this recession.

So we sent an “economic outlook” survey late in January to SAF members. We asked about how business was going, what the prospects were for things improving, whether you were adjusting your staff levels. The results were interesting – and you can see them in the Spring issue of SAF’s Floral Trend Tracker.

But things got really interesting when we sent surveyed the industry with the very same questions four months later, at the end of May.

SAF’s director of research and information, Ira Silvergleit – better known as “the research guy” to the dozens and dozens of SAF members who call on him regularly for statistics and other info – analyzed the changes in the survey results from January to May, and he just wrapped up his second in a three-part series that analyzes those changes in yesterday’s issue of E-Brief.

You can read Ira’s story to get the full picture, but the gist of it is that wholesalers and retailers are feeling  significantly more positive about the prospects for business improving than they did four months ago. Part three of Ira’s series – focusing on growers, and how their perceptions of the economy have changed since January – will run in next week’s E-Brief. (Sneak preview: It looks like the industry’s growers are also seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.)

While we don’t pretend to think that this recession is over, it’s good to be able to be the bearer of “good news.” You can keep the good news coming, by telling us how you’re taking advantage of what might be the beginnings of a very gradual turnaround, so we can share those ideas with the industry. Or, if you can’t relate to these results, let us know that as well.

p.s. If you’ve never taken advantage of Ira Silvergleit's knowledge and his ability to pull just about any statistic on the floral industry that you need, well, you’re missing out on one of the many free benefits of being an SAF member.

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