Do you love flowers? Have you ever wondered how you could get a job working in the floral industry? Or in the flower in wondering what other options, you have to grow your career or try something new? There are many jobs involved in the journey of a flower from where it is planted to the bouquet where it ends up.
The following summary is a very brief overall example of what roles in the flower industry are available for potential career paths. We kept it very broad as there are so many different roles and task in every position involved with a flowers life span within the floral industry.
Let’s take a look at three major roles in a flower’s “journey”.
Distribution Sector
This sector is usually centered on large flower farms and their distributors. The future of their business depends on selling the flowers they grow, so they need to keep their flowers in the public eye. They’ll need photographers to take pictures of the flowers for marketing materials. They’ll need lead floral designers to arrange the flowers into eye-catching arrangements and assist in designing promotional materials to send to wholesale dealers, florist and more. An experienced business or marketing manager will be essential for supervising these roles. The farm or distributor should also find an agricultural consultant, be assure the flowers are growing at optimal levels. Once their sales are made, they will need farm employees to pack the flowers into trucks and drivers to take the flowers to the warehouse. These are some small examples of roles in the distribution of flower. The flower industry has many moving pieces and new roles are being developed every year.
Wholesale Sector
The wholesale flower buyers are a bridge between distributors and the flower shops. The manager of the wholesale company gets orders from local florists and compares those orders to the flowers they have in their warehouse. If they don’t have the right flowers available, it’s their job to know where that type of flower can be found. Wholesale buyers are also responsible for keeping an eye on trends and new flower varieties. The buyer’s role is very dynamic and essential to the success of a wholesaler.
Inside the warehouse, a puller will look at the order and pull those flowers need for the other. They will put them in a bin and send them to the packing department or pack them themselves. If there is more than one type of flower in a florist’s order. They will also help pull inventory from the dry goods sections, carry items for customers, unload trucks, pack trucks and few other tasks. No matter the position in a flower wholesaler you must always be willing to do what ever it takes for the team to win and work together. Knowing how to do many different duties is essential to the employee success.
A packer is responsible for carefully wrapping the flowers and getting them ready for cold transport. Cold temperatures are essential for keeping the flowers beautiful. Once they are packed, the packer places them in the shipping area—or directly on the truck. After they are in the truck, the driver has the responsibility to take the flowers to the florist (or to whoever ordered them).
Meanwhile, in the office of the wholesale company, a sales manager may be calling their regular customers or out visiting those regular customers. A social media manager may be looking at any inquiries that come into the business’s website or writing a promotion for the upcoming holiday sale. The social media manager works together with the marketing director to be sure they are both working with the same strategy to win new customers.
Florist Sector
The salespeople in a flower shop will stand at the cash register and take orders from the customers, then gather the flowers and wrap them for the customers. The florist design the arrangements and order the flowers. There will be floral assistants, who will care for the flowers in the shop or bring the supplies (like ribbon or scissors) to the floral designers. A large floral shop will have a customer service manager. They will answer the phone (or talk to customers who come into the shop) and take orders for future arrangements (for weddings, or funerals, or for upcoming holidays). A floral shop will need an accountant or business manager to handle finances. Some shops will have drivers or delivery people to take flowers to customers’ homes, or to hospitals or nursing homes. A large shop might also have a social media manager to keep their shop’s services and upcoming promotions or events in the public eye. An event manager would be needed if the florist participated in a large event.
As you can see, there are many jobs and moving parts in the floral industry, which they all play a part in the beautiful blooms enjoyed by the people fortunate enough to receive them. We tried to cover all the career possibilities and task included but soon found out there are truly to many to list for both categories. If you would like to learn more on how you can grow or start a career in the flower industry make sure to reach out to us.
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