Prom Trends 2023: Interview with Sarah Botchick from Pioneer Imports and Wholesale

Episode 165: Vonda and Lori talk color with Sarah Botchick, general, marketing and purchasing manager of Pioneer Imports and Wholesale.  Sarah shares her thoughts on the Pantone color of the year, her experience with changes in purchasing  these past few years and that to expect for Prom this year.   

View the trend report: https://www.pioneerwholesaleco.com/prom-trends-2023

Order early, beat the prom rush! $25 off an order of $350+ placed by 3/15/23. Valid only on orders placed online at www.pioneerwholesaleco.com. Mention code: PD23

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Time and again, the girls would take it and these florists would come to me and they would say, Thank you so much for getting me to try that. I didn't think I could this would work in my area and it actually did.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Welcome to the business and pleasure of flowers.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

We're your hosts, Fondola Fever and Lori Wilson, and we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Hey Lori. What? We have one of my favorite guests on today.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

I know. I got really excited. Here's before you say her name, here's one of the things that I love about having this guest. She's always prepared. Like she sent us, you know, the whole thing on trends and all of this stuff. And I'm like, gosh, she makes it so easy. So it was kind of a walk-on for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

She is always very prepared, but that's how she does life. She prepares. You know, she puts she's putting out fires all the time, but she's always preparing, and then she's ready to put out a fire. That's what I would say about Sarah Botchik, who is from Pioneer Imports and Wholesale. So, Sarah, thank you for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Thank you guys. Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I do over-prepare.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

You know what? I that is a gift. I wish I was a preparer. I am I'm really not. Vonda and I both we anyway, that's a whole nother story. But I'm like, we're we prepare, but not as much, like not as far ahead as Sarah, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Well, it's probably different when you're the guest or versus the host, too, because then when you're the guest, you're a little more nervous. Nope, no need to be nervous. Well, thanks, guys. You guys make it easy.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

So well, I am very excited for this topic, even though I do not have high schoolers anymore and I'm not teaching in a high school anymore. I still get excited when I think about what season's coming up.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Okay, but before we get into that season coming up, okay. Can I bring up something else first, Lori? Or is that gonna throw you off? Nope. I I need another tab opened in my brain. Well, I know when we were talking in December, when we were going to try to to record this, Sarah, we talked about the announcement of the Pantone Color of the Year. And if I remember correctly, you were really excited about this color.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

I think it's great for the floral industry because it's actually a natural flower color. Um and it makes really pretty flowers. You know, when they came out with uh gray and yellow a few years ago, yeah, we did our best with yellow, but I mean, gray was a little bit of a stretch for all of us. True, very true. So Viva Magenza is just it's phenomenal for the floral industry. And you know, we're talking here prom and weddings, it's got such life to it, which is of course what Pantone was talking about. But coming out of the pandemic, you know, we are all we're ready to be happy again. Like we're determined to be happy again. We're gonna be happy if it kills us. Right, right. And so the the the introduction of this, you know, super bright, happy, lifeful color is just is just awesome.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

So does that make it easier for product development for you then, since it's more of a natural color?

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Yes, to a point, yeah. And plus we already had, I mean, we already had a lot of colors that could fall into that category. Maybe they're not that exact tone, um, but we already had a lot of, you know, really vibrant dark pinks is what I'm gonna call it for lack of a better explanation. So we already had a lot that we could offer, you know, it's it's really it's very hard in the product development of especially hard goods, um, because we predict, you know, eight, ten, twelve months in advance. Right. So PanSone coming out with this in in November or December doesn't really, you know, help us. We pretty much look at it and go, well, did our forecasting predict correct? And um I did see some things heading towards Viva Magento. Some years I'm right on with Pantone, some years I'm not, honest. Yeah. Just how it is. I will say that I was a little bit surprised. Um, I can't say we have the most huge collection of Viva Magento products, but we have a lot that can fit into that niche. And I I see it, you know, especially with prom coming up on a lot of the dresses and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

So well, that's exciting. So, like this Pandone color was released, and then how long does that take to really get into the industry or to where the public kind of embraces that and says, Oh, let's try that.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Well, you know, it's funny because I've been watching all of our January orders very closely, and one of the top colors we're seeing in what our customers are ordering is lavender, which is remarkably close to view uh what was it, very parry last year. So I I think it does take a little bit of time. Now, granted, we're in the middle of the country, and you know, you know, the coasts are always the early embracers, but I I do think it does take time for it to trickle in. But the Viva Magento, like this year I had to buy a new winter coat. I couldn't believe how many hot pink winter coats there were. You know, for how many years would you go to the store to buy a winter coat and every coat was black? Well, this year so many of them were hot pink, and I actually I didn't buy a hot pink because I was like, I I don't know how long this is gonna last, and I keep it for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

You would have I was hot pink before the color of the year came out.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

You were for sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

You were at SAF there, you know, that night of the gala, mine was fuchsia pink, and everyone just assumed I was keeping up with the trends. I was like, oh no, I've had this dress for a while.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Well, and it's interesting because the magenta kind of goes with the barbie core concept. Yes, no, yeah, so it it's not necessarily the only color in Barbie core, but you know, it's very complementary to it.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

So yeah. One thing you just mentioned that I thought maybe we'd gone away from a little bit, and that is that the trends are starting more at the coast and coming inward. It seems like we've seen a little bit of a difference in that with the internet, right? With social media. It seems like it doesn't take that two years. It didn't it used to be about two years to get there, and now it's like seems like quick.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

It is, it is, and and also seeing some of the European trends, sometimes you can see some of those come over to the states, um, things like that. So yeah, definitely Pinterest, um, and some of these things that we all maybe don't always love, but they help us to see what's trendy everywhere instead of just what's in our stores. But I notice even in Cleveland, I don't know if you know Lori will be able to relate to this, but Cleveland is divided by the Cuyahoga River, and east and west side of Cleveland, the trends are different. Yes. So, like, we'll go over to the east side to go shopping, and it's like totally, totally different clothes than what's on the west side. Really? East side is is trendier, and the west side is a little more conservative.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Interesting, just kind of the river divides, huh?

SPEAKER_00 7:28

My mom and I were were over, we were in the shoe department at one of the major department stores, and she's like, What is with these shoes? And I'm like, Mom, you're on the east side. It's just trendier, you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

God, that's so I love the east side represent. I love them. Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Lori was east side, I think. So that's someday when I grow up, I can move to the east side.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah. Yeah, you visited over there. I remember once a while back and ate a restaurant and toured my little my little town when I lived there.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Oh, that's great. So, one thing that's changed, I think, in product development overall is we are we're not traveling to China or across the pond, as I sometimes call it, as much. Um, how are you doing product development now? How does that what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 8:15

So we're doing the best we can. Um, I would venture to say that probably some of the larger importers and they're probably they may have, you know, been braving um the adventure of going over to China. It was possible. There was some pretty extensive quarantine measures. Um and so you would have to be incredibly healthy and incredibly dedicated to do that. So I'm sure that some of the larger importers did that. We did not, we have not traveled over to China since um the spring of 2019. Um so we've been doing everything remotely, um, you know, samples flying back and forth and more emails than we can count, and pictures galore, and and so we're doing the best we can. It's like everything else during the pandemic. Is it ideal? No. Is it working? Yes. Or does it take just a little bit longer then to it takes longer, and I also feel like I'm I feel like I, you know, I told my dad the other day I can't do my job as well as I used to. Because when you're there and you're in these factories and showrooms and everything, and you you just get so much energy off of what you see, and you get the um, you know, you see this product and you like it, but yeah, there's something not quite right. But then you you go five feet away and you look at another color and you're like, oh, if I had this, then it would could go on that and it would work. Yeah. And you don't have that. I mean, we're in some ways, I feel like we're doing a better job because we're we're on site doing our work. So we can have access to all of our our all of our data, all of our sales history. What we had last year is sitting on the wall staring at us. And so from that aspect, we can do possibly business-wise a little better job. But from a creative standpoint, I I am very much missing going over there. I'm not sure when we'll be back, but I I hope it's soon.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

That's what I was gonna ask. That was my next question. When do you think that might happen?

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Well, the the day they announced on the news that um that that China had opened the borders and there was no quarantine. Um, my dad like excitedly came in and said something, and my mom looked at him and said, No. Because both of us, you know, both of us have some immune immune things that we need to be careful of. So um, but I do I do hope it's coming coming soon. I I can't say when. I'm watching the numbers. You know, China, China had some pretty, pretty rough times when they opened their borders and everything and the zero COVID gone and all that. So I'm not gonna be the first guinea pig in the door.

unknown 10:48

No.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Like our business has survived, it's not as as perfect as I was like it.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

But well, and I think sometimes that's you and not necessarily what we're seeing from the outside looking in. I think that's true with any of our businesses, is when we're looking at it ourselves, we're like, oh man, I could do so much better if I was on site and I could see and do this. And a lot of your customers probably customers don't know that. Right. Now that's the mirror for sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

And in some interesting ways, it's made us be more creative because we we have to look at what we've got in the building and be like, okay, what can we do with this? So it has exercised a different part of the creative brain.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

So well, I mean, the same goes for all of the flower shops right now, right? Because when there was a shortage or they weren't sure what they were getting in, they were gonna they just had to be creative, you know. It's maybe it's not gonna look exactly like this, but we can add this instead, right?

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Right different, different part of the creative brain, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. We all need to be more resourceful, yeah, yes, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

So next big holiday for the florist is prom, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Yeah, yeah. Love it. Do you do you love it or hey? I love it because it's always happy. Oh, yes. For us, I mean, yes, it's hard because we have two months where we're so much busier than the other 10 months of the year. Um so it's hard to have staffing right and getting temp workers and still get the orders out in a timely fashion. But I I think it's it's a such a phenomenal thing for the florists because it helps them to build their bonds with their future customers. And you know, years ago, um, I I had the opportunity to get some very intensive training from Dan Fisher of Fitz Design. Yeah, and he taught me so much about prom and some people would would would balk at it, but I found it fascinating. And so therefore I I truly love prom.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

I took that training with Dan Fisher as well, and he truly was passionate about it for sure, and he knew that prom business very well, and what he instilled in all of us, right, is that we maybe don't love as a retailer working with that prom customer or the prom girl's mom family. Yeah, but that truly is your next bride. Those are your next weddings, those are your next, you know, from the wedding to the birth of the child to graduation, I mean, all the way through. That's your potential customer, and you have that time to win them over during prom. So make it a happy occasion, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:42

It's such a valuable connection for building your shop because it's it's it is the next generation. It it gets them, it gets them off of their computer, which I mean I'm as techy as they come, like I buy everything online, but it gets them off of the computer and interacting with you, and it's just it's such a great tool for the shops. Now, granted, I'm not a florist, so I'm sure like with everything in life, there's challenges, I'm sorry, opportunities that I have it, I haven't experienced, and there's you know florists listening going, she doesn't have a clue. And you're right, I I probably don't have a clue in certain ways, but I I do see tremendous potential for the florists there.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

I think one thing that you're pointing out is it's all about the mindset because we have shops who really love prom or love working with the girls. Sometimes I mean it's not perfect. I mean, we know that, but Lori and I've heard the stories, you know. But if you are prepared, you walk that girl through the process. Many times these young men and women have never been in a flower shop before. And you really have to embrace that opportunity and just say, hey, you know, what can we do to help them um through this process and make it a positive thing so that they do want to come back? Like you're saying, connect with them so they want to come back.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

And I'll say, so many of the florists that I speak with, the biggest thing is, well, you know, you can't make as much money on the prom massages because they're not a high value item. But I time and again saw customers when they would listen to the prom suggestions of offering, you know, different price points and including a higher price point, time and again, the girls would take it, and these florists would come to me and they would say, Thank you so much for getting me to try that. I didn't think I could this would work in my area, and it actually did. So being able to help the florists to see that they can, you know, push the envelope a little more than they think they can.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

They shouldn't be afraid to charge for a custom crossage or boutonier. It's there's and and I think again, like Vonda said, it's it's a mindset. The the shops I know that love this whole prom season, and they uh are not afraid to price higher, they are also they control the amount of choices that the girl or mom gets, right? But the girl doesn't necessarily know that's being controlled, right? So it's it's it's all in how you um create this. I don't know if people do prom bars anymore. What that used to be a thing, and then COVID, nobody's doing it.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

The one that kind of sticks in my mind was somewhat of a prom bar. And just think as you're setting that up, these young people are used to going to Starbucks or coffee shops and having for you with all the choices, and and a cup of coffee is expensive, you know, those little foof of coffees. Set it up in a way that's familiar to them so that then when they're in there making those choices, it makes sense to them. It's like, oh, oh, okay, this is just like Starbucks, you know. What size cup do I want? What size croissage do I want? I mean, I think that's where it makes them feel the most comfortable is if you can do something that connects them to something that they're used to doing at this point.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

10 years ago, we had florists in the central part of the US charging $95 for croissages. Wow. Don't be afraid to offer it. Because how much are girls spending on, you know, uh even a sweatshirt anymore, a sweater. You know, just just don't be scared.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay, so tell us what is in that prom report? What is what is the secret on prom, Sarah?

SPEAKER_00 17:54

So this year we narrowed it down to two two different trends. Um brights and lights. We're seeing, you know, really strong our Viva Magenta. It's friends with with turquoise and purple, and also very, very light. Um, so the blushes and those things, they're not dead, they're still alive and well. Um, like I said about the the number one color that we're seeing right now in our orders is lavender. So, you know, these very super pale colors versus the super brights. And then um as far as some of the other styles, um side cut and cutout dresses, um, corsets, which lend itself, you know, pairing your croissages so with the dress. So if you've got the corsets having you know more wired, structured ribbon, things like that to go with the that style of dress. One shoulder gives the florist a great opportunity for body flowers, um, you know, shoulder croissages, things like that. Um, shimmer sequence, sparkle, um, ruffles, chiffon, lace, a lot of feathers. Really? Feathers are coming back? Feathers in the crusades. Yeah. So okay. Yeah, get ready with that bling, folks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

So the bling is good to come back, huh?

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Uh I was gonna say prom is back and bling came with it.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Because uh, for a couple years, or maybe it was just last year, wasn't there a few years that they're really well, of course we didn't have prom for a few years, but it seemed like it kind of tamed down, right? It wasn't as blingy.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

It was it was very pearl. Okay. Um, the the cottage core, the pearl core, that kind of thing. So it was a little more on the vintagey side. There weren't there was hardly any proms. I mean, there was last year there was a few that had proms, but they were uh you know much less still before the pandemic. But I expect this year to be very strong. And I I saw a clip um in in some of my research that the girls are buying earlier than ever. This one store in in not a huge, huge area, uh not a not a large city, but they had on the weekends they would have lines out the door in January for the prom dresses. Wow. So the girls are ready.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

That's what I was gonna say. It just says they're ready, doesn't it? It's just they're ready to get out and you know, dress up and have a great event for themselves and with their girlfriends, you know? Wow.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

If you think about it, the whole world has just become so much. I think we were you know so suppressed for those months or years. It's like, okay, time to have fun, folks, and appreciate the fun in every area of life. So why would prom be any exception? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Well, and the other thing is if I was in high school and missed two proms in a row going into my senior year, I would spare no expense, right? I would justify it by saying, listen, I didn't buy one two years in a row, it's go big or go home time.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Yeah, that's a good point, Lori. Great sales opportunity, too. It's like, oh my gosh, you're a senior this year. You missed your junior prom. How much more special can we make for this for you?

SPEAKER_01 21:23

You saved two years of money.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Right, right. Absolutely. And at Pioneer, you have a whole line of wristlets and bling and everything they need, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:37

We have everything you need for prom. The wristlets for a long time what was called a dazzling distributor for Fitz Design, which means we carry every one of their bracelets. Um, we have tons of bling, tons of ribbon, glues, um, whatever brand you like. And of course, we have specially designed silks that are uh croissage-sized. So because

SPEAKER_01 22:00

you know our our real core of our company is silks so that right that's what I was gonna ask do many people cr make want a silk croissage or can you do a little mix?

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Both. I mean I would we're not gonna we're not gonna be delusional here obviously probably more people want fresh than silk but we do have a very strong silk following and then again the mixing and it's great even if a florist is in an area that prefers fresh you can still use the silks as your samples.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Oh that's a great idea and also for ready mates you know florists sometimes will say oh I'm not gonna accept any more prom prom orders past you know Tuesday of the week or whatever well in your downtime in March or whatever start making some silk crosses that you can have for those last minute people so you're still servicing them you still have something to offer it may not be eat the fresh that you normally would but you still have something to yeah I don't hate the thought of a silk corsage for prom because then 25 years later you still have 25 years come on throw it away 25 years promo it's prom I had the best time I think I've moved I would go back to high school prom if I could get away with it I'd really okay two things Sarah you mentioned glue so it's my understanding that cold glue from Oasis is back Smithers Oasis is back in stock is that correct yes okay good everybody will be doing cartwheels and happy about that because there were a few challenges and then um uh the other time that people use silk a lot is when they have prom on Mother's Day weekend and our local um shop here did that last year because there was prom here it was not huge but I went in on Mother's Day and well that week and she's like had all them categorized in different colors and she's like we just told them we cannot do any fresh crusages this week to come in and pick out and she said we've sold them like crazy. So just letting you know you know this is what I want to do and it was really a good prom season for them because of that. You know it's just setting them up says hey you know what we have some beautiful ones probably like you Lori that you're going to be able to keep from year to year as you can have this as for a momentum instead of being the negative right uses it an opportunity to to um really to say hey you know this is this is the best thing you can do right now. This would be great.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

So the other place silk can be uh nice is that it can offer colors that maybe yeah you can't necessarily get in nature or without dying um so if they want something that matches specifically or a specific color combination things like that.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

So it certainly has I love it when they do almost all of the the silk or the permanent and then just pop in three fresh rose heads. I mean because it makes it super easy design wise and gives them a combination of both but it does give that little bit of fresh smell to it you know which I think is great.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Correct correct we do have on our website we have our prom trend report and we also have revamped our marketing resources for florists. So there's a tremendous section of information that florists can use to have some help and assistance in their marketing for prom. So we encourage anybody that would like to to check that out.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

And we can put your website or pioneer's website in our show notes. I can send you the direct link to that area.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Yeah that'd be great. Thanks for joining us Sarah on an update on product development and what's new and hot for prom and we'll look forward to talking to you again on another podcast. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

It's been great. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business