朝の9時から25分間、テレビ東京の「オープニングベル」という株式の番組に生出演していた。日本でホームユースの花市場が伸びている。特集のコメントである。実際は自分がストーリーを創作したものであった。
半年ぶりのＴＶ出演、３年ぶりの生出演であった。生番組の感覚をほとんど忘れていた。緊張した。
花の番組であったから、出演しながら、ＪＦＭＡ創設以来の実績を回顧することになった。わたしたちがＮＰＯを立ち上げて、花業界は劇的に変化したのかどうか？ 反省すべき材料をたまたま「グーグル」の検索で見つけた。
以下は、FloraCulture International (Ball Publishing Co.）2002年9月号からの複写である。NPOを立ち上げて２年、必死に花業界の改革に取り組んでいた自分たちの姿を、そのとき、米国ボール社の月刊誌・編集長レナ・ジェームズ・フェントンがインタビューで観察していた。その取材記録が残されていた。申し訳ないが、英文和訳が面倒なので、インタビューの英文をそのまま転載する。お許しいただきたい。
いまとなっては、貴重な資料である。青山フラワーマーケットの９年目。JFMAの３年目の様子がきわめてよくわかる。磯村社長も登場している。
“One step ahead,” by James Fenton, editore’s note in FloraCulture International, Sept. 2002
It could read like a personal advertisement in the newspaper: “Burgeoning floral industry seeks trend-conscious consumer with a flair for color and disposable income…”
The Japanese floral industry has been hit especially hard by the country’s economic hardships: Hotels and businesses, formerly crowned with elaborate bouquets in hallways and reception areas significantly trimmed their flower-buying budgets in recent years. To fight for their slice of the small economic pie, the country’s growers, auctions, and retailers have realized that if they want their products foremost on the minds of consumers, they must be trend conscious and price savvy.
Ota: Auction and trend machine
“We want to be a reliable middle man between the growers and the consumers,” says Nobuo Isomura, CEO of the Ota Floriculture Auction Co., Ltd., Tokyo. This means more then helping to bring flowers to the market place: Nobuo also sees the auction as a trend clearinghouse, where consumer preferences can pass back through the chain to the growers. Tapping into trends via sales data is one way to get at the information, but Nobuo takes it a step further by working with a fashion consultant in Paris, as well as designers in Japan, to hold informational seminars for growers. The experts discuss the colors, fabrics and themes that will be popular in the seasons ahead; the auction then uses this information to direct the growers into cultivating certain varieties to correspond with these trends. “We are making efforts to expect the season and the peak price of each variety as accurately as possible, as well as provide a balance between supply and demand,” explains Nobuo. “This is the means to secure a profit for both growers and retailers. But whenever innovative growers want to know the value of a trial variety, we are always ready to assist them.”
Ota is doing its part to influence the consumer side as well: For the past decade, Nobuo has been doing five minute “infomercials” on a public television station. Once a week he goes on the air and tells the public about the flowers and plants that have come through the auction. He highlights the new varieties and what is available at the best price for the consumer. Nobuo even goes so far as to point viewers to specific retailers who are carrying these flowers from the auction. “We aim to show that life can be peaceful and precious with flowers,” says Nobuo. “And we understand that the consumer wants flowers [and potted plants] that last a long time, that are easy to grow as well as match their furniture and interior decorating.”
“We are always looking ahead, always looking out for those who do not look to the future,” explains Nobuo. This can include not only the consumer, but also wholesalers and even growers. “The goal of the Ota Auction is to make Japan a more beautiful and more ethical country,” he says. “Many companies just want to grow and they think of nothing else; we want to last a long time, but we also want to educate managers who have a vision.”
Aoyama Flower Market: Catering to generations
Hideaki Inoue opened the first Aoyama Flower Market in 1993. Today he owns 25 flower shops that are strategically located in busy train stations throughout Japan; in 2001, the Aoyama Flower Markets brought in 1.1 billion yen (approx. $8.5 million).
The secret to his success? “I want to be one step ahead of what the consumer will want; I want to always be thinking like a consumer, not a florist,” Hideaki explains. The inspiration for the Aoyama Flower Market came from various sources, including the wide selection available in shoe stores and fashionable shops in Paris (like Colletto and Select Shop) that feature trendy products and pricing appeal.
Each Flower Market has its own floral offerings, which are refreshed each week. Each is under Hideaki’s management, but the location managers choose varieties that are specific for their area (“Each shop should be individual,” says Hideaki. “The answer is with the customer.”). For instance, the bouquets in trendy sections of Tokyo, like Ginza and Shibuya, are noticeably different than the ones in Yokohama, a busy but more subdued town near Tokyo.
The average Flower Market is approximately 33 m2, with a back room (for supplies and storage) at least half that size. In terms of revenues, each Flower Market brings in over 1 million yen/m2/month ( $8,000/m(sup2)). The Flower Market we visited in the Ginza train station boasts an annual revenue of 2.5 million yen ($22,000).
Armed with the flower preferences of his customers, Hideaki and his managers buy both from the Ota auction and directly from certain growers. He personally visits one or two greenhouses each month and he also encourages his employees to make similar visits so that they will have an educated idea of what to recommend to their customers. Growers also visit the Flower Markets, so that they can learn from customer impressions and from the Flower Market staff.
Each Aoyama Flower Market is divided into two areas: one is dedicated to loose cut flowers, the other to “Lifestyle Bouquets.” Hideaki says that older consumers (50 years old and older) tend to shop at the cut flower side and that younger people opt for the premade bouquets. “Younger people need guidance,” he says, so the premade bouquets are designed to be fashionable as well as affordable-most can be purchased for pocket change. “Glass bouquets” (small arrangements that will look nice in a drinking glass instead of a vase–“A lot of our customers do not have much experience with flowers; they live in small apartments and do not have vases,” he explains) begin at 300 yen ($2.60). Mid-size “Kitchen bouquets” are priced at 500 yen ($4.30) and the largest arrangements, “Living bouquets,” can cost as much as 1500 yen ($13). Older Japanese consumers, on the other hand, tend to be better educated about how to care for and arrange cut flowers; many are well-versed in ikebana, the art of flower arranging.
With 30 to 40% of their sales coming from repeat customers, Hideaki and the Aoyama Flower Market seems to have hit on a winning formula. Says Hideaki, “We are making flowers a ‘must-have’ product…and we are selling our taste. We are giving the consumer what they want.”
The JFMA: Dedication to education
Of course, not every grower or retailer has access to the same opportunities to understand and embrace consumer demands. Enter the Japan Floral Marketing Association (JFMA), headed up by Dr. Kosuke Ogawa. His long vision of creating “an Asian movement to organize the floral industry” was galvanized when he attended the annual meeting of the Floral Marketing Association (FMA) in 1998 and he became acquainted with Stan Pohmer. Working with other key members of the Japanese industry, Kosuke officially formed the JFMA on May 18, 2000.
The primary goal of the JFMA is to “organize everything in one location, in one bundle,” explains Kosuke. That way everyone in the industry has equal access not only to one another, but also to education, which is another cornerstones of the organization. The JFMA has translated many English-language training manuals into Japanese and they hold training seminars in the floral departments of supermarkets, as well as throughout the university system, which includes 10 colleges and two extension colleges. The JFMA also holds monthly 2-hour seminars at Hosei University, where Kosuke is the chair of the Business Department. Of the 12 seminars each year, says Kosuke, at least two are given by someone in the international industry. For instance, representatives of the French supermarket Carrefour spoke at the April meeting.
The JFMA’s dedication to education does not just stop with seminars and classes. Together with Flower Auction Japan (FAJ), the JFMA is advocating the practice of bucketing (wet packing) cut flowers instead of sending them to auction dry in boxes, because of the increased vase life experienced by flowers kept in water. Transport temperature is another issue that has been a large educational focus for the JFMA. They worked with the Tokyo Gas Company to place microchips (at a cost of $15/microchip) in cut flower shipments going from the grower to the florist via the FAJ. The chips measured the temperature of the flowers throughout the shipment, with some surprising results: The tests were carried out three times in Tokyo, and each time the florists saw how the extreme temperatures that occurred during transport between the auction and the flower shop effected cut flower quality. These experiments helped the JFMA institute changes in standard procedure for many florists and transport companies. “We are training them in total quality management,” says Dr. Ogawa.
While the efforts of the organization are far-reaching, Kosuke says that the accomplishments of individuals are what powers the growth of the industry as a whole. These “stars” of the industry include entrepreneurs like Hideaki who see the big picture and regularly challenge themselves to go further. Says Kosuke, if you “expect people to be stars,” then they will rise to the challenge.
