Budding Mother’s Day competition as Hong Kong florists prune prices

Competition among Hong Kong florists heated up on the day before Mother’s Day as stores slashed bouquet prices and offered more innovative products, with some vendors reporting weaker business and lower profit margins compared with last year. Despite the wet weather on Saturday, vendors at the Mong Kok Flower Market touted colourful bouquets of carnations, roses and other fresh flowers. The price of a medium-sized bouquet at the market ranged from HK$300 to HK$400 (US$38.32 to US$51.10), at least 20 per cent cheaper than last year, when the cost was between HK$500 and HK$700. The competition to make sales was so intense that, starting on Friday, a sea of bouquets stretched across two blocks of the neighbourhood. Kaithley Kam, owner of wholesaler and florist Nam Hing Trading Company, attributed the price drop to tighter budgets. “The macroeconomy has weakened,” she said. While bouquets were usually pricier around Mother’s Day due to cost increases further along the supply chain, flower farmers had not raised their wholesale costs to reap more profits this time, having anticipated weaker consumer confidence, she said. “There was unsold stock over Valentine’s Day in February,” she said. Kam said that increased competition from mainland Chinese e-commerce platforms, such as Pinduoduo and Taobao, and new florists selling potted plants, had also prompted a “price war”. “Business has been a bit slow,” Kam said, noting that retail sales had dropped by 20 to 30 per cent compared with last year’s first quarter. At the neighbouring Sin Fa Hin Flower Company, employee Kenji Lam said the price of the store’s Mother’s Day medium-sized bouquets ranged from HK$300 to HK$380 this year, down from about HK$400 to HK$500 in 2025. “Profits have plunged by 10 to 20 per cent, but we are still profitable, just making less than before,” Lam said. He attributed the drop in business to weaker demand for flowers, especially among the new generation of buyers, who preferred longer-lasting gifts such as souvenirs or cards. To stay competitive, Lam said the business offered “ice blue” roses, which have a white base and sprayed blue edges that created a colourful gradient effect, as well as adding small decorative birds and other accessories to potted plants to catch people’s attention. “A lot of people really like that style,” he said. The local branch of Freshy Flowers, a wholesale and retail store that has direct supply chains across the border, was also flooded with customers. Store manager Lai Bifeng said the florist chain, which has 12 outlets in Hong Kong and another 200 on the mainland, was supplied by its own flower nurseries in Kunming and Guangzhou with carnations, lilies, roses and lisianthus. He said that sales had surged by 30 per cent compared with the first quarter of last year. The florist chain was able to offer competitive prices that were 20 per cent below the market rate because it handled its own logistics and supply, Lai added. “The market also has a leading effect on prices. Now flowers are much more affordable, more or less the price of green vegetables,” he said. The flower market was also packed with families hunting for fresh flowers, including six-year-old Alston Insom, who raided his piggy bank to buy pink peonies and baby’s breath at Freshy Flowers to make his own bouquets for his mother, aunt, grandmother and great-aunt. Accompanied by his mother, Ada Chan, Insom spent about HK$250 of his HK$330 savings and even netted a discount from Lai for his bulk purchase. “The baby’s breath is a rainbow of colours. It’s pretty, and I like it for a bouquet,” the boy said. Chan, a teacher, said she had set aside HK$1,000 to buy lilies for her own mother, the same amount she budgeted last year, only to find more affordable offerings priced at HK$400. “Last year, even a single bouquet would cost us over HK$600 or HK$700, so this time it really is quite a bit cheaper,” she said. Beauty sector worker Evie Wu also said she managed to save several hundred Hong Kong dollars when she went shopping for Mother’s Day flowers this year. The 30-year-old reserved HK$500 for carnations and planned to mix and match flowers for a more affordable gift, but still had HK$200 to spend after checking out several stores and buying white peonies and sunflowers. “The flowers were cheaper, probably due to the weakened economy,” Wu said.

Budding Mother’s Day competition as Hong Kong florists prune prices

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Crowds flock to Mong Kok market on day before Mother’s Day for colourful bouquets of carnations, roses and other fresh flowers

Crowds flock to Mong Kok market on day before Mother’s Day for colourful bouquets of carnations, roses and other fresh flowers