Six ways to drive poinsettia sales with social media in the run-up to Christmas

Not only perfect for Christmas, the poinsettia season gets underway in autumn, when salmon, yellow, cinnamon, rosé, white or apricot-coloured poinsettias can transform rooms into feel-good oases of relaxation where the autumn blues don’t stand a chance.

With expressive names such as “Autumn Leaves”, “Cinnamon Star”, “Lemon Snow” or “Wintersun”, these plants will prove irresistible to anyone looking to update their home interiors as we make the transition from summer to fall, with leaves that evoke the gorgeous changing colours of autumnal forests. They fit in well with any living style and provide a cosy feel-good atmosphere on cold, grey autumn days.

As these colours tend to be available much earlier than their red counterparts, it is recommended that retailers who want to highlight the availability of these unusual plants should schedule posts into their Instagram feed over the August bank holiday and into the start of September to maximise the limited availability of these colours.

Trade tip: If September feels too soon to tell your customers about Christmas, why not switch the focus onto interior styling and show how you can bring a living room to life as the nights start to draw in, making the most of warm and muted hues which create the perfect vintage or rustic lifestyle feel.

Once Advent begins in 2021 on November 28th, the warm colours integrate seamlessly with Christmas cards and decorations. This is when you can really start going to town on social media, as consumers start feeling the festive spirit and Christmas shopping gets well underway.

Whilst red and green will always be the classic colours of Christmas, other combinations have become nearly as popular over the years. Whether Nordic-cool in blue, silver and white, Byzantine opulence in purple, red and gold, dreamy and romantic in delicate pastel shades, or edgy and urban in metallic petrol, copper and black, the modern colour combinations at Christmas time know no limits.

Thanks to its incredible diversity and versatility, the poinsettia makes a perfect companion in any colour world, meaning it is ideal for showcasing on Instagram as a foil for gifts, home accessories and other decorations.

Trade tip: By December, or even November, people will be thinking about how to set the perfect Christmas table and dress their trees, so give them a steady stream of trend-led ideas that will help entice them into your store. Schedule regular posts that go live in the evenings, post-dinner, when many people will cosy up on their sofas to scroll through Instagram feeds for inspiration.

Trade tip: Show your customers how floral details and displays can be the anchor for their entire table setting and needn’t be limited to floral arrangements in pots and vases. They can instantly upgrade individual place settings with perfect blooms in complementary colours to Christmas tableware.

Nothing spells Christmas like a beautifully decorated, evergreen tree.

This is the ultimate Christmas symbol, cherished by children and adults all over the world.

As living Christmas ornaments, poinsettia bracts can be cut and strung from the tree to team up with golden stars, pine cones and baubles to bring festive radiance to the Christmas tree.

Alternatively, miniature poinsettias can be hung inside glass holders or strung-up using a Kokedama method.

Trade tip: People are divided about whether to buy trees earlier or later in the season. Encourage them to get their tree early and experiment with different sorts of decorations, especially free flowers, poinsettias in particular, whose structured, formal shape is the perfect adornment for the kingly Christmas tree. The use of fresh blooms also taps into the sustainable trend!

We can’t be the only ones who’ve noticed that wreaths are firmly back in fashion, and not just at Christmas, with many people adorning their front doors with beautiful floral decorations throughout the seasons. Such a natural decoration is the height of green-living chic for a sutble Christmas atmosphere. Add poinsettia bracts for beautiful, festive displays.

Trade tip: Show your customers how to create a series of beautiful DIY poinsettia-based wreaths, which is a lovely advent activity that can be shared by grandparents, parents and children. The Stars for Europe website features many great wreath-making ideas you can share, check out the online image database where you can filter for step-by-step photos of DIY and wreath designs. Find two of them at the end of this article. Stars for Europe also offer a range of step-by-step videos that you can embed or download directly for use on your own platforms.

In der Online-Bilddatenbank besteht die Möglichkeit, gezielt nach Schritt-für-Schritt-Fotos Anleitungen und Adventskranzideen zu filtern. Zwei davon befinden sich am Ende dieses Artikels.

Just because they have the best-looking table in town, this is no reason for your customers to neglect their key floral displays. Poinsettias can be used as cut flowers to stunning effect around the house, from hallway through to living and dining room, with coordinated themes that will really help bring Christmas to life.

Trade tip: There’s a secret tip to making sure poinsettias survive as cut flowers. Share it with your customers via social media to offer something memorable: cut poinsettias will stay fresh for up to two weeks if, immediately after cutting, the stems are first dipped briefly into 60-degree hot water, then placed in cold water.

With such an extensive bank of images to choose from, Stars for Europe can provide enough content for you to make your Instagram feed into an instant go-to solution for shoppers in search of the perfect Christmas style.

Trade tip: As all good garden centres and nurseries know well, there is no limit to the style appeal of fresh plants and flowers. Encourage customers to give more plants and bouquets as gifts, complemented by beautiful planters, which can be bought in store for an easy upsell, or created at home for those who are feeling crafty.

In times of environmental challenges and a worrying health crisis, it’s important to emphasise nature and natural elements. Plants offer relaxation and wellbeing, which can be found with a “Dive into the festive forest”. At the same time, Christmas should bring light, joy and colour into the home. Encourage families to get creative together with DIY decoration to celebrate the “Colourful joy of Christmas”. Christmas is also associated with spirituality and purity – a safe haven in contrast to the world’s unbalance – which can be visualised as delicate botanical Christmas decorations and a sophisticated, “Less is more” style.

Trade tip: Give your customers more ideas for festive family craft activities by showing them how to create a display using upcycled items, from wooden boards and old cans to drinks cartons and glass bottles. For lots of step-by-step guides visit the Stars for Europe website.

For this hanging ornament you need two metal hoop candleholders, a poinsettia, spruce and pine twigs, a test tube with holes, bind wire tiwne, wire, a candle, pine cones and decorations (e.g. Christmas tree baubles). For tools, you’ll need a pair of garden scissors, a drill and wire.

Step 1: Cut felt to size. Wrap the felt around the jar and secure with hot glue;

Step 2: Wrap gold wire around the felt-covered jar in a criss-cross pattern;

Step 3: Loop two lengths of wrapping wire around the jar and attach one to either side of the metal ring (in the lower half). Important: Pull the wires taut and tightly twist the ends;

Step 4: Conceal the wrapping wire with jute string. Knot to the ring and trim the ends;

Step 5: Hang up the ring. Arrange clematis vines around the wire ring and affix with tie wires. If desired, the vines can be painted gold beforehand.

Step 6: Adorn two-thirds of the finished frame with different types of florals, for example, pine twigs, eucalyptus, pine cones or ivy. Secure the pine twigs where necessary with the twister;

Step 7: Set the poinsettia in the jar;

Step 8: Decorate the ring with a variety of ribbons. Tie the centre of each ribbon to the top, allowing the ends to flow down past the bottom of the ring. Hang accessories on gold wires in the wreath.

In this second wreath concept, cut poinsettias are arranged close together in a foam wreath.

The pure white, cream and apricot coloured bracts ignite a firework of colours.

The earthy base of cones shines with miniature lights, and heavenly dried honesty heads (Lunaria) seem to float above the display, with bunny’s tail (Lagurus) sitting softly like clouds in between. What an elegant way to brighten up the festive season!

Floral design: Annette von Einem, Denmark.

Find out more

To find out more about Stars for Europe, and to access its incredible library of advice, aspirational imagery and content please visit https://weihnachtsstern.kinsta.cloud/se/

NOTES TO EDITORS

Stars for Europe

Stars for Europe (SfE) is a marketing initiative founded by European poinsettia breeders Dümmen Orange, Selecta One, Beekenkamp and Syngenta Flowers. The initiative began in 2000 with the aim to promote and secure long-term poinsettia sales in Europe. SfE activities are currently taking place in 22 European nations. From 2021 to 2024 SfE is supported by EU programme “Stars Unite Europe” in seven countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden.