The Supply Side: OASIS sustainable floral foam now on Walmart shelves

Smithers-Oasis Co.^[1] is diving into retail with a Walmart deal secured at the Open Call held in Bentonville last October. The company operates in 19 countries, distributing wholesale products to florists and flower businesses in more than 100 countries.

The Kent, Ohio-based company employs about 100 people, according to marketing director Laura Walsh.

Privately owned Smithers-Oasis dates back to 1954, when founder V.L. Smithers created the water-absorbing foam for florists. Over the past seven decades, the company has grown into a global manufacturer and marketer of floral foam, floral design tools and accessories.

Walsh said during the pandemic the company became more active on social media channels, and consumers at home tuned in. She said consumers began asking for the same tools used by the florists, and over the past 18 months, Walsh has been on a mission to bring floral supplies to mass retail.

She said many consumers have not typically used floral foam in their arrangements, which can make a difference in the design. Walsh said cut flowers are loved by many households, but there is somewhat of an intimidation factor around arranging them. That’s especially true when foam is not used, because the flowers won’t stay put in the vase, making it hard to design.

“Floral styling your stems is so much easier in foam, because then you can place your stems exactly where you want them, at the angles that you want, at the rate depth, all of that, and there’s a water source,” Walsh said. “And it’s easier to transport all of that.”

Walsh said Smithers-Oasis first delved into online retail about a year ago because of consumer do-it-yourself interest. Because the company had only sold to professional florists, it had to rethink what a retail offering would look like.

“It makes sense that more DIY consumers want the tools professionals use in their craft,” she said. “We had just never served that market. Our floral foam business is huge; if you laid the foam bricks made here end to end, they would encircle the world. We had the scale to service brick and mortar. We just did not have the product line in the right package sizes.”

The company developed a retail product line — OASIS Forage Products — that is manufactured in Ohio and the branding for it. Walsh placed a few items on Amazon.com and in the home improvement big box giant’s online inventory. But she wanted to get on the retail shelf at Walmart. Walsh reached out through Range Me to get an invite to the Open Call in Bentonville last year. She said the item they were asked to represent at the Open Call event was the more sustainable floral foam product.

“You only get 30 minutes, and the time goes really fast,” Walsh said. “We took a chance and also pitched another product that would be exclusive to Walmart at a really competitive price. The home category buyer team got excited about the sustainable foam, but they really liked the exclusive kits we pitched in two colors that included everything a DIY floral enthusiast would need to do their own arrangement: a plant-based pot, absorbent foam and floral food for under $10. The retail price is $9.97, and there is nothing else like it on the market. Walmart wanted that too.

“We left that first meeting with a deal for three products, a foam pack and the two pot kits to go into 651 stores across the U.S.,” she said. “But when we met again for a line review in November, the buyers brought in two more items, a dry foam for artificial flowers and a larger absorbent foam package, giving us five products on the shelf and sold online.”

She said it was incredible to get five products in that many stores on the first try. She said the timing was good for Walmart because more consumers are buying cut flowers and making their own arrangements, given the high prices for professional bouquets.

Flowers mark many important times in people’s lives, from birth to marriage, anniversaries, sickness and even in death. She said just as families are cooking more at home, they are also tapping into their creative juices with gardening and floral arrangements.

Smithers-Oasis recently shipped its first big order to Walmart, and the five products made their way on shelves in late August. Several stores in Arkansas have the products, with the only one in Northwest Arkansas located in Siloam Springs. Walsh said anyone can order the products online through Walmart.com. The absorbent floral foam is sold in two-piece or three-piece packages retailing from $5.78 to $6.78, and there is a dry foam package that retails for $5.78.

“It was a lot of work to get that first shipment off, but it feels really good,” Walsh said. “Since the two kits were exclusive to Walmart we had to ramp up production of those items, which was also cool to see. We have been doing floral foam production for 70 years, so that was just another day at the office. We use a lot of automation in our plant manufacturing.”

Because the company operates in 19 countries, its supply chain is relatively stable and helps the company better manage tariffs. But no company is totally immune from the tariff impact, even those that manufacture in the U.S., the company noted.

“We are a company that keeps on learning, iterating, and moving forward, and this new business with Walmart is exciting,” Walsh said.

Editor’s note: The Supply Side section^[2] of Talk Business & Politics focuses on the companies, organizations, issues and individuals engaged in providing products and services to retailers. The Supply Side is managed by Talk Business & Politics, and is sponsored by HRG^[3].

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