Sydney cards carried the most birthday wording
Sydney recorded the highest share of celebration wording in Fig & Bloom card messages across the three biggest cities. From 2021 to 2025, about 41.6% of Sydney cards marked good news, birthdays, arrivals, promotions or wins.
Melbourne followed at about 39.2%, while Brisbane stood at about 35.6% over the same 2021 to 2025 period. Fig & Bloom based the figures on a five-year review of comparable card messages.
Birthday wording was also strongest in Sydney. About 28.7% of Sydney cards mentioned birthdays, the highest share among the three cities.
Spend barely differed across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Average order value sat at about $155 to $156 in the 12 months to June 2026.
Kellie Brown, co-founder of Fig & Bloom, highlighted that result because Sydney did not spend more despite sending more celebration-led messages.
“What surprised us is that Sydney doesn’t spend more to do it,” Brown said.
Brown said the three cities sat within a dollar or two of each other on average order value. As a result, the gap came from the occasions customers marked rather than the size of the order.
Kellie Brown on spending
Brown said Sydney customers were more likely to use cards for upbeat moments. Fig & Bloom found that pattern across five comparable years, not just one year.
The findings draw on two record sets. One covers Fig & Bloom orders in the 12 months to June 2026, while the other reviews order records from 2021 to 2025.
Fig & Bloom inferred occasions from de-identified card language. The company counted spend at state level rather than by suburb or postcode.
Fig & Bloom described the figures as directional because its customers are a premium, gift-led group, not a population census. That means the results reflect Fig & Bloom buyers rather than all Australians.
Brown also summed up the similarity across the three cities with a short line: “Rivals on the reason, twins on the care.”
Cards also ran to almost the same length across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Meanwhile, spending stayed near-identical across the three states.
Fig & Bloom operates across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The florist photographs each arrangement before it leaves the studio, including the gold-foiled message card.
The embargo for the data was 12.01am AEST on Wednesday 22 July 2026. Fig & Bloom published the full story on its website under the title The Geography of Gifting.
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