1-800 results

[Bigted]

Cathy always gives a nice summary of these results so I hope she will chime in. Basically, 1-800 is really sucking. Their wire service is sort of proping up the rest of the company. Consumer floral sales down 16% and Gifts down 33%. Wire service down only 10% which means they are sticking it to their loyal members.

Their net loss from continuing ops doubled from last year to $6 million.

I know most of you don't care about this, BUT YOU SHOULD. These people have tons of money to invest in advertising, and what they do directly impacts you.

 

[lori042499]

I wish I understood more of what these finding meant, I care but to me it always seems like numbers can be and are swayed in all types of directions just to appease shareholders...all I can do is assume you guys know what you are talking about when you say 800-flowers is sucking at the moment..

I wish I could "get" all that financial jibber jabber, but I just don't, I have a hard enough time keeping my own finances straight...all I do know is that even though they are down 10% I bet they still have plenty of money to operate, thanks to us...I know that me being down 10% hurts really bad and may even mean walking away from my store sometime soon..

 

[anytimeflowers]

Oh, I care all right! I just seem to be running around in circles trying to figure out what to do about it. There are several threads right now that deal with some of the elements of the big picture.

Undercover boss of course is their first shot over the bow. I doubt it was a direct hit, but it surely was something to watch carefully. I am quite sure that the astute Jim McCann had every intention of looking like a big corporate meanie to the public. That paves the way for Chris, the poor little brother who has always been in Jim's shadow, to finally come out into the light. And wow, he cares about people!

Don't forget about the "lawsuit" they were involved with Molnar -http://www.flowerchat.com/real-florists-blog/2010/01/

They are using their marketing dollars, just not in the usual way. They are concentrating on brand revitalization at the moment. If you watched the program last Sunday, you may have picked up on the keys. These were touched upon so that the consumer is ready to eat what is fed to them.

So I care greatly that they are floundering. When a whale gets hungry, and decides it's eat or die, the schools of small fish better figure out how to survive or get eaten. The whale has figured out that it's usual feed (the local fulfilling florist) is becoming scarce and does not satisfy the need for the hunger, so it has gone out looking for new sources.

 

[BOSS]

Hmm... I care too... but I'm a one man band these days...

If every florist would stop filling *company orders* and stick to filling only florist generated orders, we and the industry would be much healthier, and we could get back to business.

I agree with Ted up to a point, what 800flowers does affect me, every consumer they tick off, every frozen box they ship, becomes a direct floral consumer... we are gaining in the war, we've lost a few battles but we are winning some too.

Just yesterday, one of my staff was grilled by a customer, making sure we were a B&M shop... "Can I actually walk into your store and touch flowers?" she asked... consumers are wising up, and the more we deny access to the BIG3 and the more we spread the truth, the more battles we will win.

 

[steve]

This does not paint a good picture for them for sure losing money in a qtr in which Valentines Day falls is a tough thing to do!!

 

[BOSS]

Good point Steve.... I did not make much, but I did not lose any~!

 

[Flowerchatter03]

I don't understand the numbers either, Lori. While I read what is posted here, their stock has risen quite a lot since the stock market tanked last year.

 

[CHR]

Ted -

Where did you get those numbers? Their reporting date/conference call for the last quarter (which includes V Day) is scheduled for Wednesday, April 28.

 

[CHR]

I think what Ted saw was re-stated numbers from the first quarter, which were filed with the SEC today. Not sure how they differ from the original numbers.

I honestly don't believe 1-800's 3rd quarter (Jan - March) will be nearly so dire, in fact I expect gross sales to be up over last year. Their 'free shipping/no service fee' seemed to really work during V Day. My guess is the bottom line growth won't be nearly as impressive, but they will show gains - especially since they are selling more high-margin, drop-ship merchandise.

 

[clay]

I Their 'free shipping/no service fee' seemed to really work during V Day. .

It seems like everyone of the 2-3 emails a week from 800 (and Teleflora) since V Day has been doing the same.

 

[Bigted]

I think what Ted saw was re-stated numbers from the first quarter, which were filed with the SEC today. Not sure how they differ from the original numbers.

I honestly don't believe 1-800's 3rd quarter (Jan - March) will be nearly so dire, in fact I expect gross sales to be up over last year. Their 'free shipping/no service fee' seemed to really work during V Day. My guess is the bottom line growth won't be nearly as impressive, but they will show gains - especially since they are selling more high-margin, drop-ship merchandise.

See - I told you she was good at this. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[CHR]

It was the report date that really created the confusion.

I just took a look a the original filing and the numbers are the same. Somebody goofed by re-releasing the old report today.

Like I said, they're scheduled to announce before the bell on Wednesday, April 28 so stay tuned.

 

[Eric S]

If every florist would stop filling *company orders* and stick to filling only florist generated orders, we and the industry would be much healthier, and we could get back to business.

I believe this as well. The retailers that are associated with this company are dropping like flies around us. But their lack of advertizing is also impacting all of our sales. We really despertly need milk council or in our industry a flower council. I just don't know how to get more of us involved because we just don't have enough ranks here to make it happen.

I know that if we could just have a number of us create some small clips about our shops and merge them together we could start creating awarness about local flower shops. It would be a matter of adding this video as much as we could into blogs and websites linking back and fourth.

Thats why I was trying so hard to get more of us here to promote the design challenge. To get us all involved and teach each other how to do this. It started out great but really fiziled at the end.

 

[conchandler]

In response to Eric's post, the technology learning curve is so great to get and stay on top in business today, sometimes I don't know where to start. Custom website, digital camera, photo cube, photoshop, blogging, videos....AAAAAHHHHHHH!

 

[theRKF]

In response to Eric's post, the technology learning curve is so great to get and stay on top in business today, sometimes I don't know where to start. Custom website, digital camera, photo cube, photoshop, blogging, videos....AAAAAHHHHHHH!

Jump back 2 decades and it was "Computers, AAAAAHHHHHHHHH"

Before that, "Faxes, AAAHHHHHH"

Before that, "Telephones, AAAAHHHHHHH"

Oh, and we can't forget "TV Commercials, AAAHHHH" "Direct Mail, AAAAHHHHHH" "Yellow Pages, AAAHHHHHHHH" "Newspaper Ad Design, AAAHHHHHH" "COLOUR Newspaper Design???? AAAHHHHH"

I don't mean to mock ... I just want to point out that we deal with many, many technologies and tasks that in previous decades would have seemed overwhelming. We all have the choice to adapt or watch while the competition does.

 

[anytimeflowers]

Great vid you two!