$15 back from a drop ship order from FTD

I don't send to a flowershop that I can't check out online first, unless I know the shop personally..unless I am forced to because none of the shops have their own pictures, nothing peeves me more that looking up sites and seeing nothing but info and gooble de gook and canned pictures, now I am a fan of the canned pictures but as a florist I want to atleast be able to see what the florist can do when give flowers to put together, I atleast want to see that they can infact make an arrangement, alot can be said about shops that do put up pictures of arrangements that have rotten flower petals or bad mechanics glaringly showing...it says do not shop hear...but anyway, I know how you feel that the internet kind of ruined our businesses and I agree, however I had to get past that and realize that this is the way biz is going so I either have to embrace it, get out or live with low sales and get swallowed up by ogs and proflowers or my competition..
 
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I have to chime in here - first of all - I am not now nor have I ever been a shop/store owner. So, I'm writing this as someone who buys products online........from the consumer POV.

Spookyflowers - As I am typing this, I am enjoying a day off work.......sitting on my bed.........passing time till a fellow comes to service my AC unit. So, until he comes, I should'nt leave the house to go out and shop for something. However, I am looking for a birthday gift for a friend of mine.......and while sitting here in my lounging around shorts waiting on a service call, I am also shopping.

This is why it is so important for a business that has an internet presence (website)....to have that site as an e-commerce site.

You stated that your customer has told his family to talk to you.........but they keep using the internet. The above illustration helps to explain why.

Now, as a business person, I understand that it is rough economically, that things are tight and that difficult choices have to be made. However, with the internet, netbooks, laptops, iphones, ............ a person who lives 2000 miles away could be shopping at YOUR store if you had an e-commerce site.......or someone 2 doors down the street might be there as well.

Luckily, there is a great resource for you to talk to here on flowerchat. Ryan (infinite) and the folks at Strider can help you out. Consider it to be an investment in your shop's future.
 
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Spookyflowers said:
Will look into and e-commerce site just not TF. Any thoughts from anyone on ande-commerce site that they use?
Click to expand...

I have a strider site (the host of this site Florist2.0) and with eCommerce. best decision I have made and I don't feel the price is unreasonable. Customer service is top notch and once you learn the ropes of the back office, you can make changes at your convenience. For a small town florist it works.

Other shops here use media99 and they have nice sites. So check them out and make that a summer project. I know Ryan isn't open to new clients right now (is that still correct) but I would assume he will start taking newbies soon.
 
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Spooky,
Fantastic advice here. And you MUST remember/know that even if you don't get a ton of orders ON your website once you get one, you can be assured that a ton of people are looking at it. Many of my "website orders" are actually people who found me on the internet, browsed my pics, and then called to order. It very definately does it's job, and it very definately is like another flower shop that you own, so it has to be maintained.

I have to say also, that seven or eight years ago, I didn't even know how to e-mail, and had never been on the web. I am nearing 50 years old, and now do most of my shopping, both personal and business, on the web when the time is right for ME. That is usually on a Sunday evening when all of the B&M stores are closed. Sometimes I order on line and then go and pick it up.

Definately give it some serious thought. I am a one person shop, and get as much help as I need/ask for. You can even hire someone through Strider to help keep up with changing things from holiday/season at a pretty good weekly rate.

We want to help, so don't hesitate to ask.
 
I have to agree with everyone.
As a part of the 20-something generation, I do almost everything online.
I do like to shop local, but I like to check out their store online first to research certain things that they have.
If I'm heading out of town to shop I won't go to a place that doesn't have a website because it might not be worth the drive.

A cheap website gives your store a cheap impression.
You Vistaprint Site might only cost you $5 a month, but what it could really be costing you is orders.
I have several corporate accounts who call and order based on our website.

I also get about 25% of people call in who are already looking at our website and have selected something and just want to call in the order the traditional way.
 
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Spooky,



Are the only shop in your town? If so, who fills those "internet" orders?

Do family members from out of state call you and order other than this family or do you get orders strictly from your community?

The reason I'm asking is because there are other options out there for you. I see that you have a Teleflora Site, but it is lost because of your landing page, which shows funeral work. I gather that you do A LOT of funeral work, judging by your 70 pieces that you mentioned. (Nice casket sprays, BTW). How many pages does VistaPrint allow you to have? It would be nice if you could have link for each of the items listed that would take people to pictures related to those such as birthday, get well, etc. Even if it is not e-commerce, they would be seeing your lovely work. People want to browse around and get a feel for what you do, and I can guarantee that what they are thinking is that you do funerals, they are probably not even finding the page of wedding bouquets and corsages because you have already lost them without live links.

I would move the wedding pics to your landing page, and put a BIG LINK
to your teleflora site. People get very uncomfortable seeing funeral homes, it is obvious that is where the pics were shot, and the cards in them are probably distracting.

I know this thread has gone in a completely different direction than you had intended, but that seems to happen quite often! Just some thoughts.:eek:face
 
Spookyflowers said:
Remember back when we didn't have the internet what did we do then I'm thinking maybe we need to go back there and the world would not be in the mess we are in now.
Click to expand...
Naw... what we did back then was to let the BIG3 get the orders for us and be happy ***thinking*** we were making money, but in reality we were helping them make the big bucks while at the same time helping them to kill us...no longer an option if you plan to be here for the future.

A Strider site, once set up takes very little time to maintain, you can build your Christmas pages in July and then just turn them on when the time comes. Then a few blog posts, Tweets and FB posts and your off to the races...

Just for the record... wire services=bad Strider=good
 
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Yes I was the only shop in town but a new shop opened over the weekend by 2 gals who know nothing about the floral business they run a craft mall and gift shop. They even told people they won't do weddings and will only do what they want to do. They have everything priced way too low as thye have priced giftware and seem to think the 2x mark will work for flowers also.
I would love to have a strider site how do I get one ??
 
I'm curious. WHy couldn't you just rebate the $15 and take it from your FTD payment?

I'd think you could get a complete record of the transaction and included it when you deduct from your payment to FTD.

It is hard to believe FTD wouldn't be cooperative,especially if you explained like you have herein.
 
Not FTD and not wanting to be telflora very much anymore either.
And I did get any Email from my website this morning ,so it does work, emailed the gal back and we have and order to go out ofn Fri. not a biggy but and order.
 
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Just something to chew on...maybe you should get clicky and attach to your website so you can analyze how much traffic looks and clicks off before you go ecommerce...for that one customer that ordered you may have 10 looking and clicking off because you aren't providing what they want, and easy way to order or a selection of items to buy...

People on the internet want easy, quick and convenient most of the time...The ones that call are looking to do their research without driving from one place to another...both cases you really aren't providing them with what they want...The first won't bother calling and the second will be confused because you only show funeral work and the wording is a bit cold and distant almost robotic...It is a whole lot to digest, this website stuff, I felt like you for the first 3 years of my own business and still feel that the internet in some ways has ruined our once very enjoyable industry...but I have to look past all that and accept that this is the way many customer do business and I need as much business as I can get to survive and the younger generation is going to be even more into the internet, so like it or lump it, I must conform or say goodbye...
 
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We had the same sort of thing happen where a customer walked in with a $20.00 Gift certificate she had gotten from her sister through 1-800-flowers.
She asked us if we were affiliated with them, we said no and explained to her how much of a scam they are and about their drop ship practices. Needless to say she ordered flowers through us for her Mother's 100th Birthday Party a woman who we deliver to quite frequently. Our way to thank her was we made her a complimentary corsage for her Mother. What better way to show your work and offer up a thank you. It is our responsibility to educate our customers about these wire services and how important it is to go to your local florist. It angers me when I open up our local paper to find a full page add from Pro-Flowers wondering how many people actually order from these people. I guess the only thing we can do as florists is get the word out and hope that people will listen and order through us. All it take is one bad experience with these order gatherers and then hopefully they will start ordering from their local florist.
 
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