800FLOWERS media show

[Tom Carlson]

Sorry, don't have time to read the posts already made, but here's my take.

800Flowers put on a pretty good show and now everyone thinks that every 800 order placed goes to a corporate store. That's a false impression made by 800 and a wrong take by the viewer.

I watched the show pretty close and do not recall any point made that probably over 90% of orders placed with 800FLOWERS is filled by an independent florist.

Frankly, it probably could not have been presented easily that 800FLOWERS is more a Wire Service than company owned stores filling orders.

So I think the result is very positive for 800FLOWERS and the end result is that there will be a spike in 800FLOWER orders. They pulled off a good show, although I have talked to non-florists who saw it they felt it was the weakest of all the Undercover Boss shows.

Maybe, just maybe, some users of 800FLOWERS will come to the conclusion that their/every town does not have a corporate store.

QUESTION: Is there going to be any reaction by florist viewers given to the TV Media that runs UNDERCOVER BOSS. Probably would not do any good because that was the last show for the season?
It just seems like there ought to be a medium for 800 filling florists to present how their side works.

Sorry if this is a rehash. In that case, just take it for another florist's thought. Tom Carlson

 

[lori042499]

Tom,

My belief is that 800's next step is to push the sale of franchises and to remove the ws part of thier business or lessen it....hence the major reason they wouldn't even say anything..You have to remember it is their brand, their company, you wouldn't go on TV and mention at length all the shops you send orders to through your wire service, it is a part of our business that is there, but noone has ever wanted the consumer to know much about it like a dirty little secret..I can remember working for people in the 80's and them telling me never tell the customer that you won't be doing the order...they won't trust us if we tell them...They also never wanted anyone to know that delivery came out on the other end because they always felt funny about the service fee...I never got that, but every industry has them, like restaurants and pest control, something that is neccesary but your would never discuss it with a customer...

 

[Knife's Wife]

Well, I took it for what it was, an infomercial to show and expose the very small human side of them and make it seem much more than it is. They very cleverly selected the shops that they would feature. One to show success through human interaction, one that touched the souls of any one with soft heart for a down and out family struggling to succeed, one to illustrate talent and that a designer of THEIRS touches each arrangement and cares what they look like, and they threw in their least successful store for some PR coverage and hope for a turn around in sales. Showing any call center or any of the 90% filling shops would have done exactly what they were attempting to cover up. I have no doubt the recent exposure of internet scams have hurt the internet side of the business a bit. They wanted the consumers to believe that they are real florist filling every order, with their employees.
You can bet there are a whole bunch of people that are saying to themselves "wow they really are florist and the biggest with the most stores, and they care about their employees"
I really don't see a name change coming out of this or a consideration of downsizing of the internet sales, it was to recoup the lost internet sales and I have a feeling that if that show got much exposure then it will happen.

Joan

 

[conchandler]

Did a talk at a convention on Saturday to a group of women, mostly older, about the Power of Giving Flowers, ala SAF. During the Q&A, one lady asked if I had seen the show. She said it was her least favorite episode.