A Mood For You Intro

[A Mood For You]

I have to step out of the office shortly. But i do think that post was way to aggressive towards me and many points are not valid. I will be back in a bit to respond. But i do not want to argue. I assure you that I am no"fox" in the hen house. I talked to my president yesterday and he told me we will not be selling to the public. I will look into this when i get back and also post again. Please do not ban me before i can post a response.

thank you

 

[Victoria]

V,

That was not directed at you at all. I applauded your stepping up and taking over when Shannon had enough. I also stepped up to defend you when an applicant verbally attacked you very inappropriately. V. I respect you and know you are a valuable member of this forum. Please know that.

My concern is that almost to the number the new applicants are saying they found us on the internet. I broached that subject along with others months ago, when we were concerned that our postings or rantings could be seen by our public. That could be devistating to our businesses. If you go back and count how many people apply daily as of late. It's 8 or so. Thats a lot compared to say six months ago. Many are suppliers or people wanting to sell something,or working out of their basements or people with no experience at all wanting us to train them, but don't want to take the good advise we offer.

V. if you felt offended, please accept my apology, and I agree with you that other FC'ers should be more proactive in the vetting process. If there is to be one.

I'm not offended. I've been the "gatekeeper" for a long time and it does get tiresome. More people need to participate, period... and not give it up when it does get stressful. :wallhead:

Thanks for the apology, it wasn't necessary, but certainly appreciated.

V

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

V,

It won't let me give you another greenie, so want to say "Love You!"

Carolyn

 

[TGDragonfly]

I think there's a difference between selling a product or service to benefit florists and selling a service to florist to promote a product. Be careful, especially as times get hard, companies will look for suckers and free advertising.
I agree with Royce.

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

Jeff,

All inquiries are part of the vetting process, we often check out the website info. given to us that's why we ask for it. Yours looked odd, so I called and was told exactly what I posted here. If you are unhappy that your business was outed by one of your own, I really can't help that.

First and foremost, we will protect our business interest, individually and as a group. Please know that we are very nice people, and it is unfortunate that you took offense, you are applying for membership and asking for our help. It would behoove you to be nicer.

If you can explain why there is ecommerce to the public on your site (which is a week old) and why the person I spoke with told me there was, then feel free to do so.

As Victoria and others sorta indicated, after ValDay more members will have the time to review this thread. No decision will be made until everyone who wants to, has a chance to weigh in. Hang tight.

 

[Victoria]

For this to be effective, people need to make their opinions heard before the person gets the required number of votes to be a full member. That way, we aren't shutting the barn door after the horse has left the building.

Not enough of us regularly monitor the incoming applications. There are many each day who apply. All are answered but many of those applicants don't follow through because they either don't like the questions we ask, or they lose interest pretty quickly.

So, like in the wonderful world of politics, people must vote if they want their concerns protected. It can't be left to a few.

V

 

[Victoria]

Carolyn, Jeff is a fully registered member now.

V

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

Huh...how did that happen? I see at least two no votes and very few posters.

I think it was Amy who said on a thread last week on an applicant, looks like someone is drinking the Kool-aid again.

Sadly, the vetting process apparently means nothing!
This board is no longer a FLORIST forum. And we wonder why our "arsees" are in the wind.

Lunch is over so back to work.

 

[Victoria]

More often than not people vote without posting. That's likely what has happened here.

V

 

[A Mood For You]

First, I dislike being manipulated.

If you read all the post carefully, you'll see where Jeff says they are working on getting the site open for the PUBLIC to buy from. When challenged on that he backed up. But he continues to say he is concerned with pushing forward HIS agenda.

I just called the number on the site as a consumer trying to purchase. They do have a lot of the merchandise priced and you can put it in a shopping cart and it totals your order. It would not complete the transaction, and that is what I told the person that answered the phone. (I won't say the name as not to get them in trouble with the boss)

This person, told me they were having "hiccups" with the check out, but that they would be cleared up in a few days and I would be able to order online as a consumer!

He also offered to send me a catalog to order from as a consumer.

Having said all of that it confirms my first impression of deception in the posts.

Why as Flower Sellers, would we want to assist a Gift Basket retailer, in taking any part of our market? Do we not create our own gift baskets? I do, and get 100% of that sell. We have fought so hard to keep our customers, this would be letting another fox into the hen house. They want our flower customers to choose their gift baskets. Just another in lieu of flowers ploy.

When customers come into my shop, I want 100% of their money, they are my customers. My purpose is not to operate a "consignment" shop for this or any other persons business.

Jeff said they had sold 80,000 gift baskets so far. How were those sold? To the public?

Why should we have to pay them 150.00 membership fee per year, and only get 30% of the sale. That number is offensive.

This youngman is trying to operate as a reverse OG. He keeps 70% we get 30% and get charged a yearly membership fee too. No wonder he wants us to tell him more about our FTD feelings. He's copying them. And will as the big boys do, compete against us.

This is WAY too sneaky sounding to me. I vote to protect all real florist from any outside threat to flower sells...I vote NO.

Sorry Jeff, you contridicted yourself too much in your post. We are not stupid and your associate I spoke with let the cat out of the bag. Your intention is to sell to the public.

Please FC'ers why are we allowing all these people that are not real florist onto this florist forum. Without Shannon as the gatekeeper, it seems more and more of these slip through.

I am on my soap box, but someone needs to be. I don't mean to offend any FC'ers, please know that.

The program we have started still has bugs to work out. YES. The person you talked to Aaron was confused also on what we were doing with our website. I was also confused in one of my first posts concerning the selling to the public.I talked with a coworker and he said he didnt think we were selling from the website. So i posted it....Now I literally just got off the phone with the president and owner of A Mood For You(Bob Devine) and we WILL NOT sell to the public from our website. We have a full staff meeting on Monday. And I can assure you that there will no longer be an "add to cart" option on our site. These are the reasons I joined this site. To get input. Why would you want to do business with us if we were trying to undercut you also? That is one of the things I spoke to my president about. And it will be changed. I think before you pass judment and say I'm misleading just ask me about the process. And tell me your quelms.

I am here because I want to know what YOU as a floralist want. What would make this process better for YOU. I think you have my intentions very wrong. I'm here to have a good relationship and as of now its not going to great.haha....

And you make your own gift baskets? I think that is a good thing. I assure you you dont have the selection we do, also we probably dont have some of the things you put in your baskets. If you make your own baskets and do not want ours then fine. If you make your own, why not have an additional revenue stream. Why not add things to your product line? Especially with ZERO inventory. Yes we take a yearly fee. $150 dollars even in this economy is not too far fetched for a whole year. And 30% to 70%? WE do everything. You have it set up and can push to sell it. But once you fill out that order we put(or already have them) the baskets together and we ship them out. YOU make 30% for doing so. Gift baskets have an amazing percieved value. YOU get the money up front from the costumer.. And we think this program is a great way to increase revenue for both parties involved.

I can assure you that I am only here to make this more appealing and better. I feel attacked when really I'm trying to build this program out of your wants and needs.

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

Jeff,

First I don't want Aaron to get into trouble, please see to that. I knew from your last post that you were leaving here to go and find who I spoke to. You also apparently found out what I said was true, since you now are saying the Shopping Cart is going away.

If you want florist to promote and sell your gift baskets over their own Flowers and Baskets, then why on earth would you be charging them $150.00 a year to make you money?? I think you are trying to follow the FTD model too closely. They do things for the membership fee they ask for. Not much but something, understand?

Also, lets talk about the 30% to the florist. You have a lime green fold out box with 6 items in it for 29.99. Ok presumably your theory is that when my customer comes into my shop, I'm going to stear them to your product (over my own) sell it, tell you, you then ship it possibly to my own town with your name all over it and a catalog for the recepient to order direct from you later. Thereby cutting my throat. I will get a whole $9.00 whoopie!!! There is really very little if any benefit to the florist in your business model.

Since we never see what you send, we are the ones that will have to deal with the angry sender and recepient if your product is not as described.

And yes, florist make their own gift baskets and are very good at it. Florist were making gift baskets long before it became fashionable to create gift basket websites.
It's the same with Balloon websites, florist did balloon bouquets first.

You asked what do we as florist want....what we want is fewer people seeing our business as an easy mark, and trying to take a cut of our pie.

There has been approx. 147 chatters view this thread, I'm curious, how many of you voted yes on this applicant. Especially now that he has admitted he was not truthful in the beginning.

I want to restate V. appeal for more chatters to read the complete thread on a new applicant before they cast a vote. Even ask questions. V. should not be left to do it all herself. I thank you.

 

[Queen of Weddings]

Sorry I have been busy, and I don't want to deal with the drop shippers, cause I have enough crapola to deal with, and heay I still fantazie about that roll over to the basement to put on my marabo slippers,,,,,I say no,

 

[wildflowerschicago]

I posted earlier in this thread, as I try to do in most new member intros, but I can't remember if I voted...my brain is fried after Valentine's Day.

Anyway, I appreciate your position Royce, but as a shop who does not offer gift baskets (I used to, but the overhead got too high) I might be interested in hearing more about this company. As it stands now, I have to turn away the few requests I get for gift baskets, so 30% would be better than 0%. I would have to heavily weigh whether it would be worth the annual membership to join, but I like the idea.

That being said, I can appreciate that this is a new venture for this company, and they are still working out the bugs. I also appreciate that Jeff came here looking for what we the florists wanted. He has been more than forthright in answering all the questions/concerns posed to him, and he sought out hte answers rather than telling us what we wanted to hear.

As for voting without preperly vetting new members, it would be great if more members asked questions and voiced concerns. It has been my feeling that most of the basement bettys and people who don't really belong here, figure it out pretty quickly and fade away. Some do slip through the cracks, but it's been a while since we've had anyone too crazy (only 2 since I have been around).

Maybe I'm a niave optimist, but I like the idea of giving people the benefit of the doubt. I'm getting off my soapbox to go soak my feet.

 

[BOSS]

For this to be effective, people need to make their opinions heard before the person gets the required number of votes to be a full member. That way, we aren't shutting the barn door after the horse has left the building.

V

The door can always be opened

 

[theRKF]

I'm struggling to understand the hostility, here. Drop shipping is nothing new, and when handled in a white-label format it can be very profitable. Jeff mentioned selling through Amazon & Kohls ... I'm guessing those brands weren't interested in having their customers receive a Mood For You branded gift.

Jeff, my suggestion - which may very likely be what you are planning - is to offer a white-label partner agreement where the florist sells the gift baskets at your SRP, and you state in your contract with the florist that you will not brand the delivered item, nor market to the recipient.

Despite some complaints about "only getting 30%" I think it's a fair split. Few florists are actually going to be making 30% profit on their gift baskets. More florists just don't want to or can't justify having the gift items in inventory.

Ryan

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

Right now we are working diligently to get all our baskets onto our website to sell to the public. In the past we mainly sold to businesses and larger companies like Kohls, Target and Amazon. But we are really trying to get into the smaller shops and get our products out to a larger base of people. We have changed a lot of our baskets quality trying to make them better looking and with higher quality products in them. We think that this is a great way for business owners to generate a whole new way to get revenue with little work for them and with great products.
I am definitely not here to do any "spamming". Rather to get input and see if the interest is out there. And since i will be working with floral shops it would be nice to see how the community works.

thank you

Jeff
A Mood For You

www.amoodforyou.com

I'm sorry I don't get this. Jeff has repeated said what is hilighted here in red. They only back peddled when we suggested that was unacceptable to play in our sand box.

How on earth would we be able to police what they are sending to the customer? ie. them not enclosing their catalogs and their names on product.

 

[Victoria]

To be honest, I'm hoping I can turn my department into a "drop ship" situation. I have the ability to ship now (and have successfully). It's the best way to grow my business.

V

 

[theRKF]

I'm sorry I don't get this. Jeff has repeated said what is hilighted here in red. They only back peddled when we suggested that was unacceptable to play in our sand box.

How on earth would we be able to police what they are sending to the customer? ie. them not enclosing their catalogs and their names on product.

He has also repeatedly said they will NOT be selling to the public. He's here to have a conversation with his customer base, but the conversation seems to be a little one-sided. He's acknowledged your feedback - why can't you acknowledge his position?

Carolyn, are you honestly making more than 30% profit on your gift baskets? If so, you're well ahead of most florists.

If you feel the need to "police" what is being sent, try a few test orders. For most companies, having the protection of a contract is enough. Outside of the floral world these types of agreements are very, very common. It just wouldn't be worth the risk to Jeff's business to try an capture a consumer sale at the risk of souring a portion of their B2B relationships.

Jeff is here to learn what florists want, so why don't we start more constructively outlining how we would build an effective plan that could work for both parties?

Ryan

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

V,
Are you saying do this using your own product? In that case it would be good.

I just can't wrap my head around paying this guy 150.00 year for what we can do ourselves. There are lots of places to purchase content for baskets at very low prices, even your local dollar stores have great product of quality.

Hey maybe I'll put up a site for gift baskets, and one just for balloons.

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

Ryan,

Respectfully, if the entire thread is read carefully I have offered him ideas with regard to the idea working for florist. Also, I have read his post and called his company.

Yes I do make more than 30% profit on gift baskets, and they go out with my name on them, not a third partys. Yes, I would be concerned with what kind of service was being provided, due to the many changes in direction in what Jeff has said in all his post.

I guess we will agree to disagree on this one. But this old florist, doesn't see this as such a great idea, when we are fighting to keep our shops free from the plunderers. I want to promote my business and products, not someone elses.

I have said my piece, so no point in continuing in this thread. Time will tell as to what the companys real longterm motives are.