Easter always makes me take a harder look over a 5-6 week period instead of just one month, to compare apples to apples.
Looking at six weeks from March 1st to Easter, our wire outs are flat, our local sales (non wire in and excluding wire out too) are only 2% down, and our wire ins are 25% down. For this period in 08 we were 17% wire in and in 09 we were 13% wire in. Still a very safe % in my opinion (I would seek any wire in biz as long as I stay under 20%).
We fill for OG's, and fill a lot for one big OG, even late day and same day when we can do it profitably. I have heard from a florist that spoke to several top sending OG florists at the TF top member trip and was told that those that would talk numbers are down 25-30%.
This last month has been our first stretch of even a "flat" period in recent months. Since Oct are flat numbers were no longer and getting really bad - down 10% then 15%, even 20% down. We have been in business 26 years... and have never really experienced double digit decreases before last fall.
So after looking at these numbers and hearing (supposedly) how poorly some of the OG's seem to be doing, I feel pretty good at holding our own with wire outs (this has been a struggle for years since the internet took off). I also feel pretty good that although our wire ins are down 25%, total sales dollars are only down 6%, even with the drastic wire in decrease.
Just passing along my numbers and thoughts...hoping this is a bit of a turning point and consumers are starting to spend even for the nonessentials, and they're choosing to do it with real florists.
Looking at six weeks from March 1st to Easter, our wire outs are flat, our local sales (non wire in and excluding wire out too) are only 2% down, and our wire ins are 25% down. For this period in 08 we were 17% wire in and in 09 we were 13% wire in. Still a very safe % in my opinion (I would seek any wire in biz as long as I stay under 20%).
We fill for OG's, and fill a lot for one big OG, even late day and same day when we can do it profitably. I have heard from a florist that spoke to several top sending OG florists at the TF top member trip and was told that those that would talk numbers are down 25-30%.
This last month has been our first stretch of even a "flat" period in recent months. Since Oct are flat numbers were no longer and getting really bad - down 10% then 15%, even 20% down. We have been in business 26 years... and have never really experienced double digit decreases before last fall.
So after looking at these numbers and hearing (supposedly) how poorly some of the OG's seem to be doing, I feel pretty good at holding our own with wire outs (this has been a struggle for years since the internet took off). I also feel pretty good that although our wire ins are down 25%, total sales dollars are only down 6%, even with the drastic wire in decrease.
Just passing along my numbers and thoughts...hoping this is a bit of a turning point and consumers are starting to spend even for the nonessentials, and they're choosing to do it with real florists.
