Big FTD Announcement (?)

[BloomingFlorida]

Spoke with my illustrious FTD rep today. (Second time since we took over the shop, and only because we sent a message asking her to help guide us in how to discontinue our membership.) She called, understood our position, offered to send more orders our way, etc.

Her big thing was that next week (sometime after 8/31) FTD would be making a huge announcement that she thinks may change our feelings about keeping/dropping. She said she (and everyone else) signed a confidentiality contract, forbidding her to talk about it yet. Ok, my interest has been picqued.

Has anyone else heard something like this? Anyone want to take a stab at what is coming down the pike? She said it was the biggest announcement since she has been with them (almost 20 years).

One of my guesses is (and about the only huge thing that could even make me think of changing my mind), is an increase to filling florists (85/15 maybe?). Even that probably wouldn't be enough to keep many.

Just curious if anyone else has heard anything.

 

[Dazeal]

Maybe they'll announce:

We've decided to quit competing against our own hard working loyal members. We promise not to take their dues, taking a % of those dues and competing directly against them by using our elite brand 'FTD' and the drop ship model at ftd.com.

Or maybe....

We've decided to quit supporting dishonest order gatherers because the floral industry is more important to us, than our CEO's third house in Scotland.

I hope their "BIG" change has something do to with morals, not money. But I am a hopeless naive romantic and laugh at that fact when I think about man's downfall, greed.

 

[BOSS]

She called, understood our position, offered to send more orders our way, etc.

They always say that... where are they going to get these fictitious orders? The last rep I talked to, admitted their orders were unprofitable for the most part.

Her big thing was that next week (sometime after 8/31) FTD would be making a huge announcement that she thinks may change our feelings about keeping/dropping. She said she (and everyone else) signed a confidentiality contract, forbidding her to talk about it yet. Ok, my interest has been picqued.

Heard rumblings... no interest on my part, nothing they could say will change anything.

She said it was the biggest announcement since she has been with them (almost 20 years).

Heard that many times before over the years... it's more smoke and mirrors.

One of my guesses is (and about the only huge thing that could even make me think of changing my mind), is an increase to filling florists (85/15 maybe?).

Never happen! They will never do anything *for* the florists unless forced to do so by Teleflora...

 

[Carrington]

We have changes being forecast over here from both Teleflora and Interflora ... I too am bound by confidentiality but yes there are changes coming.

 

[RWK]

Well Carrington, just tell us one thing........in your singular, one persons, own opinion, will those changes be good for florists or bad for florists?

 

[goldfish]

Anyone want to take a stab at what is coming down the pike?

Yes. Either reduction of monthly fee or waiver of 7% WS commission for Gold-Star filling shops. Just guessing. If I turned out to be correct, I would be bragging and explaining why this would help them.

 

[theRKF]

Maybe they are going to buy FC and put the admins out of our misery?

Oh, wait ...

Nevermind

 

[Luc]

No No No I heard that they are replacing Frank Stornelli from the Canadian Office and Mikey the flower Guy is taking over.

And that they are reducing Membership fees for everyone and will now want to promote the Brand like before.

Luc

 

[Missy]

It will be interesting to see what the news is, or is this all much to do about nothing.

Hey Ryan, I think we need to do a Mandarin night with the FC family more often, just to remind us why we do what we do, and the people we are lucky enough to share it with. I am sure everyone there would be willing to do that more often!

Not to mention your kids are so much fun!

 

[theRKF]

Just in: FTD rebranding announcement!

They are moving from the traditional "black and gold" of FTD past, to a newer fresher look in ....



wait for it ....


gold and black!

Sources say an NYC ad agency was paid a six figure sum for this rebranding campaign.

lolz

 

[Luc]

Missy, You alredy in the mood for Chinesse?

Do we get to sit together this time?

Luc

 

[Missy]

Yes Luc, we are sitting together next time for sure! Unless someone separates us for not "being haved"

 

[BloomingFlorida]

They always say that... where are they going to get these fictitious orders? The last rep I talked to, admitted their orders were unprofitable for the most part.

Here's my take on where the orders will come from - out of the pockets of other area florists. In March, when we took over the shop, our rep came and visited. I introduced myself, and told her I didn't understand why she was here, as the shop had recieved one order in the previous 2 weeks. We were new to all this (still are), and agree to give it a go for a couple of months. About a week later, we were averaging 5 FTD.com orders a day. The week of MD, we got 138 FTD.com orders. Meanwhile, a fellow florist about 2.5 miles from me, got 34 the same week. We cover the same area. That florist started writing the 'I'm leaving' letters, and lo and behold, my store has not recieved a single FTD.com order since Jun 27. The other florist has been getting them.

TF on the other hand, tells me their system (basically) is a rotation, so that everyone gets a fairly equal piece of the pie. I'm friendly with3 other florists in the immediate area, and it seems to be that way. The order allocation between our shops is very close to even.

My opinion is that all the W/S's suffer from too many florists, not enough to go around to make it profitable for all or even most florists in a given geographic area.

 

[BOSS]

Here's my take on where the orders will come from - out of the pockets of other area florists. In March, when we took over the shop, our rep came and visited. I introduced myself, and told her I didn't understand why she was here, as the shop had recieved one order in the previous 2 weeks. We were new to all this (still are), and agree to give it a go for a couple of months. About a week later, we were averaging 5 FTD.com orders a day. The week of MD, we got 138 FTD.com orders. Meanwhile, a fellow florist about 2.5 miles from me, got 34 the same week. We cover the same area. That florist started writing the 'I'm leaving' letters, and lo and behold, my store has not recieved a single FTD.com order since Jun 27. The other florist has been getting them.

And the cycle begins anew.... People, there are no new orders, in fact order volume is declining in favor of direct consumer sales to your web site and your phones... the days of looking to a wire service for help are dead and gone...

They are our worst enemy!

 

[Robin]

I was informed by my marketplace rep that they have done studies, and you don't NEED to make a profit on every order...we should take the undervalue FTD.COM orders because...oh yeah, THEY make money on it~!
Stll shaking my head over that sales pitch! :handball:

 

[BloomingFlorida]

And the cycle begins anew.... People, there are no new orders, in fact order volume is declining in favor of direct consumer sales to your web site and your phones... the days of looking to a wire service for help are dead and gone...

They are our worst enemy!

(Emphasis mine) I agree 100%! Dismantling the FTD machine in our store is the first step for us. It will be a slow process in our case, but a process none-the-less...

 

[Eric S]

(Emphasis mine) I agree 100%! Dismantling the FTD machine in our store is the first step for us. It will be a slow process in our case, but a process none-the-less...

Why would it be a slow process if they only send you one order. Unless you send 20 or more orders. Is that the reason why?

 

[Carrington]

Well Carrington, just tell us one thing........in your singular, one persons, own opinion, will those changes be good for florists or bad for florists?

My own singular, own persons, own opinion is that florists are in a strong position and must make choices that work for their business and give them control. As mentioned in another post more and more orders are going direct to shops - that is a trend I believe will continue and therefore the choices florists make must be ruled by that buying pattern.

 

[BloomingFlorida]

Why would it be a slow process if they only send you one order. Unless you send 20 or more orders. Is that the reason why?

Slow as in, even canceling FTD today, we are stuck through December with them.

We're stuck with TF for a wile, since the previous owner bought the POS with them, and we aren't in a position to settle that right away.

The PO also had the belief that you can be successful by having as many W/S's as possible. This store had 158 walk-in customers for the entire year of 2008. That's sad, but it was his business. Until we can get the walk-ins to a level that can support the store, we can't walk away from all the services. We're currently in a Catch-22, but we're working very hard to get out of it.

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

No No No I heard that they are replacing Frank Stornelli from the Canadian Office and Mikey the flower Guy is taking over.

And that they are reducing Membership fees for everyone and will now want to promote the Brand like before.

Luc

almost true....Frank and Mikey have BOUGHT FTD in the states, for a buck, and are "merging" operations with Frank Stornelli's organization in Canada, BECAUSE, they KNOW what they're doing!!