Consumer Education About Order Gatherers

[Tom Carlson]

Sher commented on a post referencing "Not filling incoming wire orders". She questions if not filling orders is in fact florists shooting themselves in the foot. Good point.

So I composed the following as an idea for the florist delivering incoming wire orders to enclose with the enclosure card. Actually, it could be a counter hand out and included with every order delivered of picked up.

If every order filled by a florist was used as a vehicle, the message would certainly get out.

What’s Going On?
The cornerstone of our industry “sending flowers by wire” is
eroding due to middlemen who have crept in between the florist
and the wireservice [Teleflora or FTD]. Phantom1 florists2 are
lurking on the Internet and the consumer sending flowers by wire
is paying more and the recipient is getting less. The best way to
avoid such schemes is to do one of the following:
A. Search for a real, brick & mortar florist in the city where
flowers are delivered.
B. Visit your local florist to relay your order through their
preferred florist.
------------------
1. Phantom florists do not design or deliver flowers. They “Gather”
orders only, charge high handling/delivery fees that often are not
passed on to the delivering florist. This results in the flower
recipient getting as much as 30% less value than expected.
2. Reference: www.floristdective.com[/SIZE] Su...rist, Janesville, WI [email protected]

 

[Sher]

Tom, I think your comment card is very to the point except that it leaves out one factor that makes the OG's better than us...They have functioning web site. Maybe add a comment like:
We're even more convenient than dealing with a middleman...we know what flowers are available...try our website www.blahblah .com next time you wake up at 2am and realize you forgot to send someone flowers.We'll take care of your order 24 hours a day.

Probably you can work it better but the convenience of the web has pulled many of our walkins away and if our web presence isn't there either by how we promote it or being listed in directories that can pop our cities up in a second, we will continue to lose this portion of the business....we are becoming a point and click society demanding conveniece and instant results...local flower shops need to compete with that as well as with our creative sides.
Sher...jmho

 

[lori042499]

Sher commented on a post referencing "Not filling incoming wire orders". She questions if not filling orders is in fact florists shooting themselves in the foot. Good point.

So I composed the following as an idea for the florist delivering incoming wire orders to enclose with the enclosure card. Actually, it could be a counter hand out and included with every order delivered of picked up.

If every order filled by a florist was used as a vehicle, the message would certainly get out.

What’s Going On?
The cornerstone of our industry “sending flowers by wire” is
eroding due to middlemen who have crept in between the florist
and the wireservice [Teleflora or FTD]. Phantom1 florists2 are
lurking on the Internet and the consumer sending flowers by wire
is paying more and the recipient is getting less. The best way to
avoid such schemes is to do one of the following:
A. Search for a real, brick & mortar florist in the city where
flowers are delivered.
B. Visit your local florist to relay your order through their
preferred florist.
------------------
1. Phantom florists do not design or deliver flowers. They “Gather”
orders only, charge high handling/delivery fees that often are not
passed on to the delivering florist. This results in the flower
recipient getting as much as 30% less value than expected.
2. Reference: www.floristdective.com[/SIZE] Sug...se it is confusing to the average consumer...

 

[hcflorist]

Tom, I think your comment card is very to the point except that it leaves out one factor that makes the OG's better than us...They have functioning web site. Maybe add a comment like:
We're even more convenient than dealing with a middleman...we know what flowers are available...try our website www.blahblah .com next time you wake up at 2am and realize you forgot to send someone flowers.We'll take care of your order 24 hours a day.

Probably you can work it better but the convenience of the web has pulled many of our walkins away and if our web presence isn't there either by how we promote it or being listed in directories that can pop our cities up in a second, we will continue to lose this portion of the business....we are becoming a point and click society demanding conveniece and instant results...local flower shops need to compete with that as well as with our creative sides.
Sher...jmho

You hit the nail on the head.

Forget attempts at consumer education. That just comes across as "sour grapes" from "has beens". And we don't have the bucks to make it effective either nationally or locally.

Just start doing what the OG's are doing and do it better than they do in your local market. GET A HIGH PROFILE WELL RUN AND WELL MAINTAINED WEBSITE UP AND RUNNING IN YOUR MARKET NOW! And look at what those OG's are offering every day and meet them headon. It's not that hard to do if you're not giving away half the cost of every arrangement you deliver in wire fees.

If you're as convenient to shop with as the OG's are and your prices and offerings are competitive, your local customers will figure out the difference on their own.

 

[bloomz]

Forget attempts at consumer education. That just comes across as "sour grapes" from "has beens".

Ed's on a roll today - and a good roll it is!

Imagine that - quit worrying about negative stuff the others are doing and make positive steps for ourselves.....

Or in short - simply do it better.

What a concept!