Dcon's and the Cash they generate

BOSS

BOSS

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Oct 31, 2002
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I have not seen the letter that Apatoff sent out to the dual members that use Teleflora technology, but I can imagine what it said. In this mornings email I received a copy of this letter from Shawn Weidmann stating Teleflora's stance regarding FTD's pirate tactics.

I must say I agree with Teleflora, heck even FTD's own technology MercX does not handle Deliver Confirmations in an efficient manner... FTD should be the one being fined, not the members, but that will never happen.

FTD instituted this new TAX, as they have every right to do, however to not allow other technology companies time to ramp up and get their members up to speed prior to rolling out this change is unfair. I applaud Teleflora for taking a proactive, member focused stance, but really guys, it's of little value as this type of thing will simply continue to go on until florists just leave, or until Teleflora decides they want to shut the other guys down...

Letter attached....
 

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  • FTD Response letter.pdf
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BOSS said:
I have not seen the letter that Apatoff sent out to the dual members that use Teleflora technology, but I can imagine what it said. In this mornings email I received a copy of this letter from Shawn Weidmann stating Teleflora's stance regarding FTD's pirate tactics.

I must say I agree with Teleflora, heck even FTD's own technology MercX does not handle Deliver Confirmations in an efficient manner... FTD should be the one being fined, not the members, but that will never happen.

FTD instituted this new TAX, as they have every right to do, however to not allow other technology companies time to ramp up and get their members up to speed prior to rolling out this change is unfair. I applaud Teleflora for taking a proactive, member focused stance, but really guys, it's of little value as this type of thing will simply continue to go on until florists just leave, or until Teleflora decides they want to shut the other guys down...

Letter attached....
Click to expand...

I don't get it.

Why is it taking TF until the end of the year (10 months????) to "ramp up"?

Further, why would Weidmann expect TF members to be exempt? FTD members continue to pay while TF members get an exemption because it takes forever for TF to implement new technology?????

Doesn't make any sense.
 
Preston that's not really it... for this all to work, FTD and TF technology have to communicate... and even FTD's own technology, MercX makes delivery confirmations a hassle...

TF can't simply build a module overnight to communicate with FTD's to make cross platform delivery confirmations work...
 
Last time I checked FTD and Teleflora were competitors. So why would anyone expect FTD to wait on anything to allow its competitor to catch up on their technology. I don't recall hearing about Apple delaying release on the IPhone so RIM could improve the Blackberry.

I just don't understand the train of thought here. I understand where Teleflora is coming from , they are trying to paint FTD as the "bad guy" for not working with them in everyone's best interests. Its a great PR opportunity for TF, "hey look at us, we have our members best interests in mind".

But the bares bones truth is that TF and FTD are bitter rivals fighting for the same customer base. I suspect in the bigger TF probably wishes they had jumped on the Dcon gravy train themselves for the very same reasons FTD introduced it..
 
prestonway said:
I don't get it.

Why is it taking TF until the end of the year (10 months????) to "ramp up"?

Further, why would Weidmann expect TF members to be exempt? FTD members continue to pay while TF members get an exemption because it takes forever for TF to implement new technology?????

Doesn't make any sense.
Click to expand...
Teleflora has had dcon capabilities for some time now............but they want to make them user friendly not like FTD's crap manual system.


Doug Munro said:
Last time I checked FTD and Teleflora were competitors. So why would anyone expect FTD to wait on anything to allow its competitor to catch up on their technology. I don't recall hearing about Apple delaying release on the IPhone so RIM could improve the Blackberry.

I just don't understand the train of thought here. I understand where Teleflora is coming from , they are trying to paint FTD as the "bad guy" for not working with them in everyone's best interests. Its a great PR opportunity for TF, "hey look at us, we have our members best interests in mind".

But the bares bones truth is that TF and FTD are bitter rivals fighting for the same customer base. I suspect in the bigger TF probably wishes they had jumped on the Dcon gravy train themselves for the very same reasons FTD introduced it..
Click to expand...

Yes thay are rivals, but FTD jumped the gun after Teleflora anounced that Dcon's were coming soon, thing is FTD's system does not work properly and there's lots of bugs and wasted time.....but I guess if you want to be first????? you have to accept putting out an inferior product!
 
Exactly what BBJ said... Teleflora stated at some point they would make Dcons mandatory and there would be a fee attached. FTD rushed their product, which does not work correctly out there to begin collecting the $0.50 windfall from members that do not confirm. The argument *could* be made that FTD put an inferior product that does not work out there knowing they would collect huge amounts of cash.

Doug, I'm not saying that FTD and TF should get along, or even play nice together. The real issue is, that if you are a dual member, and run say RTI or Eagle, your delivery confirmations will not flow automatically back to FTD and the sending florist, so it's very likely you'll get the $0.50 hit on each order(the cash cow). Even florists running Dove POS, heck ask BBJ and Herb, even florists running MercuryX can't easily comply with the rules, and thats an FTD platform.

The bigger point is that FTD is reaping (rape comes to mind) large cash rewards with a program designed to improve both florist and consumer information, but in reality it's designed to fail, and only generate cash for FTD.
 
I don't think we need to educate Doug on the pros & cons of FTD's system - he has ~80 shops running Merc :) Whatever the dcon frustrations, Doug probably has an earful of feedback.

If you're a dual member and you opted for one team's POS over the other, then you already know that they are playing the tech card as a divisive element. The call to "pick a team" has been heard loud and clear, since before TF pulled Merc support from their products.

Only in the floral industry would we expect that competing technologies should be working together. You don't see Yahoo! or MS changing their PPC platforms to be compatible with AdWords. As search marketers we have to manually or programatically alert campaigns to move them from Google to Y! to Bing. You don't put Hyundai parts on a Ford.

Now, FTD should know by now that only Google can get away with rush-releasing crap features to trump competitors ... and even that grace period is ending quickly. No one else has that kind of brand love.
 
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My thoughts on this is that the WS are pushing people to just pick one....many of us should just be part of one, not sure why any one of us needs two at all...There really is no reason for tf and ftd to allow any time for either to catch up...I certainly don't call my competitor and tell him to get moving with his social media and web presense....or update his technology to better market or get a better attitude because he will sell more....realistically I want him to stay just the way he is, it is better for me...same with these companies....I guess you will just have to do them manually or take the hit....do out your cost analysis and see what cost more the hit or the person sitting there manually punching in the dcons...and go with your findings..eventually it will be streamlined maybe...
 
BOSS said:
No, but you can put Ford parts on a Huundai!
Click to expand...

Yep, and you don't have to use Google Chrome to search Google, also you can choose from several phone companies (service providers) and they all use Bell lines (at least in Canada)
 
prestonway said:
Not always.

If you want cable in the East, you have to go with Rogers.

In the West, you have to go with Shaw.
Click to expand...

You're talking cable.........I said phones......like the things you talk in with a land line!!!
 
The reality is that this is a great example free enterprise and competition. FTD and TF are competing for a limited customers base , and one of the features both are promoting to the customer base is the "superior technology" . Regardless of how inconvenient it is to the florist, expecting them to work together is unrealistic.

There are VERY few industries where manufacturers or software developers share technology with their competitors, Some of the ones that do and have been mentioned in this thread do so becase of massive infrastructure costs, government regulations, or safety concerns. As for Google not requiring the use of Chrome, Google if anything is not stupid, when you earn your revenue from internet advertising why would you require the use of a browser that has limited market penetration.

I find it odd that with all the talk on this board about the evil wire services and how shops need to do away with them that a thread complaining about the WS's not cross technology enhancements even exists. So having 1 wire service is too many, but having 2 is not enough? Sheesh, make up your minds
 
Doug Munro said:
The reality is that this is a great example free enterprise and competition. FTD and TF are competing for a limited customers base , and one of the features both are promoting to the customer base is the "superior technology" . Regardless of how inconvenient it is to the florist, expecting them to work together is unrealistic.

There are VERY few industries where manufacturers or software developers share technology with their competitors, Some of the ones that do and have been mentioned in this thread do so becase of massive infrastructure costs, government regulations, or safety concerns. As for Google not requiring the use of Chrome, Google if anything is not stupid, when you earn your revenue from internet advertising why would you require the use of a browser that has limited market penetration.

I find it odd that with all the talk on this board about the evil wire services and how shops need to do away with them that a thread complaining about the WS's not cross technology enhancements even exists. So having 1 wire service is too many, but having 2 is not enough? Sheesh, make up your minds
Click to expand...

The reality is that many florists see wire services as evil and competition that is steeling their orders.
Others see them as tools to use in their business's some for tech, some for sending orders and some for receiving orders.......(yes some florists can actually make money filling 30% discounted orders).
So for some florists it makes sense to belong to more than one service, and using the besty from each one to improve their business and bottom line.

Just like our shop has phone line by 2 companys, 1 for 3 phone lines at a 30% less than the 4th line that we have with Bell and has a get long distance plan with it saving us on all our outgoing calls. We also have DSL internet with VPN as we have 2 locations and that's with a different company again.......but yet they use the same wires poles etc.

So yes there are some florists that hate wire services, but then there are those that would like to see some co-operation between them, and it could be done as they all make $$ on there transmission systems.
 
Doug Munro said:
I find it odd that with all the talk on this board about the evil wire services and how shops need to do away with them that a thread complaining about the WS's not cross technology enhancements even exists.
Click to expand...
Was not my intent. I only wanted to raise the awareness that FTD is by nature of their technology reaping cash rewards for themselves, by the way they rolled out their delivery confirmation requirements. It does not affect me, as mine go out automatically. But I am sure there are many florists, perhaps even some here that do not even know they are being charged per order.
 
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