F U Flowers

[lori042499]

I do not feel as though anyone is picking on me. I know how most of you stand. I also know where I am going with this. I am only dependent to a point on wireservice. Until I get busier with my own stuff. I grow my business everyday. I get out into the community. I use my tools to get me to where I need to be. I am not just filling until I die. I am using it as a tool. I have gained many new customers because of items I sent them from 800. One lady was just in today and bought 150.00 worth of stuff. There will be a day that I will let some go and get choosy on who I fill for because it will get in the way of my local orders. This is not the case right now. I have to be here from 10-5 every day and I may as well be making orders. Instead of waiting to do the stuff after work that I do to promote.

 

[bloomz]

#1 - Many of F U's orders originate at ProFlowers - you know, the guys that loudly tell the world we florists deliver old, dead, over-priced product. I simply refuse to align my local brand with PF - which is what you do when you fill one of their orders.

#2 - It's been a while since I've actually seen one of their orders (they have honored our do-not-send request finally) but when we did receive them, they were over-promised, undersold and read like complaints waiting to happen. Lika a Dz. roses arranged for $35 or a vase of Casa Blancas for $40.

I am not satisfied to fill those 'orders to value' and then push any complaints back on them. We choose to fill, our name's on a card and either we deliver something we're proud of or we don't deliver at all. No one 'makes' us fill orders. We do it by choice so passing the buck back adbicates responsibility for our own decisions.

If it wasn't for TF and FTD the majority of florists would not even have a website never mind try to compete for what the OGs have taken advantage of.

And that is an excellent point!

 

[Kimber K]

Ok... I have a little story from today that I'd like to share that I feel fits into this conversation.....

This morning I got a phone call from Blooms USA. They wanted to know if I had any Stargazer lillies. I said "Yes I do have some, but not a lot."
She wanted to know if I had enough to fill a $60 order.. "Yes, I do...
And I'm sorry, What did you say the name of your shop is?" "Oh, we're Blooms USA." she said. I said "I'm sorry, I can't fill that order for you. I only fill for Real Florists." She asked if I was Bloom or TF and I told her No, I am no longer a member with either of them. (not sure why she asked that)
Sooooo Maybe I lost a $60 sale, and Yes, she was most likely going to call one of the two other shops in the neighboring town to fill that order... Kinda bugs me, yes... BUT... it happens so rarely that I decide I can't worry about it.

OK.. fast forward less than an hour.
I get a phone call from another customer. She wants to know if I have Stargazers... "Why yes I do". "Can you make an beautiful arrangement for my best friend that is graduating from High School. I use to live there and I miss her so much.. I now live in (can't remember where... but far far away) " I tell her "Yes, I can make you a beautiful arrangment with Gazers, What is your budget today?" "Ohhh.... How bout $50" "Ok, not a problem, I can do that for you and we'll take it to her today."
Hang up with Very Happy customer from far far away that called me direct with a CC # and am $50 richer .
After I make that arrangement, I make another similar one with the rest of the gazers and pop it in the cooler with a $55 price tag on it... Less than an hour later, another customer comes in and buys that one too! Now I'm $110 richer (delivery fees) and I have 2 very happy LOCAL customers that ordered directly through me.

Had I filled that order for Blooms USA this morning I wouldn't have had the gazers to fill the first order.. and would have had a Sad little girl...
Plus, I got all of my money STRAIGHT up...TODAY....and no fees that ate away at my profit.

I wonder which shop got that $60 Gazer order that they only got $43.80 for... Minus the fees, of course, that they won't actually ever get in their pocket because they'll end up owing the wire service $1200 at the end of the month...??

Oh Well, I'm happy I had a very profitable day here

 

[CHR]

Hey, wait a minute.

If you mean florists would have gone without websites entirely without FTD and TF, it's probably true for some shops, esp. small ones.

I doubt the majority of successful florists would be without a site. How many of TFs or FTD's Top 100 actually have one of those templates as their primary site?

With hosting at $1000- 1200 per year plus $3/order, are they good, effective investments for most stores? The answer depends on the volume.

The secret most florists don't 'get' is that unless they're well customized, and optimized, the template sites are often lost in natural search results (like Google, Yahoo, etc) so visitors are either existing customers or arrive through paid listings, which adds even more cost per order.

Of course, the same companies will sell you directory listings and marketing packages to increase the exposure of their poorly SEO'd sites.

 

[lori042499]

Hey, wait a minute.

If you mean florists would have gone without websites entirely without FTD and TF, it's probably true for some shops, esp. small ones.

I doubt the majority of successful florists would be without a site. How many of TFs or FTD's Top 100 actually have one of those templates as their primary site?

With hosting at $1000- 1200 per year plus $3/order, are they good, effective investments for most stores? The answer depends on the volume.

The secret most florists don't 'get' is that unless they're well customized, and optimized, the template sites are often lost in natural search results (like Google, Yahoo, etc) so visitors are either existing customers or arrive through paid listings, which adds even more cost per order.

Of course, the same companies will sell you directory listings and marketing packages to increase the exposure of their poorly SEO'd sites.

This is the population of florists I am talking about. The vast majority of flower shops are small one or two person shops. These shops are the ones that would not even have a website and if they did it would be informational only(a big waste of time and effort IMOH). I myself being somewhat tech savvy cannot get a grasp on all the things websites need to have done to them to get to the top. Then there is all the per clicks and advertising. You need a full timer just to operate a website that changes and is interesting an not too stale. The WS provide that and if you customize it it can work quite well without having to go back to school or fumbling around DIY it(which is usually awful).

 

[Rhonda]

Hey, wait a minute.

If you mean florists would have gone without websites entirely without FTD and TF, it's probably true for some shops, esp. small ones.
With hosting at $1000- 1200 per year plus $3/order, are they good, effective investments for most stores? The answer depends on the volume.
The secret most florists don't 'get' is that unless they're well customized, and optimized, the template sites are often lost in natural search results (like Google, Yahoo, etc) so visitors are either existing customers or arrive through paid listings, which adds even more cost per order.

This statement I find entirely the purpose of education. I did an article in our last state association newsletter regarding just this topic. There is no reason why any size flower shop can not have a website. I does not need to be elaborate. One of our small shop members has a perfectly designed (by themselves) site which is NOT ecommerce but gives the information that someone looking for a shop in their delivery area needs. Granted, they have not keyworded optimally and I'm no expert on "serps and seo's" (whatever they are) but I do know that my little old site is showing up in the first one or two listings for a search for my town and how I did it.
There is NO excuse in this day and age, for anyone in the floral industry to NOT have internet at their fingertips....I also stated this in the article.
We as an association have an obligation to bring our members the newest in options to better themselves and their bottom lines. We are looking at having "tech seminars" such as basic websites and how to get your website FIRST in search engines at our shows - inclusive with our hands on workshops - Choices for shop designers, choices for shop owners.
This goes hand in hand with Education!!

 

[bloomz]

Hey, wait a minute.

If you mean florists would have gone without websites entirely without FTD and TF, it's probably true for some shops, esp. small ones.

I doubt the majority of successful florists would be without a site. How many of TFs or FTD's Top 100 actually have one of those templates as their primary site?

With hosting at $1000- 1200 per year plus $3/order, are they good, effective investments for most stores? The answer depends on the volume.

The secret most florists don't 'get' is that unless they're well customized, and optimized, the template sites are often lost in natural search results (like Google, Yahoo, etc) so visitors are either existing customers or arrive through paid listings, which adds even more cost per order.

Of course, the same companies will sell you directory listings and marketing packages to increase the exposure of their poorly SEO'd sites.

Way better than nothing, and still being ecommerce enabled, way better than most home builts I've seen (including mine in some aspects). And yes TF has custom sites for a large percentage of their Top Members that look very different from the run of the mill TF sites (I understand they cut deals with RTI users for custom sites). So they don't exactly have those templates but a fully customized version of same.

I know you pain for the small shops that don't know what they are doing and how bad they are being taken advantage of - but alas, that's the way of the world in business. I now have 2 fairly close and 1 very close friends who have given up on floristry and are very very glad they did so. They have found themselves to be happier in other professions. And it leaves more business for we more tenacious too old to get another job florists like myself. So "good on them".

This is the population of florists I am talking about. The vast majority of flower shops are small one or two person shops. These shops are the ones that would not even have a website and if they did it would be informational only(a big waste of time and effort IMOH). I myself being somewhat tech savvy cannot get a grasp on all the things websites need to have done to them to get to the top. Then there is all the per clicks and advertising. You need a full timer just to operate a website that changes and is interesting an not too stale. The WS provide that and if you customize it it can work quite well without having to go back to school or fumbling around DIY it(which is usually awful).

And these are the smaller shops that would either not be on the web and fully dependent on incoming, or have home builts that do not represent them professionally that don't work well for them.

Wire services just aren't 100% evil. Only maybe 97% [/sarcasm]. But if you pay attention an use them like a woman of the night - you can make money from them.

This is a good topic with some very good points being made on all sides.

 

[ctherose]

info only website

One-person shop here with an info-only website. I have a lot of customers, esp. at holidays who might normally shop 1800, doing a search for florist in my town. They come right across my site and don't hesitate to pick up the phone to call in an order. I'm stating this so you small shops don't get discouraged by previous comments about info-only websites being a waste of time. Who knows, in the future, I might be ecommerce, but right now, I can't afford to have DSL at the shop and don't even have a computer there. Getting by just fine! The important thing is to HAVE a website.

 

[lori042499]

One-person shop here with an info-only website. I have a lot of customers, esp. at holidays who might normally shop 1800, doing a search for florist in my town. They come right across my site and don't hesitate to pick up the phone to call in an order. I'm stating this so you small shops don't get discouraged by previous comments about info-only websites being a waste of time. Who knows, in the future, I might be ecommerce, but right now, I can't afford to have DSL at the shop and don't even have a computer there. Getting by just fine! The important thing is to HAVE a website.[/quote



I commend any small shop for having a website at all especially the one's with non-tech friendly owners. What I mean by a big waste of time is this. Most people who look up a website want two things pages to load fast and a way to buy what ever it is they are seeing. Flower shop websites are in a way luck because a lot of people will call, but a lot will move on to the next site that they can buy from without having to pick up the phone. Your regular customers may well use your site as a catalog and call, but people who are just looking for convenience are moving on. I find that when I worked for a shop in the more urban part of my area the website was way more active now in the small town not as active. I have to work alot harder to promote it.