Flowerclub

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Griff

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Oct 16, 2003
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We seem to be stuck for anything new to talk about so let's try this subject.

I have noticed that florists have posted their displeasure that TF has retained Flowerclub and for one reason or another, they feel that TF should get rid of it.

Some time back, I heard this interesting story when the subject of Flowerclub came up between a florist and a WS rep. The florist had been grilling the rep as to why TF continued to use Flowerclub and not get rid of it and the rep responded something like this. "So what would you have us do? Flowerclub was part of the deal when we bought Florafax. At the time we purchased this company, there was another party who wanted to buy Flowerclub from us and that was Extratouch. However, the deal fell through for one reason or another and now the only other companies that want Flowerclub is FTD and 1-800. Do you think that it is wise that we sell this entity to either one of these companies?. Now, Flowerclub is not making a ton of money for TF, but it is making money so it would be silly to close it up.
So, if you were in TF's shoes, what would you have us do?"

Now I don't know how much of this is true concerning the original dealings, but I have to assume that the only other companies that might be interested in Flowerclub these days is FTD and 1-800. So if you are one of those florists who are unhappy about this situation, give some ideas as to what YOU would do with FLOWERCLUB and understand that many of the companies that currently participate under Flowerclub would not be interested in doing business with some single florist rather than a big name such as TF or FTD or 1-800.
 
Hmmm

I'd say the scenario as you stated it is pretty accurate....

The only two viable contenders would be FTD and 800F, as the others, like Proflowers are not (YET) into the same days delivery arena (except Proflowers does now offer same day thru TF).

IMHO, when TF says that "We will not compete" they are telling lies, as FlowerClub IS Competing !! NO two ways about it.

Lets see, FTD and they tell you they are, or TF and they tell you they are not... I'll take the known entity.

The reason TF hangs onto it is because it makes them money, and fills the order coffers going out to their members...and with declining order volumes they are going to get them anywhere they can.

Along with this, FTD has started adding the line SENDING FLORIST ONLY to any Mercury message originated from a non-florist, this way there is no confusion, you know right up front....someone should see if they can get TF to do even this little thing...
 
Along with this, FTD has started adding the line SENDING FLORIST ONLY to any Mercury message
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Sounds like a good start....but what about the orders that originate from 'faux gatherers florists' that hide the identities and locations of their shops and pretend they're in your town...

IMO, they are just as bad.

If it's sold via Flowers Sent Today then, IMO the order should say so, not Karin's. Using their shop name gives the filling florist a false impression that the order was sold by their shop under that business name.

Do you really believe most consumers would actually choose a shop in Virginia to order flowers being sent to other locations? NO

Would their business take a nose dive if they actually put their location on their home page and stated the nature of their service. YES (as would most of the rest of the gatherers.)

Would florists be more likely to refuse their orders if they came across the merc as originiating from Flowers Sent Today? Absolutely

I believe all florists have the right to know from whence any order they fill originates.
 
I'm not a fan of FlowerClub as it is set up

BUT

For the sake of someone being a devil's advocate, here are some arguements for FlowerClub:

1) Floral customers who go to FlowerClub stay floral customers. They are never diverted to non-floral or drop-ship items. TF actually removed these items from FC's catalogue when they made the purchase.

2) Most FlowerClub orders are made by large corporations that have opted not to deal with smaller mom & pop flower shops because they don't feel the small shop is capable of handling their business. Perhaps FlowerClub would be less profitable if more local shops did a better job of attracting large corporate business? If FlowerClub was shut down these corporations would partner with FTD or 1-800 - and opening the market to more drop-ship and non-floral items.

3) FlowerClub does a lot of marketing. (as do FTD & 1-800 & ProFlowers) This marketing presents people with the concept of buying flowers. Not all people who receive ads from these companies will buy from them - some go to a florist. If more florists did a better job of advertising they would have a larger share of the market.

I do think that FlowerClub can serve a purpose, going head-to-head with the other large OG's and keeping customers focused on flowers. I also think they should have a lower commission. The traditional 20% was based on shop-to-shop orders, reciprocation, etc.

In this case FlowerClub is getting orders because they do an effective job of getting orders! Many florists will pay 10-30% to a funeral home who sends them business - perhaps there is room for a 10% commission to a company that does all the advertising and order-taking work? Of course, the pricing would have to be fair and the operators realistic in their promises - we don't like anyone promising the world for $1 and leaving the complaint for the florist.

I haven't considered the numbers, etc, so I don't know if this would be financially viable for FlowerClub to only receive 10% instead of 20% - but only the accounts and execs know that :)

Just my thoughts .... Ryan
 
Rosiescenario said:
Sounds like a good start....but what about the orders that originate from 'faux gatherers florists' that hide the identities and locations of their shops and pretend they're in your town...
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Agree'd...
 
Infinite said:
I'm not a fan of FlowerClub as it is set up

BUT

For the sake of someone being a devil's advocate, here are some arguements for FlowerClub:

In this case FlowerClub is getting orders because they do an effective job of getting orders! Many florists will pay 10-30% to a funeral home who sends them business - perhaps there is room for a 10% commission to a company that does all the advertising and order-taking work? Of course, the pricing would have to be fair and the operators realistic in their promises - we don't like anyone promising the world for $1 and leaving the complaint for the florist.

Just my thoughts .... Ryan
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And mine too Sir, as applied to FTD.com and I have told them so many times. Do not foget to include the service charge on top of the %, tho...

However, that all said, neither of them have any trouble getting their orders filled, so I don't look for the "right thing to do" move to happen in either case.
 
Rosiescenario said:
If it's sold via Flowers Sent Today then, IMO the order should say so, not Karin's. Using their shop name gives the filling florist a false impression that the order was sold by their shop under that business name.

Do you really believe most consumers would actually choose a shop in Virginia to order flowers being sent to other locations? NO

Would their business take a nose dive if they actually put their location on their home page and stated the nature of their service. YES (as would most of the rest of the gatherers.)

Would florists be more likely to refuse their orders if they came across the merc as originiating from Flowers Sent Today? Absolutely

I believe all florists have the right to know from whence any order they fill originates.
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Their orders do come across as Flowers Sent Today, at least thru FTD they do, don't know about the Dove but I don't think they have a Dove interface.

Here's one deal, have a friend had a bigger web site, told me statistically, that it was VERY rare that someone refused an order on the basis of him not being a florist (he was listed as an SFO). If I remember right, he said it was twice in one year of 10,000 orders. And when he called them and explained he was an offshoot of a shop (just like FST is), one of them recanted the refusal.

We're just preaching to the Lunatic Fringe Choir here I'm afraid...

But you think Globally and act locally and hell locally is all that REALLY matters in my world anyway! :) :) :)
 
bloomz said:
Their orders do come across as Flowers Sent Today, at least thru FTD they do, don't know about the Dove but I don't think they have a Dove interface.
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I have gotten them both ways, all FORwarded back to them... I do not fill for Bill at all...not until tha is, he gets out of the YP's...and we know thats not going to happen.

As to a Dove interface, I think his RTI is still up and running to send Duck orders...
 
Alot of interesting comments here, but...

the original question was, if you were TF what would you do with Flowerclub?

It is just my opinion, but I don't think they can do anything but continue to operate it just like they are doing. TF NEEDS this operation to handle corporate business, just like FTD and 1-800. We all know they can't afford to sell this operation to anyone even if they weren't a current competitior. When they bought Florafax, nost thought this was just to put another competitor out of business. Some of that may be true, but I personally think they were probably more interested in Flowerclub. It already had a customer base and TF had a portion of their membership that is desperate for incoming orders. A very sad case in deed.

Based on some of your conversations, it looks like their prime motivation in the future will to be to find a way to "run orders" from any other order gatherer/fowerclubthrough whatever format necessary to get "fillers" to handle the orders.

And Rosie, while we are on the subject of order gatherers, I truely understand your position on companies that list themselves in everyones yellow pages as locals and I too am not happy about it. However, as I look at the ones listed in our currect local books, I notice that many have taken to show where their corporate headquarter are located. I asked a couple of my customers to look at these ads and tell me if they think they are located around here. NOT ONE said they where. All said they expected to be calling someone out of the area because it was an 800 number. They wouldn't need to call an 800 number if the company was local. They also pointed out the most of these ads now say "they can DELIVER flowers to all cities listed". It doesn't mean they have to be located there and the customers seem to understand that. We are losing this battle.
 
GRiff, I'll agree

that we have lost a part of the industry, but I do not believe we have lost the battle. Many good quality florists are making good sales numbers and some even are growing.

I also believe that the portion of the market we have lost, will never be regained to the point it once was. We will gather new customers, and continue. The key is to adapt to the current market sittuation, operate in a manor many of us are not accustomed to, and move forward. Too much time devoted to something we have lost control of (the direct ship market) will only lead to further deteration of ones business.

The wire side of the biz, will never return to any likeliness of its former self, either unless there is consolidation on the local level driving more business to fewer venues.

As to your question, yes I think TF may have, in the beginning , had the thoughts to simply shut down AFS. I also think once they had a piece of the action they saw a good way to generate orders for their membership base (most of whomm want incomming) and after that, when they saw the possibilities, I think they changed their mind to never selling it.

Not that I can blame them, I would have done the same thing.

It will be very interesting to see, which one of the BIG2 ends up, being the good guy, 5 years from now, when all this @@@@ shakes itself out...
 
BOSS said:
It will be very interesting to see, which one of the BIG2 ends up, being the good guy, 5 years from now, when all this @@@@ shakes itself out...
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What in the world makes you think ANYTHING will shake itself out in 5 years? Everything is constantly changing, developing and morphing with new business models, the next greatest thing in beta in someones shop, and one or both WS's having "exciting developments about to be released."

Things are as stable now as they ever will be. Ask Bobby Norton - things are only status quo until the next board meeting!
 
I don't even know if I get Flower CLub orders in my town and if it is generating $$$$$ to teleflora why not keep it, just like FTD started FTD.com to compete with 1-800 etc etc.
As for loosing the battle with yellow page advertisers that don't live in a that town, we all should put a disclaimer in our ads that goes something similar to:

Alpine Flowers & Gifts
"A REAL FLORIST IN ELLIOT LAKE"

Any order gatherer that states the same thing in a town is falsely advertising that they are in a town.
Maybe all our ads should say " A real Florist in Elliot Lake", Won't that give the people clues to what we are trying to do or make them understand or even get them to ask us what we are trying to convey?
It could be a start.
Luc
 
Infinite said:
Ask Bobby Norton - things are only status quo until the next board meeting!
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I concur again...

And as for asking BN, I'll do that when I talk to him next week...
 
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