I have no intention of competing with the STUPERMARKETS or the BIG BOXERS Doug!
That's a battle I can't win, and as we all know, one must fight the battles we can win, and retreat from the ones we can't win, to regroup and fight another day.
Our market niche is in the ONE CALL DOES IT ALL, generic gift giving scenario, coupled with our SAME-DAY-DELIVERY forte.
No one has the edge in that arena, unless of course, you count those florists who choose to give it up to the MIDDLEMAN FLORAL ORDER BROKERS and the Wire Services who enable them.
Don't know what your real market niche is, but at first glance, you seem to be marketing to florists who want to fly your BRANDED flag?
http://www.growerdirect.com/franchise
Were you ever a REAL FLORIST or are you just a pseudo franchise dealer operator much like Flower World was back in the 1970's along the East Coast. No need to answer since, that is a rhetorical question.
You are what you bee, and wee bee what we are!
As I have always stated, US WE BEES remain the backbone of this retail floral industry, and everyone else remain, JUST OUR COAT TAILERS!
Long gone are the days of ALLEGIANCE and HONOR! Farms, Brokers, and Wholesalers, will sell to anyone, everyone, and their Mother too! Give em anyone's resale number, and you're good to go! Churches, Schools, Volunteer Fire Departments, PTA's, non-profits, not-for-profits, any disease fund raisers, and any other group you can think of, can all buy at WHOLESALE PRICES now!
COST-CO, SAM'S CLUB, et al, and wholesale caskets too!
There is NO LINE drawn in the sand anymore, and it's everyone for themselves now, to include all of the Wire Services, since they don't care who contributes to their bottom line, as long as they are able to maintain their margin of profitability. Could be their own FLORAL DOT CONS, or any of their dOG's, OG's, and non-local phony middleman order brokers. Makes NO DIFFERENCE TO THEM!
As my Dear Real florist friend OZ, always put it best!
"WHEN THE WHALES FIGHT, the SHRIMP (krill) GET KILLED!"
And so, I'm going to continue to IGNORE THE FACTS since the I always check the source, after which, I'll continue to educate DA PUBLIC.
The good news is in the fact that, DA PUBLIC have a fast learning curve, and by the time they call me, they already have all of the facts.
And, they didn't like what they seen, which is why, they took the time to SEEK OUT and FIND a REAL FLORIST who CAN DOO DA DOO, rather than, GIVE THEM THE S-C-R-E-W!
Oh, did I mention why Flower World went bankrupt? The owner promised the newbies that, they would make a fortune, especially since they could buy a carnation at ten cents and sell it for a dollar.
He gave them a two week quickie course in the ART OF FLORAL DESIGN, sold them used fixtures, and set them up in a so called turn key operation. The franchisees only had to pay him 10% of their annual gross sales for the privilege. And then, and when they went bankrupt, his real profit center was in RESELLING the franchise location to another unsuspecting NEWBIE, with the same lies he snookered the first buyers into. Eventually, FLOWER WORLD just disappeared, EY?
And so did, USA FLORAL and others too numerous to mention. I suspect that, all of them IGNORED THE FACTS TOO!
Oh, the KICKER! We didn't have 1 complaint this Mother's Day from any of our own customers! Got a call from one person who thought he had placed his order with us, but it turned out that, he actually called an order broker with the same name on the West Coast, not us.
lol
Toto,
Just out of curiosity is there any segment of the flower business (other than yourself) that you feel plays fairly?
As to your rhetorical question I have been in the flower industry for over thirty years, starting as a driver, managing a national florist wholesale chain, and now acting as the CEO for the largest retail flower chain in Canada.
Those are my credentials, what are yours? Don't answer that as you are a "Real Florist" and it is just a rhetorical question after all.
Over the years I have witnessed more "Real Florists" come and go than I could keep count of. The reality is that the individuals that survived long term always tended to be "business people" first and "Real Florists" second. In fact most of the successful shops I have known could just as well been selling "widgets" and they still would have been successful. These individuals didn't spend a lot of time or effort carrying on about all the forces rallied against them, or scheming to hamper someone else's business (OG's, WS, etc) they simply worked hard at building their own business.
The bottom line is that in general the traditional flower industry is shrinking (it will continue to do so in the decades to come) for all sorts of reasons including OG's, direct shippers, grocery stores, mass marketeers, and the like, but mostly due to changing consumer buying habits. After all the consumer is ultimately the one that drives the business, not the OG's or WS's. As retailers we only have to look around at other retail sectors to see that in general their are fewer and fewer "mom and pop" models that exist in today's world.
On a last note, on your comments regarding "ALLEGIANCE and HONOR!". While it is true that farms, brokers, and wholesalers have to a huge degree changed their criteria as to they sell to this poses an interesting question.
Why do many retail florists consider it "good business" to buy directly from importers in Miami (cutting out the local wholesale and it's mark-up) and poor business on the part of the wholesale to sell to anyone other than the retail florist? In my years as a wholesaler this was common practice. Unfortunately when those same retailers ran short on their buy from Miami, I was the first guy they ran to. The comical part was if I didn't have the stock I heard the whining about I should carry more inventory.....lol.
