FTD: The good, the bad, the ugly???

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I think this is an interesting idea. I have a smaller shop, so I don't know if I could generate enough volume to justify the annual fee, but I am intrigued by getting 30% of an order for doing little to no work.

I used to carry gift baskets, but the variety of food, bath, baby and specialty items got to be too much. I currently have to turn down the few requests we get because it just isn't worth the time/money to send someone to a few different stores to get product.

To me, this is no different than giving out the referrals for the freeze dried bouquet people, or the people who turn rosary roses into beads?!?!?

RC, great idea about going through FTD. I would love to see the independant florist have an equal crack at the service, but I understand the appeal of volume sales.

Just my opinoin
 
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Many people I talk with hate doing baskets. They require too much inventory, or too much time to shop for the stuff that's needed. I know they would love to make 30% on something that requires little effort.

It's rather like having consignment stuff without the inventory and I would love to have our company do something similar. As a matter of fact it's an idea I've been discussing with a couple of powers that be.

It's somewhat different for me because I have an entire store at my disposal (plus specialty items I buy at the gift shows etc.). My custom baskets, for delivery in the city and surrounding area, can include perishable products. The baskets I ship in Canada and the U.S. have products with a moderate shelf life (not next century time machine stuff).

I really like the shelf talkers Jeff's company has and may fashion something similar for us.

It's great to have the option... either run around and buy the stuff you need for the occasional basket, or have it all done for you with a percentage for your efforts.

V
 
sorry if I missed something, I did not read all of this long thread but, we used to belong to GOJ (gift fulfillment) and found that it did not work well for us. I also found that the gift baskets were extremely light in weight and seemed very chintzy( I guess for shipping purposes), compared to the image shown online they do not do justice....JMO

These gift baskets you are showing look the same style as gift fulfillment. I got a lot of complaints using them...
 
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What really sets us apart we feel is our variety of baskets. We have the really gourmet baskets and spa sets. BUT we also have the baskets like the movie night basket. Which is only junkfood and things you would get at the theater. Or the Las Vegas basket with all gambling and vegas themed things including poker chips.

Our baskets are not chintzy at all and we should have all of them on our site shortly.

www.amoodforyou.com
 
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. We put all our baskets together on site and also have a design team on site....
 
Jeff, are you able to ship to shops in Canada and other parts of the planet?

V
 
True, but Canada is a pretty big place.

That's good to know and I thank you for the info.

V
 
We've been talking and although we really think the 30% margin is the way to go. YOU as a floral shop owner can put the margin up to whatever you would like just as long as we get the 70% of OUR retail price? Just hopefully you can sell just as many baskets as you would with the 30%

does that sound good to you?
 
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Not to bring this up again but....I think the pages and pages of disagreements on who gets what amount for sending or filling proves one thing. That what you are actually paying to belong to the wire service and fill orders is confusing as hell!

In my opinion, you have to take a years worth of statements and add up what your COGS was for filling the orders to value. You then take whatever the WS has reimbursed you to fill the orders (plus rebates and sending order percentages) minus all the fees, dues, etc, etc. If you made money after all that, it's good. If lost money after all that, it's time to dump them.

No two shops are the same, no two orders are the same, no two months at the same shop are the same. You have to look at it over a period of time to see if it works for you.

(Please don't groan at me for bringing this up yet again!!!)
 
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