Making a fuss without causing fall out

[Carrington]

Hi there

Have just come out of our industry association meeting where the issue of OG's, phoney operaters etc was discussed.

However, while everyone is rightly angry and we have firm evidence that there are companies hi-jacking addresses of Yell, taking excessive charges and generally giving the consumer a raw deal, I have a nagging doubt that raising a storm with the press/media could actually backfire on REAL florists who are doing it right.

My concern is that if we make too much of a hoo ha about the baddies, consumers, who really don't understand the 'system' may think ALL florists are bad and simply switch off or go to the boxed operators (our equivelent of Proflowers) on the basis they think that's safer.

Ideas of how aggressive we should get from FC'ers appreciated.

Kind regards

 

[CHR]

Here's a rather lengthy and contentious discussion about whether or not florists should 'air dirty laundry'.

The US press covered the stories of phony local flowers shops quite well this Valentine's Day. (That blog article only highlights a few of the them.) After all, it's the disappointed consumers that make the tales compelling and real - and are the people most likely not to send flowers again.

 

[Bigted]

I really believe that location is the primary focus of any such campaign, and here is where we should hammer on dishonesty. "leaving out the middlemen" should be the reason to find a real florist with a real address. I believe that airing out the dirty laundry can seriously impact the overall sales. Just like (battle helmets everyone) I believe that all the OG advertising has created an increase in demand for the whole industry.

 

[CHR]

Some of the OGs use a fake street address and a local zip code or display a phony location on a map. Even Google Local's maps have this problem.

How would a consumer know which ones are real and which ones are fake if they live out of town? When asked, the call center employees say 'Yes, we have a store in that town'. When asked where it's located, they say 'Near the Pizza Hut' or 'Near the First Baptist Church' since nearly every town has one.

OGs have adpoted nearly every single marker used by real local flower shops.

I'm also curious how florists reconciled 'leave out the middleman' with 'we deliver worldwide'. :dunno:

 

[12BucksFor2Dozon]

... Just like (battle helmets everyone) I believe that all the OG advertising has created an increase in demand for the whole industry.

That is a provably false statement. At the SAF website (and other industry sites) you can easily find data that people are spending less and less on floral and florist related goods, and the trend is continuing down. If OGs really were "increasing demand", you would be seeing an increase in florist revenue, not a decrease.

You are drinking the OG kool-air, BigTed...OGs have been trying to use the "our marketing dollars are helping you make more money" ever since the inception of the whole scheme. No one in the industry believes the fairy-tale that OGs are helping the B&Ms.

 

[Bigted]

Mark, while what you say sounds reasonable, it's not necessarily true. The extra advertising can have a positive impact on sales, and at the same time sales could be trending downward. Without the advertising, sales may be much worse. The reality is that there is no way to tell.

 

[Chezbloom]

Flowers with shifted ethics

Today is slow, I spent 2 hours giving all the "Flowers with gifted Elegance" listing (32) reviews on Yahoo. They all have phoney address and local #. I called each # first to make sure it was "Flower with shifted Elegance". It felt good. Yes, there were 32 local listings that were all FGE. Make them go away. I think OG's are part of why people are sending less and less floral gifts-because people are tired of being lied to and ripped off by these jerks.

 

[Jerry]

If the dirty laundry is not aired out, the rebuild will be ever so slow, if at all.

Thru the years on these boards we have seen some of the top florists, wanting to keep the system intact(80-20-rebates), and try to work within to solve the problems all the 3rd parties have created. IT WILL NOT WORK. As long as the florists let the 3rd parties get into their pockets(80-20-rebates), it will continue down the slippery path. Florists are their own worst enemies, and consumers want it cheap and now.

After being WS free for 6 years now, I could not imagine what it would be like for me to look at my P/L statement if I went back to the WS model. I'm sure I would cry, like I did before.

The system can only be fixed by the enablers(WS) of the problem. But they do not want to fix it because of short term profits. So if the florists do nothing, and keep sending their money in, it will never get fixed. I feel we are way past the point of return, I SAY AIR IT OUT.