New Canadian SUB PRIME Order gatherer

[Rock]

Just had a call from a NEW florist 'service' in Canada called IRIS ADVANTAGE; caller id was Ottawa Flowers.

From their site www irisadvantage com.............

the cost to join is only 199.00 per yr;

cost of transmitted order is 2.50 per

AND

there is NO COMMISSION !!!

BUT the sending shop gets 30% ("commission" must have gotten mistranslated by Pavel)!!!!!!

BUT further down the page is the 'real benefit'............

QUOTE
"You will benefit form the thousands of orders coming through our flagship customer web site www florist ca
The site is ranked at the top of all major search engines and all orders placed through it are distributed to our members for fulfillment."
UNQUOTE

WOW, does it get any better than that!!! Just imagine, you trip up the florist (fee199.00/yr), drop a bucket of flowers on his head (2.50/order) and then drive the delivery vehicle over him (30% NON-Commission).

Looks like Pavel Bogdanov was watching Dragons Den and took Kevin's words to heart (squeeze the florists' head; rape and pilliage, etc)

PLEASE excuse the sarcasm; yes, I am drinking my coffee now but it only makes me worse lol

My good deed for the day!

ROCK ON........................

 

[theRKF]

That's interesting.

I know Pavel, and his Mom. They have a few shops in Ottawa, good hard-working florist folk.

Between Bloomex, What A Bloom & Iris it looks like the Canadian market is starting to get some competition for a national floral brand Let's see how this plays out ...

Ryan

 

[Luc]

Had the same offer....Turn them down.
I guess I will me missing all of those orders my way!
Darn
Luc

 

[CHR]

Florists have two choices:

Market and advertise our own company and our own brand aggressively

or

Buy deeply discounted orders from aggregators - whether it be from national WSs or one of the new versions as proposed by florist.ca.

Requiring additional fees to be the 'preferred' florist in an area isn't new either. Some of the OGs require an extra $2 off the top (and take it, whether you agree or not). 1-800 is offering preferred filler statice (for a fee) to member shops, too.

 

[duanermb]

Florists have two choices:

Market and advertise our own company and our own brand aggressively

or

Buy deeply discounted orders from aggregators - whether it be from national WSs or one of the new versions as proposed by florist.ca.

I am with Cathy on this one, but maintaining visibility as the little guys is seemingly getting harder and harder to do. You can see the competition heating up for AdWords positions, and big advertising budgets will put these guys in the top 10 spots in people's minds when they go searching locally and online.

Anyone have some ideas?

My boss once told me, don't ever tell me anything negative, without proposing a positive action, so I'll start.

We are all independent florists in different territories, marketing alone. As a group, we would have more power than any of these guys.

 

[theRKF]

Duane,

You're not the first to voice this opinion - and won't be the last. Traditionally, the problem has been that a bunch of independents can't come together to agree on direction, policies - and the all important funding. Many have tried to "rally the troops" for their own profit.

The first step in the direction of creating a unified front has to be finding a way to build and support a common agenda. My grandfather was amongst the founding members of Flowers Canada, back in the day ... and it served its purpose for a time. Recently, it has suffered greatly from lack of support and poor leadership. Do we look to step in, get involved, and influence direction of Flowers Canada? Or, do we start a new group and build from scratch?

Or do we wing it as indies, hoping to create our little feifdoms in our local markets?

Ryan

 

[duanermb]

What's next?

Thanks Ryan, you bring up some great questions. And maybe I am being a little naive as a relative newbie, but from what I have read here, we can all agree that the market has changed significantly in the last couple of years, possibly putting a demand for action on all of us.

(I should also let everyone know that we have been in business 5 years, and have never had a wire service. After much research, we have decided that none of them would be of benefit to our shop. That being said, we have to market online somehow, especially now. 2006-2011 projections are for online retail sales to double)

Duane,

You're not the first to voice this opinion - and won't be the last. Traditionally, the problem has been that a bunch of independents can't come together to agree on direction, policies - and the all important funding. Many have tried to "rally the troops" for their own profit.

I would like to see the independent florist business flourish everywhere, wit the profits in hand of the florists, and the $ staying in the local economy, rather than lining the pockets of a bunch of corporate fat cats. (The Dragons probably invested in FTD right after the show was taped.)

The first step in the direction of creating a unified front has to be finding a way to build and support a common agenda. My grandfather was amongst the founding members of Flowers Canada, back in the day ... and it served its purpose for a time. Recently, it has suffered greatly from lack of support and poor leadership. Do we look to step in, get involved, and influence direction of Flowers Canada? Or, do we start a new group and build from scratch?

I belong to a couple of organizations like Flowers Canada myself, and they provide some great services, but typically have to remain impartial and non-political. Is there anyone from Flowers Canada here? (If there is not, that could be one of the problems) Maybe someone else could let us know how that organization could help?

Or do we wing it as indies, hoping to create our little feifdoms in our local markets?

Maybe we should run a poll?

Band together and fight the big guys, or give up that market completely and become purely specialty or event shops? We see some merits to both, but again, with the online economy growing so rapidly...