Pink Is Out of Season!

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lori042499 said:
That doesn't sell flowers.....I have said this before McDonald's markets their food as edible and good looking because it sells, they certainly can't sell it as pure fat and crap that will make you have a heart attack....Again my question here is the internet really a good way to sell flowers??? I am getting a resounding NO...yet it is one of the most sought after products on the web, go figure...
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I'll answer - YES! The web is an ideal enviroment for selling flowers and florists in general are utterly horrible salepeople (Vase or basket? How much you wanna spend? - 95% of us fall apart when they ask "what do you suggest?")

Product substitution matters are not of the highest priority.

But a picture speaks a thousand words.

Can you sell better from a description over the phone (like our recent "Pinks and Whites" for the little girls funeral) than from a picture? That was a phone order. This is very very very rare however. So rare as to not spend much time worrying about it, as is this Pink 800Z order that was the wrong color - but what was bad in that case was the horrendous customer service - way worse than the flower choice.

No, we can come nowhere close to painting a picture in their head than they can by looking at one.

I'm going to start a new thread a bit later on substitution, have intended to for some time.

opinions vary - my answer is a resounding Yes
 
Chezbloom said:
If it was not for our website and the ability to sell flowers through the internet. I would be out of business by now. I think it is a great way to sell flowers, if the seller is honest, and has a good product, what better way to let the world see what you can do?
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How honest can you be if you are not making the flowers? If someone orders something from my website, all I can do is hope that the florist I send it to has enough brains and know how to copy the arrangement and make knowledgable subs if need be. This is with the small number of times that we actually have to do this. Imagine with shops that have hundreds and hundreds of WO a month. I am sure there are some very honest shops that have that kind of volume.


The internet is limited in conveying the very nature of natural products and their quirky shades, sizes and fullness due to growing conditions. People think they are buying a sauder boxed coffee table that will be the same no matter who they buy it from and that just isn't the case. If someone buys the same exact arrangement from you and I, I can assure you there will be differences. Flower arrangements are individual even if made of the same materials no two are ever exact....if made by the same person they can be very close. If made by different people they can be very different and the same at the very same time...

I have a website and sell many things from it and probably wouldn't have too much business if I didn't. I am just never sure that it is the way flowers are meant to be sold, especially as nit picky people just get nit-pickier in this full refund, I'll sue you type of world....
 
The print that Lori quoted above doesn't explain that the arrangement will vary from the picture. The print is used to describe the style of the arrangement, not the components. However, the description of the arrangement DOES say "components may vary" but, it's in small print at the very bottom of the description. Even when it was quoted here it was missed. So, that tells me, that most customers would miss it too.

Why are flowers any different (in the eyes of a consumer) than any other product? If I am shown a image of a product, I expect to get what is shown in the picture, no matter what kind of spin the small print puts on it. If I went online to buy a PINK shirt and the company sent me a BLUE shirt...I'd be pissed.
 
Speaking along the lines of this thread..Does anyone sell a designer's choice arrangement on their website and if so, how is it worded??? I do not have one on my website for this very reason, I think the average consumer needs the picture of what they are sending. I have always thought that a designer's choice selection would confuse customers especially showing a generic vase arrangement....What say you???
 
They usually say something like "let our professional florist make the choice for you - just choose the price and the longest lasting blah blah blah will be sent"

They're lots of them on other sites - I haven't used it but was told LONG ago I should.

A good friend taught me long ago the best choice for a wire out is a "Mixed seasonal arrangement" not much room for complaints.

OK lunch is over - back to work for me
 
Lots of inquiries about the choice of photographs that go with the blog.
Heard talk of converting some of the pink accented images to post card adverts and coupons.
 
.".......the best choice for a wire out is a "Mixed seasonal arrangement" not much room for complaints". BLOOMZ

Excellent choice of words to minimize confusion for most people.
 
bloomz said:
No, we can come nowhere close to painting a picture in their head than they can by looking at one.
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We have a sales person exercise where we bring out arrangements out of the cooler and have the sales people (one at a time) describe the arrangement out loud. It really seems to help them when they have to describe an arrangement over the phone.
 
"How honest can you be if you are not making the flowers? If someone orders something from my website, all I can do is hope that the florist I send it to has enough brains and know how to copy the arrangement and make knowledgable subs if need be"

Well, I know this also is NOT THE NORM. But, we don't wire out any orders, so that sort of takes care of that issue. I don't wan't to be responsible for what another shop sends out. I have not had a customer ask to send to another state for over a year now. Times, they are a chang'n.
 
lori042499 said:
Speaking along the lines of this thread..Does anyone sell a designer's choice arrangement on their website and if so, how is it worded???
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We have a whole section sort of like that on our site. The shopper picks the style and color(s) and can add a couple flower preferences if they so choose. Shoppers ordering from that section get a photo of their design emailed to them.

We also have a link from some of the product pages to our blog gallery section showing designs in the style we've created for other customers. (I sometimes forget to use the right keywords so not all the sections are complete.)

Once or twice we've had folks request peonies, lilacs & french tulips for $50 but the upside to this section is far greater than the downside.

We get the best 'thank you' notes from those shoppers. Of course, 1-800 nor any other OG can offer arrangements that way.
 
bloomz said:
They usually say something like "let our professional florist make the choice for you - just choose the price and the longest lasting blah blah blah will be sent"

They're lots of them on other sites - I haven't used it but was told LONG ago I should.

A good friend taught me long ago the best choice for a wire out is a "Mixed seasonal arrangement" not much room for complaints.

OK lunch is over - back to work for me
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I always try to sell non-specific for wireouts, but if your webpage is selling the wrieout that is difficult...
 
CHR said:
We have a whole section sort of like that on our site. The shopper picks the style and color(s) and can add a couple flower preferences if they so choose. Shoppers ordering from that section get a photo of their design emailed to them.

We also have a link from some of the product pages to our blog gallery section showing designs in the style we've created for other customers. (I sometimes forget to use the right keywords so not all the sections are complete.)

Once or twice we've had folks request peonies, lilacs & french tulips for $50 but the upside to this section is far greater than the downside.

We get the best 'thank you' notes from those shoppers. Of course, 1-800 nor any other OG can offer arrangements that way.
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Design your own is good. I like that and having a whole section devoted to just that is also good. Now can you imagine if you had 1000 of those contemporary design your own to wire to florists across the US. Do you think you would find a florist in the middle of the country with access to anything you have there and be able to design it without consulting a AIFD designer catalog...You would be better to design it yourself anf fly it there than to find someone to do it for you....I never hold much hope of finding anyone that isn't in a bigger city to be able to get much less design a great tropical arrangement....but, that aside, you see that every shop has different styles and different levels of design ability, especially when you have one place gathering orders to send out to many shops...They can never 100% promise what they sell. We small shops can't do it 100% they will never be able to 100% not even 75%...
 
Here in Minneapolis, Bachmans is our biggest flower shop/garden center etc. In addition to the TF and FTD designs on thier web site, they also have many many of thier own designs which simply and boldly state (no fine print) For delivery in the Mpls, St.Paul delivery only. What I really want to know however is, how many shops get tons of florist to florist orders? When this was a Kabloom franchise store, over 90% of the orders came from OG's, not from other shops. I am totally convinced that people truely believe they are finding a local shop when ordering through most OG's sites. And why would'nt they?
 
Chezbloom said:
Here in Minneapolis, Bachmans is our biggest flower shop/garden center etc. In addition to the TF and FTD designs on thier web site, they also have many many of thier own designs which simply and boldly state (no fine print) For delivery in the Mpls, St.Paul delivery only. What I really want to know however is, how many shops get tons of florist to florist orders? When this was a Kabloom franchise store, over 90% of the orders came from OG's, not from other shops. I am totally convinced that people truely believe they are finding a local shop when ordering through most OG's sites. And why would'nt they?
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You are probably correct there....either that or they don't care and just need to get it done...The reason that the orders were 90% og's is because most regular florists won't send florist to florist orders to a Kabloom. Not any that I know of anyway. Most of the orders I send out I send to florist I have dealt with in the past, people that I know or award winning, best florist, blah, blah, blah....I get lots of regular orders from regular florists through TF...not so much through 800-flowers...
 
Sender wanted to know why I didnt call her

Last week was weird on Friday I received a phone call from the sender that ordered the flowers from a OG.. when they arrived she saw them and complained they didn look like the pic.. I explained that she purchased the least expensive and the picture was for the premium, the main flowers where not available and we subbed the best we could.. it was in their guidelines. She agreed that it was close but wondered why we didnt call her and let her know of the subbing first so we could offer her other choices.
SHe said she knew alot about flowers "her mom works for a grocery store florist" (ha ha) I had explain to her numerous times that we dont receive any info on the sender when you send flowers thru any .com or OG. Some people just still dont get it." But then why did ask for my phone #?"

Then the same day we received a ordre via a OG ( best floral??) for a $120.00 cross to be delivered asap to someones home. My driver called to verify they were home and when he delivered it the customer was very upset. He said he wanted it to permanent to take to a roadside memorial and demanded a refund, my driver informed him to call us or bring it back since they were leaving asap for the event(??) He said that we told him we were closed and website was down so he couldnt see a pic before ordering.
He did bring it in and we figured out that it was one of the deceivers that took the order, another OG that has bought local #'s -He questioned them about picking it up or stopping in to see what it might look like but told him the shop was closed for awhile. WHen he was in the store he called them on speakerphone and demanded a refund since this not what he wanted.
They told him it was to late, that she had already made it and delivered.
The woman said it was very pretty ( as if she made it!)
Now he is in my store at the front counter with the cross that I made and they tell him it is to late that it was already delivered.. He told them off... RIght there in front of me.. it was great! The customer wanted to how can they just lie like that and he said he asked if they in our town and they said yes!! I told him to just keep the cross.. there is nothing I can do with the flowers know and we will see what happens, he was very appreciative,
the OG tried to cancel but I would'nt let them since it wasnt our fault they didnt get the details right and then he ordered a silk one for pick later this week.

It has been a wild week at our shop. I was so glad to have it over.
 
One of the most common complaint is "it didn't look like the picture". Running about neck and neck with "My roses died prematurely". Third being "it didn't look like it was to value." (rare)

I'm talking about wire outs here.

That said - we don't even have a 1% complaint rate - more like about 1/2 of 1%.

I would attribute that to the Golden Preferred Florist List. About 85% of the cities in the country have a florist on our preferred list.

This means 99.5% of the time the picture does a great job of selling. And the florists do an adequate if not great job of filling it.

Yes, the "cookie cutter" TFTD images everybody gripes about up in here.

I love 'em. So much I have no desire to replace them with "original" images. They do a wonderful job of selling. And they're beautiful.

I know...

opinions vary
 
bloomz said:
One of the most common complaint is "it didn't look like the picture". Running about neck and neck with "My roses died prematurely". Third being "it didn't look like it was to value." (rare)

I'm talking about wire outs here.

That said - we don't even have a 1% complaint rate - more like about 1/2 of 1%.

I would attribute that to the Golden Preferred Florist List. About 85% of the cities in the country have a florist on our preferred list.

This means 99.5% of the time the picture does a great job of selling. And the florists do an adequate if not great job of filling it.

Yes, the "cookie cutter" TFTD images everybody gripes about up in here.

I love 'em. So much I have no desire to replace them with "original" images. They do a wonderful job of selling. And they're beautiful.

I know...

opinions vary
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I have both my own images and Tf images on my web site. I have only sold 1 of my own designs and countless TF arrangements. I also get compliments on my website even though it is TF hosted because I do give a glimps into my store and my own styles of design. People say it helps them pick real florists. So there are some people out there that are fully aware of what they are buying and who they want to buy from and some that just give a rat's ass less. So, Bloomz, my friend, you are right opinions do vary, more than we all think..
 
lori042499 said:
Speaking along the lines of this thread..Does anyone sell a designer's choice arrangement on their website and if so, how is it worded??? I do not have one on my website for this very reason, I think the average consumer needs the picture of what they are sending. I have always thought that a designer's choice selection would confuse customers especially showing a generic vase arrangement....What say you???
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Actually 'designer's choice' is the only thing we sell on our web site (take a look), except for the wire-out section. Even in the wire-out section, we still highly recommend "designer's choice" together with a few arrangements that we are certain most florists can do. I mean, we can't be more honest than this, can we?

On the plus side, designer's-choice-only site like ours will remove all sorts of problems associated with selling pictures that, most of us know, can't be duplicated in actual arrangements.

On the minus side, it's quite possible that designer's-choice-only site like ours may not generate as many orders as other sites do.
 
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