Should and Could Florists use "Shrink Rays"?

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I had a neighbor when I was young (big woman) mother to the entire neighborhood. She worked in a 'big ladies store' and told us all of the 'special' mirrors in her store that made the ladies look much slimmer and then they bought more clothes.

Perhaps we could all get some of those mirrors in reverse, hang them in our coolers, and make slimmer arrangements!

No clapping please throw money ! LOL I crack myself up
 
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I was reading a trade magazine at one time and there was a food chain like Olive garden or something like that who decided to use 2 less olives on their salads.
My decreasing the number of olives they saved a whopping quarter of a million dollars.
Same with car makers who figure out how to design a car using less screws..saves a bundle of money.
I for one do alot of one sided arrangements, seldom all the way around unless specificly told it is for a table or will be seen from all sides. I have never once had a complaint and truly and arrangement does look more full for the price if you are only doing one side.
I use lots of texture, different greens, nice focal flowers and accents like curly willow, wheat, berries. It is definitely do-able if you do it with interest.
True what they say about small things adding up.
 
I am glad this came up... I was in Wal-mart today and checked out their bunches of tulips...5.99 thinking how do they do it... well the bunches now only have 7 stems.
They reduced the product the consumer is getting by almost 30% and kept the price the same. 350 stems of tulips now make 50 bu not 35...........

jan
 
Connie said:
All very interesting. I wish RC were still here. I'd love to read his take on this.
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Boy ain't that the truth tho...

I've a feeling he would say it's completely backward.
 
JB:
RC would agree with you 1000%, and so do I.

It should be about giving the consumer GREAT VALUE for their money, making them a Long-time repeat customer, who calls your shop and places an order with you!!

Cheating or shorting the bunches will only make them angry. You will get away with it once, maybe twice...but not repeatedly.

Cheryl
 
jonquil said:
I am glad this came up... I was in Wal-mart today and checked out their bunches of tulips...5.99 thinking how do they do it... well the bunches now only have 7 stems.
They reduced the product the consumer is getting by almost 30% and kept the price the same. 350 stems of tulips now make 50 bu not 35...........

jan
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I've seen supermarket bunches with 7 stems .... for years - their alstro, tulips, glads, snape etc - 3 bunches for $10 were always less than 10 stem bunches.

Funny, what can be called a "bunch". Just because we're accustomed to grower bunches of 10 stems doesn't mean the consumer is accustomed to the same.

But a dozen is still a dozen ;)
 
I am not interested in ripping anyone off, but designing so that you use less product is not a bad thing. :) Even if one less piece of greenery.
 
Spring,
I did not mean to imply that you are ripping someone off. My apologies if I offended anyone.

I agree, using product wisely, and cost effectively, is a prudent move for all florists today.

However, when people buy a doz roses, they expect 12 (not 11).

Tracey is correct also that bunches have varied for a long time. In the summer, one of our wholesalers regularly offers us 7 stem bunches of glads (for instance).

Roses and carns are packed in 25 stem bunches because this is done on the world wide metric system. (The USA still works in dozens, 1/2 doz, inches, feet and yards!!).

I also try to price my work (for weddings and parties) so that I am using up 1 bunch of whatever in the work -- be it in a bouquet, centerpiece, etc. Waste not, want not!!

This also goes back to previous threads of over-stuffing arrangements, and the implications in the overall COGS in your business.

Cheryl
 
I am not interested in ripping anyone off, but designing so that you use less product is not a bad thing. :) Even if one less piece of greenery.
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Ditto
I don't think anyone wants to cheat or short our customers--it is bad for business, but there must be more cost effective ways to design arrangements in these lean times.
The former owner of the shop I bought was using 7" garden vases for her standard orders. I prefer the larger vases, so I ordered up a bunch of them and use them most of the time. Now I know why she was using this smaller vases because they take fewer flowers to fill. They're starting to call to me now "cha ching. cha ching"
I don't think
 
Tracy D'Amico said:
I've seen supermarket bunches with 7 stems .... for years - their alstro, tulips, glads, snape etc - 3 bunches for $10 were always less than 10 stem bunches.

Funny, what can be called a "bunch". Just because we're accustomed to grower bunches of 10 stems doesn't mean the consumer is accustomed to the same.

But a dozen is still a dozen ;)
Click to expand...

Yes Tracy, you're right. There was some discussion of this in another thread a while back. These 7 stem bunches are called "consumer bunches".
 
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alisonm1215 said:
Ditto
I don't think anyone wants to cheat or short our customers--it is bad for business, but there must be more cost effective ways to design arrangements in these lean times.
The former owner of the shop I bought was using 7" garden vases for her standard orders. I prefer the larger vases, so I ordered up a bunch of them and use them most of the time. Now I know why she was using this smaller vases because they take fewer flowers to fill. They're starting to call to me now "cha ching. cha ching"
I don't think
Click to expand...

Yes, I think during these difficult economic times, we as florists more than ever need to be more efficient in our buying. This means to put out products that are perceived to be just as good if not better. Perhaps this can be done by coming up with creative ways to cut COGS. Perhaps this would be considered "shrink ray" tactics, but I think this is really just smart buying and marketing, plain and simple.
 
Was just talking about this with my designers the other day...

A $35 arr. doesn't buy you today what it bought you 10 ~ 15 years ago. Some of our "older" customers are so accustomed to purchasing something for $35 or $40 and the see it to find that it is not as "full" or not as "big" as they had expected. We have seen this for awhile, and now we all try to sell what they expect. If they say they want something "big and showy" we go the $100 price point. If they balk at that, well, "you wanted big and showy!!!"

Anyway, Shrink Rays have been around for a bit now, just getting more prevalent. Pretty soon, after we're accustomed to the 12 oz. bag of Smartfood (after getting 16 oz. all these years), they'll knock it down to 10...and so on. But, use the same size bag, with more air.

- H
 
Herb:
we have noticed much the same thing.
One interesting thing we noticed is the pricing on our arrangements on our website.

Over the phone, our sales people would often use pricing of $35, $45, $55 & really showy at maybe $75.00.

Our website features items at $45 /$75/$95. for instance. and the customers are choosing the higher middle $$$ amount.

I think the perception of the buyer is to buy in the middle -- don't want to seem to be cheap, don't want to go overboard. ! So, consider changing your pricing structure, and your phone sales techniques, and also your website. You will be amazed what a difference it can make.

Cheryl
 
as a consumer, I am really concerned that the costs upped on us due to "transportation costs" or the "costs of plastics" and all the hype on oil based products will never, ever be lowered now that oil has fallen below $57.00 per barrel.
They will strike while iron is hot but the cool down period certainly never fits their profit margins.
The profits will be larger thanks to the speculators who put us where we are now and those who really can't afford those prices will suffer the most.
Have any of your fuel surcharges disappeared? Mine haven't
 
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