Something else the new owner of FTD stated

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bloomz

bloomz

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Knowing people often complain because the didn't get flowers that looked like the picture - They are wanting more standardization.

So part of the focus is going to be on.....

drum roll

(yes he used these exact words)

Cookie Cutters!!!

:pblush::pblush::pblush::pblush::pblush: :ssmoke:ssmoke:ssmoke:ssmoke:ssmoke
 
There we go AGAIN with 'cookie cutters'. As I have said many times JB, there is nothing wrong with cookie cutters.....but I want them to be MY cookies, done MY way, with MY cookie dough, and MY customers buying MY cookies......FTD cookies just leave a bad taste in my mouth.

 
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Cookie cutters pay my rent. Yes TFTD cookie cutters.
 
bloomz said:
Knowing people often complain because the didn't get flowers that looked like the picture
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Oh, for gosh sake's, they're just looking at the wrong pictures. :bangles:
The Internet Retailer report about flowers wilting was not for nothin'.

You can't create unrealistic images of vaporware products (priced for 1990) and hope the heck the senders never see what was delivered.

Maybe the new FTD regime will actually rethink their shove-it-down-zee-florist's-throat-at-zee-price-I tell-you-to-make-it approach...

Would be a refreshing change.
 
CHR said:
Oh, for gosh sake's, they're just looking at the wrong pictures. :bangles:
The Internet Retailer report about flowers wilting was not for nothin'.

You can't create unrealistic images of vaporware products (priced for 1990) and hope the heck the senders never see what was delivered.

Maybe the new FTD regime will actually rethink their shove-it-down-zee-florist's-throat-at-zee-price-I tell-you-to-make-it approach...

Would be a refreshing change.
Click to expand...

of interesting note: Gfloral and I Friday were checking srps on the new selection guide, and of the 2 items we checked, they were giving $10 and $12 respectively for delivery
Ya never know - is it possible they are tired of complaints generated on the selling side?

Naw, they're Satan incarnate - I forgot. They don't care about complaints and silly stuff like customer satisfaction.

CHR said:
Is that sending them out or filling them for TFDT? (Yes this is snarky and I've had a glass of wine.)
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Filling for "Them"??? Not likely, and you can snark me any time you like.

Filling cookie cutters for our customers?

Cookies - yum.

Gotta go - design show in Portland today - I'm so excited.
 
I think selling TFTD cookie cutters is a short-sighted strategy.

First of all, it places a ceiling onto your shop's sales potential. While I agree that TFTD cookies probably sell well in the web, this cookie market is already over-saturated and won't grow.

In that case, any possible growth comes only from the increase of traffic to your web site, relative to your competitors' websites. Once you have established a dominant web presence in your town, there won't be any significant sales increase after that.

More problematic is the fact that customers will see the sameness in your website, your local competitors' websites (if they are TFTD sites), and national OG websites.

Your website is not providing any compelling reason why they should shop at your website rather than at your competitors' or OG's.

As long as there is no other place to shop, customers will continue to shop at your website. They have been doing this, (I suspect) not because they are attracted to your offering, but simply because there's no reason to shop elsewhere, as every other web site is the same.

And here's the danger. What if there was an alternative? What if one of your local competitors developed a website with unique content?

Initially you probably won't see any decline of your cookie cutters. Therefore you might be inclined to dismiss your competitor's unique web site; their pictures are awful, their site look too "amatureish", nothing "sellable" presented in the site, and so forth.

While all those criticisms are valid, what you might not realize is that they are building their own brand (albeit slowly) while you are at idle.

Eventually, what will happen is that people in your local town as well as people in nearby towns will start recognizing your competitor's shop as an alternative to the sameness. If and when this happens (tipping point), your shop will be in a big trouble.
 
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goldfish, I can't speak for the others, but listed are some of the issues I have with offering only unique items on my website:

  • Professional quality photos - I can't compete with the quality of the WS photos. Not to mention the time and labor it takes to do this. Some have the gift, talent and patience to do this, but I don't.
  • WS "cookie cutters" are proven sellers. For us, offering them is a turn key method of making a sure sale.
  • Streamlining for wire outs - My shop does a decent amount of wire outs. I have run into a lot of problems trying to find shops that will be able to and are willing to duplicate our unique items. Even when we do find a shop willing to fill the order, often times we will get a complaint from our customer claiming what was delivered was not what they ordered. We are now forced to put a "local delivery only" tag on all of our unique items.

goldfish said:
I think selling TFTD cookie cutters is a short-sighted strategy.

First of all, it places a ceiling onto your shop's sales potential. While I agree that TFTD cookies probably sell well in the web, this cookie market is already over-saturated and won't grow.

In that case, any possible growth comes only from the increase of traffic to your web site, relative to your competitors' websites. Once you have established a dominant web presence in your town, there won't be any significant sales increase after that.

More problematic is the fact that customers will see the sameness in your website, your local competitors' websites (if they are TFTD sites), and national OG websites.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Some of my biggest competitors in my local area already offer a unique items only website. There is only one that I feel that does it right: Adelaides of La Jolla But this shop plays the game in a completely different ballpark than I do, so in this time and space, they are out of my grasp and a non factor. I'm confident that the rest (local area competition) don't come near the internet generated orders that my site produces.

Can't really prove this, but it's my belief that most customers really don't notice that most of the "cookie cutters" are offered on several different sites. IMO the most important ingredient of generating an online sale is that your site is ranked high in the search engines and/or has good online reviews and the customer likes the layout (organized and professional) of your website, then more times than not they will order from you. The ones that do notice the "cookie cutters", realize that these are really just generic offerings and if they want something more customized they will call and inquire. However, I think it is important to offer some photos of some unique items. A combination of ws "cookie cutters" and unique items are ideal.

goldfish said:
Your website is not providing any compelling reason why they should shop at your website rather than at your competitors' or OG's.

As long as there is no other place to shop, customers will continue to shop at your website. They have been doing this, (I suspect) not because they are attracted to your offering, but simply because there's no reason to shop elsewhere, as every other web site is the same.
Click to expand...

I think appealing to online shoppers is whole different ball game than competing for walk in customers. IMO the most important aspect of a website to generate sales is the appearance. The layout, the photo quality, etc... Slapping together some amateur photos can actually hurt sales rather than help them.

goldfish said:
And here's the danger. What if there was an alternative? What if one of your local competitors developed a website with unique content?

Initially you probably won't see any decline of your cookie cutters. Therefore you might be inclined to dismiss your competitor's unique web site; their pictures are awful, their site look too "amatureish", nothing "sellable" presented in the site, and so forth.

While all those criticisms are valid, what you might not realize is that they are building their own brand (albeit slowly) while you are at idle.

Eventually, what will happen is that people in your local town as well as people in nearby towns will start recognizing your competitor's shop as an alternative to the sameness. If and when this happens (tipping point), your shop will be in a big trouble.
Click to expand...

But do these shops have the capital to withstand the lean years while trying to build a brand? If so, then I agree your route could potentially be the best way to go.

There are so many different variables that play a factor into success and failure of different shops that I find it can be difficult for them relate to each other. High senders like RC and Bloomz would probably have a better debate over "cookie cutters" with each other rather than with a low sender who probably couldn't offer much to them because they can't relate. Commentary, yes, advice, probably not.
 
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I also thought of something that "they" could do to help maintain the same look of the arrangements as the one pictured. It is a radical idea though.

Charge an appropriate real-world price for the arrangements and ADD to that appropriate real world fees for delivery.

I can't help but think that we could make the arrangements look more like the pictures if we had the appropriate dollars to do so.

Is that too radical an idea ???
 
I don't understand the rant about cookie cutter arrangements.

When I began in this biz the most popular arrangements were: the tickler and the pick me up boc.

When they were advertised on the GMA, Today etc, the phones would ring off the wall! People didn't seem to care if we delivered that same thing to their neighbor - they liked what they saw and that's what they wanted and yes we made money. And Hey, I am all about making money.

So if my customers what the latest cookie cutter arr and it has a price point where I can make $$ I am in.

Sure we offer custom, but most people who are calling for flowers don't seem to care, they want a well designed boc with assorted flowers in specific colors at a certain price point. If our local cookie arr fits the bill - works for me too.
 
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My whole point about cookie cutter style arrangements is this. There is nothing wrong with having simple, easy to make, well-designed, production style arrangements. They are easy to make, easy to plan, and profitable. My only contention is that a wire service arrangement is not your own. it does not reflect your shop, your store, your uniqueness as a professional florist.

additionally, it provides no incentive for me as a customer to come in to your store, or to call your shop, or to go to your website if I can get the same thing by going to 800TFTD.CON and ordering there......so, we are back answering the same question for which there is no right or wrong answer ' WHY SHOULD I SPEND MY MONEY WITH YOU AND NOT SOMEONE ELSE '

I firmly believe that it should be YOUR own arrangements, from your store, from your designers, showcased.....not 800TFTD arrangements. A great example of this is RC and Dayton in Cinncinnatti's website - www.oberers.com - There are cookie cutter arrangements there......but not a one of them are a wire service arrangement. So, I as a customer now have a reason to shop Oberer's - because I can get something there that I can't get anywhere else.
 
RWK said:
I also thought of something that "they" could do to help maintain the same look of the arrangements as the one pictured. It is a radical idea though.

Charge an appropriate real-world price for the arrangements and ADD to that appropriate real world fees for delivery.

I can't help but think that we could make the arrangements look more like the pictures if we had the appropriate dollars to do so.

Is that too radical an idea ???
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Rick did you miss the part where Gfloral and I were pricing stuff the other day? I'm hoping for this also, and it looks as if they may realize it all ties in somehow too.

I'm not an FTD cheerleader, but I have a few hopes for the new management. Don't hold your breath but we'll wait and see.

Kristine said:
I don't understand the rant about cookie cutter arrangements.

When I began in this biz the most popular arrangements were: the tickler and the pick me up boc.

When they were advertised on the GMA, Today etc, the phones would ring off the wall! People didn't seem to care if we delivered that same thing to their neighbor - they liked what they saw and that's what they wanted and yes we made money. And Hey, I am all about making money.

So if my customers what the latest cookie cutter arr and it has a price point where I can make $$ I am in.

Sure we offer custom, but most people who are calling for flowers don't seem to care, they want a well designed boc with assorted flowers in specific colors at a certain price point. If our local cookie arr fits the bill - works for me too.
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YES! Kristine gets it!

They're called PROVEN BEST SELLERS.

Tho some here choose to call them Cookie Cutters.

So I'll be so bold as to coin a new definition here for Cookie Cutters = Proven Best Sellers.

RWK said:
I firmly believe that it should be YOUR own arrangements, from your store, from your designers, showcased.....not 800TFTD arrangements. A great example of this is RC and Dayton in Cinncinnatti's website - www.oberers.com - There are cookie cutter arrangements there......but not a one of them are a wire service arrangement. So, I as a customer now have a reason to shop Oberer's - because I can get something there that I can't get anywhere else.
Click to expand...

Sorry...

And I firmly believe that theory is highly overrated and really not that true, or even close to it, and you could well be fooling yourself if you think that's the key to success.

Otherwise, please explain 800TFTD's amazing numbers. I've said many times and would love to be proven wrong, but...I do believe

They sell more in a day than any florist in the US does in a year - cookie cutters, those "non unique" arrangements everybody has.

Unless you're a Carriage Trade florist - sure it's nice to let them know you can do it for the rare occasion your daily customer wants it.

I also believe RC's success has not much or little to do with the bouquets but the fact that he has the VALUE formula down, and a corresponding reputation to go with it, and a wonderfully designed website. It's about the flowers, silly.

Even tho they are less than 1% - If I had to choose a most common complaint it would be "it didn't look like the picture". Not "I didn't like the picture." They seem to like "the picture" just fine.

"Their" complaint rates, admittedly high, are virtually all about non delivery or late delivery - I don't believe I've ever seen one for non-unique design.

PROVEN BEST SELLERS that make the phones ring off the wall - that's what I want.

Bring back the Tickler, and make mine French.

Top of the week to you all!!! - I'm off to make the donuts, I mean, sell the cookiez.

Yum.....:bouncy:
 
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I make dang good cookies and people like 'em. Heh.
I am not going to belong to a ws but have purchased the John Henry everyday images book and am going to mix some of my own arrgs with some of their images.


Some of the problems arise when a florist puts an image on their website for sale (ws or not) that has flowers that aren't readily available. Any image I put online will feature flowers that I can get easily cause I don't want the headache of chasing crazy varieties around. Not to say I won't have unique things though.
 
Merlin told Twila and I a funny story about the Tickler by the way - he said they had a heckofatime photographing it because he has huge hands that made it look too small.

It ws before my time but I've heard also a runaway best seller.
 
I am not taking sides on the "cooker cutter debate" (Proven best sellers).

But, just a comment.....when I used to inspect or check out shops for FTD and when traveling to shops when I was state president, a HUGE number of shops were not capable of even making a "cookie cutter arrangement". Unbelievable, but, true. Maybe that is why people say "it didn't look like the picture."

Carol Bice
 
Unfortunately Carol - your post is right on. I can recreate most any of the wire-service designs or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof......in fact, that was a major part of the old FTD designer club testing. IIRC you had to copy four designs from the selection guide and you were not told what designs they would be.

I have met designers that absolutely could not make a Tickler or Pick-Me-Up Mug design.....but they were fabulous show designers. I recall one incident where a locally known show designer had asked to help my old employer with some designing at a local show....and she asked him to make a 12 gladiola easel spray - I saw the design and it looked worse than a beginning amateur.
 
Re: The Tickler
bloomz said:
It was before my time but I've heard also a runaway best seller.
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Yes, Jon it was a big seller, 4-5 a day!!

But that was in the days when the wire services were our partners and not our competitors....

I just opened the new FTD selection guide today, well actually my head designer did... and I quote "When in the hell are they going to get some updated designs?"

We put it back in the box, and on the shelf...
 
I guess as long as they keep selling like hotcakes they don't need new designs?

Remember - we see them every day - consumers don't.

However - Teleflora has new ones out every stinking month - try to keep on top of that?

Wonder if Dunkin Donuts has similar complaints -

When are we gonna see some new Donuts???

Oh, people like them? Never mind.
 
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