Something else the new owner of FTD stated

[lori042499]

Not to diminish what RC does with his website(it is beautiful by the way), but I do not believe that the average consumer would recognize a wire service photograghed arrangement and unique ones..They do recognize the fact that the front page looks similar or the same as others...I think that with some customization your cookie cutter website can look very much like your own with picking the arrangements that fit into the style of your shop...

People like professional looking photographs...ones in the environments...like RC's and teleflora's, not sure about others...unfortuanately for some this is either a big suck of time that we don't have or money equally that we don't have...some just don't have the knack to do photography...

The arrangements sell because they are not bad, RC's arrangements sell because they are nice arrangements but I am willing to bet if he took select ws or jh images and used those in place of his with prices that fit his area he would be just as successful...just putting the extra time into the website and honing it to what the customer wants...

Also the complaints on it didn't look anything like what I ordered is common...The simplicity behind this is some people are a one trick pony...they make one style arrangement and cannot copy at all...some people can make anything they want but cannot copy...some people just can't make arrangements period....There are a huge amount of shops out there that leave teenagers in charge of design tables with little experience, have designers in charge that cannot design, have owners that cannot design and do when the designer calls in sick...so many shops that are just plain not qualified to even wrap a bunch of flowers nicely never mind take a knife to them and design...sorry but it is true...why they stay in biz more than a month I am not sure...but they do...

 

[BOSS]

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?

I'd love to have that problem....

Oh, and Jon... the Dunkin Donuts here just went out of business...but all's well....I hear a new baker is coming...

 

[kt4ye]

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.

YES! You have hit my pet peeve!

Try this: Don't peek while you have someone open a WS book at random. With your eyes still shut, put your finger on a page. Look. You will find your finger is on an arrangement that has AT LEAST one flower that you do not have in stock, or if you have it it is old, or if it isn't old its the wrong color or you don't have the container!

I've had both FTD and TF reps in my store and have had them do that.

FUN!

It's HARD to make cookies when one of the ingredients is Cashew FRUIT (not nuts.) Especially if they have to be baked, cooled and delivered by noon!

Bill

 

[lori042499]

YES! You have hit my pet peeve!

Try this: Don't peek while you have someone open a WS book at random. With your eyes still shut, put your finger on a page. Look. You will find your finger is on an arrangement that has AT LEAST one flower that you do not have in stock, or if you have it it is old, or if it isn't old its the wrong color or you don't have the container!

I've had both FTD and TF reps in my store and have had them do that.

FUN!

It's HARD to make cookies when one of the ingredients is Cashew FRUIT (not nuts.) Especially if they have to be baked, cooled and delivered by noon!

Bill

I think that 90% of regular flower shops would have this problem even if they were showcasing their own work...If most flower shop buy like I buy, I go daily and buy what I like...bunch by bunch, there are some staples, like 5 types of fillers I always have on hand, or poms, minis, gazers, stock, gerbs, but these could be one color one day and another another day...this is one of the problems that the internet has caused the florist...

I equate it with hair dressing....you can pick out a picture from a book, but depending on the quality and texture of your hair and the skill of the hair designer, you may or may not get anything close to what is pictured...We do not sell a machine crafted item like, woodcrafters warehouse or sauder, people should expect there to be slight variences in a fresh product...it should be close and at least similar in many ways but exact is never possible...not even if you are GOD...

 

[BOSS]

BOSS's Quote of the day!!

It's HARD to make cookies when one of the ingredients is Cashew FRUIT (not nuts.) Especially if they have to be baked, cooled and delivered by noon!

Bill

Right on Bill.... ya mind letting the folks in "charge" know? :bangles:

 

[goldfish]

The arrangements sell because they are not bad, RC's arrangements sell because they are nice arrangements but I am willing to bet if he took select ws or jh images and used those in place of his with prices that fit his area he would be just as successful...

That would be suicidal, IMO.

Business decision is a funny thing. Sometimes it happens so that each individual decision might be right on its own merit, but the sum of these decisions could be quite damaging.

Let's say Randy discovered one of his arrangement pictures wasn't producing much sale. He called Bloomz, who told him that FTD's "Stunning Beauty (Ugly)" sells. So Randy replaced his no-so-popular picture with the FTD image.

Next month, he saw a significant increase of his web sale, thanks to FTD's "Stunning Beauty." Please, he then called Darrell, who told Randy that FTD's Basket of Cheers sells like crazy.

OK, Randy said, and replaced one of his pictures with "Basket of Cheers". An instant success. So he kept replacing them, and ended up having 50% WS cookies and 50% his own on his web site.

What do you think will happen to his business 5 years later?

 

[LJVF]

That would be suicidal, IMO.

Business decision is a funny thing. Sometimes it happens so that each individual decision might be right on its own merit, but the sum of these decisions could be quite damaging.

Let's say Randy discovered one of his arrangement pictures wasn't producing much sale. He called Bloomz, who told him that FTD's "Stunning Beauty (Ugly)" sells. So Randy replaced his no-so-popular picture with the FTD image.

Next month, he saw a significant increase of his web sale, thanks to FTD's "Stunning Beauty." Please, he then called Darrell, who told Randy that FTD's Basket of Cheers sells like crazy.

OK, Randy said, and replaced one of his pictures with "Basket of Cheers". An instant success. So he kept replacing them, and ended up having 50% WS cookies and 50% his own on his web site.

What do you think will happen to his business 5 years later?

goldfish, I agree with you on this one. This goes back to my belief that every shop has a different set of variables to deal with. Yes ws "cookie cutters" are proven sellers, but it doesn't mean they are compatible within a system. For example, top of the line Porsche part may not function properly in a Mercedes.

Perhaps my example in a prior post of RC and Bloomz relating to each other was a poor one, they are both successful, but are very different.

BTW, I consider myself a Toyota right now, maybe one day I'll become a Lexus

 

[Patty]

IMO, many consumers select the "proven sellers" because they are familiar. They see variations of them on a zillion TFTD websites, TV and newspaper ads and fall back on "go with what you know".

How often do customers order a "Peace Lily" only because they know what it is? They may love a Cordyline Glauca but don't know to ask for one.
Flowers are beautiful on their own merits; knowledge of design is acquired. I think it falls to us as designers and business owners/employees to assist consumers in expanding their awareness of design.

Ever watch "What Not To Wear"? Most of those people don't really want to look that way, they just don't know what to do about it! Stacy and Clinton show them how to make different choices.

I've noticed that several FC members' websites offer both "proven sellers" and individual shop designs. That gives buyers both a choice and the opportunity to see more individual arrangements.

If someone really wants a ball of daisy mums in a plastic dish, then by golly, sell it to 'em! If, however, we haven't provided them with any options or offered our expertise, then I think we've shortchanged both of us.

 

[marigold]

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 '

It is like showing a photo of an apple, an apple and an apple. They are
all apples, all the same color, all will probably taste the same.
Why should a consumer by your apple, when the other apples on your
competitors site, looks the same?
Not to say that your apple is not of good quality.
Not to say that your apple is of good quality.
You have to give them a reason to buy from you.
I think many florists don't give the consumers much credit for having an
opinion.
If I call an order to another shop and I sense this, I call someone else.
That would go for any purchase I may make from any retailer.

 

[goldfish]

LJVF, I agree on every single point you described: pictures of unique arrangements may actually hurt the sale if the pictures are in poor quality (as they most often are).

While I agree with that, I still reach to a different conclusion: a florist's web site should not display TFTD products.

That's because you and I probably have different priorities. I'm guessing (correct me if I'm wrong) yours is to increase the sale and profitability today. My priority is different. I want to build a distinctive brand as quickly as possible.

While I do want increase the sale and profitability eventually (who doesn't want that), my inclination is that these things will ultimately depend on the store brand.

Example: we don't fill incoming orders of most TFTD cookie cutters. We just can't, because we don't carry the component flowers (we don't even carry Alstro). This obviously "hurts" the sale. On the other hand, an important ingredient of our store brand is to use unusual flowers. If we start sending out TFTD cookies with pomps and daisies, we will be hurting the brand, which I happen to take more seriously than the loss of sale.

Although this is not an issue of who is right or wrong, I can explain why I am willing to sacrifice a certain sale to help building our store brand.

Our local market is saturated with the florists who, more or less, look the same: same products, same services, similar designs, and same websites (TFTD websites). The biggest one among them is 1-800-flowers (do you know that 1800 is a Long Island company?), located just 5 min away from us.

If we become one of them, offering the products and services similar to theirs, what will happen? While we might be able to stay in the business this way, I don't see any growth potential at all.

Growth comes only when people in nearby towns start ordering with us. Why should they order with us, if they can do business with the florists in their towns? The only way that this could happen is if we offer something that isn't offered by florists in the nearby towns as well as our town.

We need to be distinctive. So that's very important to us, so important that I'm willing to sacrifice some sale today if it helps build our store brand.

You mentioned that website is a different animal than regular customers. You may be right, if our website doesn't have the name of our store. I could build a website full of TFTD cookies and call it cookieflorist.com or something.

On the other hand, as long as our website carries our name in it, I consider it to be a part of our brand. Our store name "insolita" is a Latin meaning "unusual." We want to be consistent in this message, whether it's in our everyday business or on our website.

There are may things that I need to improve on our website. I am aware of that. Since it's made by an amateur (me!), it has a distinctive amateur feel. E-commerce side of the site is currently too inconvenient and cumbersome. But these things, I can improve.

What I don't want to do is to put a lot of TFTD cookies in there, just to make extra bucks. I don't think it will help us in a long run.

 

[LJVF]

goldfish, I agree with you again. I think developing a "brand" is a very important part for looong term success. Relying strictly on WS "cookie cutters" could hinder this development. However, I think that these "proven sellers" could be used as a tool in helping sustain the bottom line for a florist trying to develop a brand. To make a long story short, even though my business is 30 plus years old, we pretty much had to start over about 5 years ago. With the aide of these "proven sellers", we have tripled our gross revenue in that time. The best analogy I can think of right now is the following:

A high school graduate (with no help from parents) can make the following choices:

A) Go straight to work. This person can start earning income immediately and also develop a trade.

B) Invest in his/her future by taking out a loan, go to college and earn a degree. This person will sacrifice immediate income and hands on experience in hopes that the payoff will exceed example A. However he/she will have sacrificed past earnings and developing a trade, while at the same time incurring a great debt.

C) Go to work and college at the same time. This person may take longer to finish school, but his/her debt ideally will be less.

I think you parallel situation "B", you are investing capital and sacrificing income today in hopes for a larger payoff in the future. I think I am a mix of A and C, trying to earn a profit while at the same time build for the future. Two different paths to Nirvana in which neither of us may not reach.

BTW, I think not offering some of the staple flowers such as Alstroe is really extreme. It should be interesting to see the results of your experiment.