Teleflora, Russ Berrie & the dollar stores

[meherr]

We have noticed that our local Deals store is selling Teleflora containers now on a fairly regular basis. Also, many Russ Berrie items. The manager calls me whenever she gets a shipment of T/F stuff and I go buy the case - we are just down the road & I certainly don't want my customers to see T/F stickered items for sale for $1. Just curious if anyone else has noticed this; the person I complained to at T/F was shocked blush: & couldn't believe such a thing was possible

Michelle

 

[felicityflowers]

Michelle,
Lol, I bet they were "shocked". FTD does the same thing with the Dollar Tree and I have heard Big Lots as well. In "retail speak" it is called jobbing. They take their overstock and sell it to these companies to consolodate. Since the customer feels as if these items are an "industry only" item they know that they will be sold, like hotcakes.

Our local Dollar Tree had the green glass snowflake candy dishes for Christmas last year. We bought a few and took off the FTD sticker and used them for our c/c specials. We were told by the manager that they received 50 cases and we purchased the last ten. They had only received them three days before.

I haven't had much experience in the floral industry side of this but I know on the retail clothing side this is common practice. They sell the product at retail, then wholesale, then what is left over they "job out".

It won't stop happening, no matter how "shocked" your rep seemed to be.

Heather

 

[BOSS]

First off Welcome to FlowerChat....we're all glad your here!

Regarding the Dollar Stores, you'll also find FTD items at the buck stops...not a big deal in my opinion. Both companies have to sell the stuff rather than keep it in the warehouse to get it off their balance sheets.

Generally they sell to brokers, in bulk, who then turn around and sell it to the highest bidder.

Personally I would not buy them, because I do not buy any "branded" product now because I think the containers are junk, and over priced, but if you can use them and can get them for a buck...what the heck, they might be worth it ($1.00).

I'm pretty sure we'll see more and more of this going forward as more and more florists buy fewer and fewer of the codified containers. I can remember, just 5 short years ago in my store, I bought 5-10 cases of each container for each holiday. Gradually the need decreased (mostly due to decreased incoming orders, and my cutting of FTD.com from sending me orders), and today I buy none, preffering to sell items I can make more money on, and offer my customers more for their money while at the same time selling MY look, and not some cookie cutter design.

 

[seasonsblooming]

out dated

We have similiar here at the Christmas Tree Shoppe but they sell the older merchandise from teleflora and FTD. I would love to get the updated stuff so I don't have to pay the fortune that the WS are making me.

 

[Sher]

If you get codified for the combo boxes and wait till the last minute, they usually call and ofer you reduced prices on what they have leftover...works like a charm....haggle for free shipping.

 

[BOSS]

making me[/B].

Emphasis mine....

They can't MAKE you do anything...if you don;t want it tell them NO... Like Sher said, if you wait til the codification deadline passes (and who cares unless you wnat incoming junk orders) you can get the containers for very reduced prices and often free shipping to boot....

Myself, I found that once I dumped the branded containers, our net profitability at holidays went up....mostly due to not recieving discounted orders for over priced designs...