Web site instead of wire services?

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twiggy

twiggy

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Jun 5, 2006
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Yerington
www.yeringtonflowers.com
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NV
So what does everyone think about starting out with NO WIRE SERVICES!?? I'll be opening my flower shop in the fall of next year. I'm in a small town with population of less than 10,000. the ladies i work for now have both ftd and teleflora. by the way they are the only show in town besides the grocery's floral dept. Other florists i've talked to have nothing good to say about wire services, but feel they need them. this past md i noticed many more orders called direct w/ credit card.. and am wondering wouldn't my money be better spent on a nice web site??
 
You need to consider more than Wire Services

You are going to get widely differing views on being part of a wire service.

I would not pay any attention to any Florist who says they "need a wire service" unless they have done the math. You will find very, very few who have done the math.

What you should know is how many florists can a town of 10,000 support? I say ONE. And you say there is already more than one? I'm sure you will find florists who say a shop needs 15,000 population base.

And maybe you have that if there are a lot of residences outside the city limits.

If you need to take a pay check out of this shop, better do a lot more study. If you can afford to lose what it will take to set up and start a shop, then maybe you can justify jumping in.

Talk to the area wholesalers. They will know if your community is doing enough flower business. If they say it is doing a lot right now, you might have a tough row to hoe.
 
after reading many of the posts from the website development forum i think i may have answered my own question.. however what about sending orders for customers?? does anyone have any experience with IFA? I have been looking at their software ect..but have'nt been able to get any real feedback from actual users..
 
I use IFA all of the time. I access them via my FAS (Floral Accounting System), and I have been very satisfied with them. Only once have they been unable to locate a florist in a town (maybe the town had no florist...cannot remember the details just now).
 
Twiggy, they send the order for you. With our system, we type in the order as an IFA order and the system asks if the order is ready to send. If we answer YES, the order is sent through the system, printing out a confirmation. During the process, the system brings up a list of florists in the recepients town, and we choose the one we want to use. If that florist will not/cannot take the order, IFA forwards the order to another florist. If the other florist needs more money for delivery, does not have the requested items, etc., IFA sends a message to that affect. This gives a very desirable paper trail for the order.

A friend of mine in another town uses IFA also and she does not have the FAS system. I believe that it was installed on her regular computer.

The dollar amount of the order is applied to a credit card which I use only for this purpose.
 
Twiggy

Unless you are very, very small and slow, you need a wire service. Most consumers know that flower shops can send flowers anywhere, and they will expect that service from you. If the competition in your town can wire out orders, you need that capability. On the other hand, you don't need two. Pick one and make it work for you.
 
Our experience in sending OOA orders is that we look up a web directory (we like locate-a-flowershop) and give the customer a couple of 800 numbers and tell them the recipient will *probably* get a better value and a nicer arrangement if they simple call direct and bypass the whole wire MLM system.

Although some will argue that this is totally ridiculous and the loss of revenue blah blah blah, but our personal experience has taught us different. Often our customers are so thankful (after being burned by the OTSs before)that they continue to use us for many local events and gifts. IFA might be a decent system but I keep waiting for some “Real Florist” system to appear (Mark?).

Try to keep this in mind, IMO the OTSs are currently serving the big guys (senders and fillers) by taking advantage of newbies who sign on, then get shot all the .coN and low margin orders. The few outgoings you may get will NOT offset the fees and mystical charges that the wires will start billing you for. Good luck, and work hard at building your brand and local clientele. That is the secret of success in the flower business today.
 
Mark

I completely and absolutely disagree with the practice of referring customers to another shop to avoid the fees and the 27%. There's no doubt that the customer will get a better deal. However, I believe that it creates a negative and shady impression of our entire industry that could end up hurting us all. The average consumer does not want to be bothered by understanding the issues involved here. All they know is that something is shady and they might as well order something else.

Don't get me wrong. I think the whole 27% thing is a scam waiting to blow up in our faces. I just don't think we should publicize it.
 
Bigted said:
I completely and absolutely disagree with the practice of referring customers to another shop to avoid the fees and the 27%.
...
I just don't think we should publicize it.
Click to expand...
Ted, while I agree that it's a shame that the OTSs have so screwed up this side of our business, I can't help be feel that you are on the wrong song of history on this issue. The gig is up, my friend, and the direct order through the net or some very low cost, low overhead open OTS is the future of floral out-of-area ordering.

I publicize it for the exact same reason you want to hide it, for the good of the industry...ironic, huh?
 
ditto.........

Tom Carlson said:
You are going to get widely differing views on being part of a wire service.

I would not pay any attention to any Florist who says they "need a wire service" unless they have done the math. You will find very, very few who have done the math.

What you should know is how many florists can a town of 10,000 support? I say ONE. And you say there is already more than one? I'm sure you will find florists who say a shop needs 15,000 population base.

And maybe you have that if there are a lot of residences outside the city limits.

If you need to take a pay check out of this shop, better do a lot more study. If you can afford to lose what it will take to set up and start a shop, then maybe you can justify jumping in.

Talk to the area wholesalers. They will know if your community is doing enough flower business. If they say it is doing a lot right now, you might have a tough row to hoe.
Click to expand...


To answer your question, YES..

And DITTO to what Tom said. If you don't have money first, and alot of time, time, time, to devote, it's a tough start up business right now.
 
If I were doing it over again, knowing what I know now, and being in a small town, I wouldn't bother with the expense of the WS. Use the internet to locate... create a network of your own.

Just my opionion.

V
 
Things that make ya go hmmmmmm...

We're turning "2" this month and a wire-service isn't anywhere near being on our horizon.
I look at it this way...our out-bound orders are a service we offer to our clients..be they new or old.. and if I can confidently assure them that we will be talking to a REAL florist as opposed to sending their order out into the wilds of cyber-space they really do appreciate it!
It helps to build the confidence in us as a biz that we must have in this industry!! They know that after discussing their order with them I am well versed in what they desire and can make an appropriate choice together with the recieving florist based on what product they have!!
I was both ws's for many years and of course it is a personal choice...but keep your eye on the bottom line,that's where we all end up looking yes?:)

Good luck to you in your new venture..what ever direction you choose to take!!
jeannie
 
Wire service of website should not be your major concern

As a simple business exercise, before anyone decides to start a business, there are some things to consider long before thinking about a WS or a website.

Wherever you plan in opeing your shop, find out what the going rate is for rent, electric, gas and water and yellow page advertising per monthly average. Let's just say that it comes to $3,000. Now calculate how much business you have to generate from month ONE to just pay the basics costs?? No, there is no money it there for you. Not yet. Most shops that start from stratch, don't see any money for the owner for maybe 5 years.

Then determine how much money you can afford to invest to start the business and possibly lose if the business fails. Do you have $20,000, $50,000 or more to tide you over until the company can pay it's own bills ?Based on the fact that you are currently working for somone now, how long can your family adjust to living off ONE income rather than two. And then findly sit down with your spouse and have a long talk about if your new company needs any money through the next 3 to 5 years, how much is the spouse willing to be able to provide.

I'm not trying to put a damper on anyones dreams or plans. I just wish that I would have had someone ask me these questions before I started my business from stratch. Fortunately I was not married at the time and found that I could survive on Cheerios for breakfast and dinner several days running without having to change the menu. Much of my savings went just to pay the mortgage and taxes on my house. Population figures today indicate that you need at least a population of 12,000 to 15,000 to support even the smallest flower shop and that's without any grocery stores selling flowers in that same town.

Once you can get these questions resolved, then you can start talking about websites and WS. Also please remember, none of THOSE costs are in your initial $3000 a month. That just adds to the financial burden on your company.
 
Griff, nice post and right on...

...we started out shop from scratch about 4 years ago, and here are some hard learned lessons...

1. Whatever you plan for monthly expenses, double it and you will be close.
2. Sales are s..l..o..w in coming for a new shop...expect a few to use you just because you are new, but without a large marketing budget, you will basically be unnoticed.
3. Market market market...the wires WILL NOT HELP YOUR BOTTOM LINE. You will need something like $5k/month in wire orders JUST TO COVER THE EXPENSE OF BEING PART OF THE NETWORK, and since no one knows about your shop, Teleflora shops will not use you (the big senders already have a preferred filler in your area, and will not randomly pick you), and FTD will just send you the rejected order from THEIR preferred filler, so it really is a lose-lose for new shops and OTSs.

Follow all the reasoning in Griff's post, and if you can endure the downside (a loss of all your start-up cash plus the monthly infusions you will need for the first 18 months), by all means jump in and prepare to work harder than you ever have in your life.
 
Some scary math

Here is a very simple look at the numbers problem. Let's say you need to pay $3,000 a month in expenses. Even if you were a BUCKET SHOP, didn't deliver and didn't have any employees other than yourself, you'd have to generate at least $5,000 your first month just to break even. Sounds simple huh? If you are open an average of 27 days a month, then your average days sales have to be at least $185 a day. Still not concerned yet. OK, because you are a bucket shop and don't do arrangements and don't deliver, your entire days business is based on walk in. Remember, people haven't even found you yet. If you figure that the average bouquet of flowers you can sell is $19.95, you need to sell at least 10 bouquets a day to make your average. In the first day, you sell 2. The second day, you now need to sell 18 just to break even. The second day you sell 4 bouquets and the 3rd day you now need to sell 24 just to break even and pay all the bills. Get the idea? You will go through alot of your savings in a very short time just trying to keep your doors open while people try and find you and the clock is always ticking.

This is the reason that WS have such an easy time convincing NEW florists to join their service. In reality, it is the worst thing that a new florist can do these days. In additon to all of the regular expenses you have every month, you have just added more and the only thing your are going to get for it is alittle DISCOUNTED business which isn't going to help you pay any of your regular expenses. You just fall further behind.
 
wow.. thanks everyone for your imput. First off.. I own my building.. located just down from the country club and next to their new development..the shop is small.. 800sf, so not much room for excess inventory ect.. all the improvements done thus far are paid for.. and that's what we will continue to do.. we project the improvements including a nice cooler will be done and paid for in full by the end of this year.. i only work part time at present job.. and we have other income to support us.. opening day is fall of 07.. still a year away.. i wanted plenty of time to make these kind of decisions and be able to think about them a bit.. see what's happening down the road with the industry before i commited to anything. I'm so glad i found Flower Chat.. opinions here confirmed what i had been suspecting about ws and a trend toward more consumers shifting from ws to direct ordering via web sites.. here in this area other florists are still very commited to the ws..small towns i guess.
 
12BucksFor2Dozon said:
Although some will argue that this is totally ridiculous and the loss of revenue blah blah blah, but our personal experience has taught us different. Often our customers are so thankful (after being burned by the OTSs before)that they continue to use us for many local events and gifts.
Click to expand...

Yes it is so true!!
 
twiggy said:
here in this area other florists are still very commited to the ws..small towns i guess.
Click to expand...
Not jsut "small towns" it's that many have not heard of FlowerChat, and in reality can not see how they could survive without the wire service.

Everyday I add another "small town" florist to my database when I have an order going to a spot there is no ws coverage...time will tell, but I think this is the trend we'll continue to see, and even see it grow into the near future...
 
twiggy said:
So what does everyone think about starting out with NO WIRE SERVICES!?? I'll be opening my flower shop in the fall of next year. I'm in a small town with population of less than 10,000. the ladies i work for now have both ftd and teleflora. by the way they are the only show in town besides the grocery's floral dept. Other florists i've talked to have nothing good to say about wire services, but feel they need them. this past md i noticed many more orders called direct w/ credit card.. and am wondering wouldn't my money be better spent on a nice web site??
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, how do your present employers feel about your plans for startring up a new flower shop in the same town?

There has been a lot of good advice given to you here in this thread.

Since you are taking a go slow approach, why don't you contact the local TF rep (or FTD) and talk to them. You can always choose to decline their invitation to join. Hear what they have to say.

If you would choose a WS, stay with the basics, i,e wireservice only, no CC, no magazine subscriptions, no flowers after hours, etc.

remember you can always drop out of the WS.

Joe
 
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