CHERYL BAKIN
New Member
Just a couple of thoughts, and then I gotta run.....
1. Walk-in trade is down, over 60%, in the average flwoershop from what it was just as little as 10 years ago.
2. Your customer comes to you today via: the telephone, the fax, the internet -- all first -- and walking in your store last.
3. CONVENIENCE AND EASY OF ORDERING are the two things sited in every survey as to why a consumer uses a particular store....or not.
Artistic ability or fancy, high style designs are not words that most consumers even know. Other words used include Freshness, good value for $$ spent. wide variety of flowers, friendliness and helpfulness of the staff.
4. With the above 1, 2 & 3 in mind, why is it so very necessary to always be in the extremely high rent district???? Eric, me and a number of others operate out of lower rent (warehouse) type buildings. My building fronts a very main & busy street -- we have the front corner of the building and are very visable. Parking is free, and easy -- you can pull right up to our door. It's a warehouse -- not a traditional flower shop with surrounding retail businesses!!
5. There are efficiencies to be obtained in every operation, including the flower business. Not every order needs to be an "artistic masterpiece" for $40.00. Standardization, which has been talked about over and over again, is the key here. We determine every day & every week, what price points we are pushing this week -- what general types of product will be used, what containers will be used, and so on.
Then I buy fresh to match our decisions, although sometimes a good deal in fresh will drive a decision.
We usually do not do products for orders 1 at a time....we do multiples. It is just easier to do 4 ot 6 of something, and less time consuming that to do it one at a time. The bonus is that we will always have another one ready to go.
The exception to this method is funeral work, which is always different.
Our party, special event, and holiday work started this "manufacturing process" trend to evolve in my store over 18 years ago. As we got busier and busier, I had to look for more and more ways to be efficient. Also, I did not always have the design help to have someone complete an entire design. However, if I broke each design down into step by step pieces, and had someone prepping containers, someone else greening, someone inserting fillers, etc.....it got done, and they gained a new skill! Along the way, they also learned the how and the why we do things a certain way.
Folks, we are not performing brain surgery! And if you talk -- really talk ----to your customers today, they are usually interested in simply designed things, because that is what they are being fed by all the big magazines and other sources, like martha Stewart, HGTV and the Knot.
Why not embrace change -- this is a great time, because of the economics -- to try something new. Heck, you may even like it!
Regards,
Cheryl
1. Walk-in trade is down, over 60%, in the average flwoershop from what it was just as little as 10 years ago.
2. Your customer comes to you today via: the telephone, the fax, the internet -- all first -- and walking in your store last.
3. CONVENIENCE AND EASY OF ORDERING are the two things sited in every survey as to why a consumer uses a particular store....or not.
Artistic ability or fancy, high style designs are not words that most consumers even know. Other words used include Freshness, good value for $$ spent. wide variety of flowers, friendliness and helpfulness of the staff.
4. With the above 1, 2 & 3 in mind, why is it so very necessary to always be in the extremely high rent district???? Eric, me and a number of others operate out of lower rent (warehouse) type buildings. My building fronts a very main & busy street -- we have the front corner of the building and are very visable. Parking is free, and easy -- you can pull right up to our door. It's a warehouse -- not a traditional flower shop with surrounding retail businesses!!
5. There are efficiencies to be obtained in every operation, including the flower business. Not every order needs to be an "artistic masterpiece" for $40.00. Standardization, which has been talked about over and over again, is the key here. We determine every day & every week, what price points we are pushing this week -- what general types of product will be used, what containers will be used, and so on.
Then I buy fresh to match our decisions, although sometimes a good deal in fresh will drive a decision.
We usually do not do products for orders 1 at a time....we do multiples. It is just easier to do 4 ot 6 of something, and less time consuming that to do it one at a time. The bonus is that we will always have another one ready to go.
The exception to this method is funeral work, which is always different.
Our party, special event, and holiday work started this "manufacturing process" trend to evolve in my store over 18 years ago. As we got busier and busier, I had to look for more and more ways to be efficient. Also, I did not always have the design help to have someone complete an entire design. However, if I broke each design down into step by step pieces, and had someone prepping containers, someone else greening, someone inserting fillers, etc.....it got done, and they gained a new skill! Along the way, they also learned the how and the why we do things a certain way.
Folks, we are not performing brain surgery! And if you talk -- really talk ----to your customers today, they are usually interested in simply designed things, because that is what they are being fed by all the big magazines and other sources, like martha Stewart, HGTV and the Knot.
Why not embrace change -- this is a great time, because of the economics -- to try something new. Heck, you may even like it!
Regards,
Cheryl
