Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

[ctherose]

Just browsing the ws sights to see what they are offering for Mothers Day. It is just so sad. Are the consumers demanding the look of stems just stuck into a vase or have the consumers been conditioned to like this/accept this? Are the ws copying the drop-shippers "look" to compete with them?

Funny thing is, I had to refund $50 to a customer for a wire-out of a dozen tulips. She thought they looked like they had just been dropped in a vase, no greenery, no style, etc. I guess I have to say I don't blame her. There is a time and place for single-variety drop-ins (they make fabulous laborless centerpieces!), however, since we've been talking about adding value in the consumers mind, do you think that could be achieved by acting like we're designers and not just flower processors? I mean, really, if they want it to look like that, why don't they just order from proflowers, 1800, etc. Oh, wait, they do!

Sorry, end of rant, probably wrong forum for this, but really, it did start out as a design question!

 

[shannonlovesflowers]

what do chickens and eggs have to do with this?

pick up a magazine. yes, for some reason people like these squatty little wads of flowers. I live in a very artsy town, and we get orders for no greens or "compact" (aka squatty wad) designs or artful designs or/and traditional designs, etc.

how many "hand tied" bridal bouquets have you made lately? I'm so sick of them i could scream! I'm on a one woman mission to bring back the big dramatic cascade! So far it's working! here anyway. I still have a bunch of squatty wads to make though.

But if I have to do a squatty wad, i'm mixing it up a bit. Made one for a wedding expo last week. I made an armature out of sweet huck. Then I pulled my flowers through the armature, used petaled sunflowers, black magic roses, uluhe, and a bunch of other stuff. then i mossed the stems. it looked pretty groovy. if I get a pic i'll share.
i still don't like squatty wads though!

 

[ctherose]

Oooh, I love the idea of a sweet huck armature! That sounds beautiful! I'm thinking the folks around here may not be sophistocated enough enough to go for the compact designs because the majority of my bridal bouquets have been cascades this past year. I would almost welcome more hand-tied bouquets. I hate bouquet holders with a passion--especially when I have to put faux stems around the handles! Anyway, yes, I do see the magazines, and on a personal level, I really don't mind the compact style. Maybe it's sour grapes for me that my customers prefer traditional and would never pay the high prices for something that is visually small. Oh well, I'll just have to work on them so I don't have to work so hard putting so much stuff in vases!

 

[Carrington]

Yup

Are the ws copying the drop-shippers "look" to compete with them?

!

We have exactlyt he same problems over here. Interflora and Flowers Direct both seem to have gone head to head with Tesco etc (our supermarkets) on both price and content. Teleflorist have stayed fairly true but not enough in my book.

The trouble, IMHO, as I see it is that actually consumers (especially over here having had 10 years of the same old same old) are now over the standard bunch/hand tied and actually do want something a bit more interesting.