Which WS do you think is the best ?

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

kerrlynne

New Member
Sep 12, 2004
67
5
0
Blue Springs Missouri
State / Prov
Mo
We are a member of the Big 3 WS. The incoming is down just like everything else is, I am thinking about dumping 1 or all of them, but which one?.. I have done the spreadsheets they all seem to be equal in the proft area ( dont make much!) But as far as I can see we don't loose on any of them. The margin is small but in volume it does add up.
I don't have much problem meeting the outgoing requirements with WS. But what a pain.
For you people WS Free how does it work for you? But it does seem like a lot of work for a little of money. But volume is he business.
Interested in your thoughts. We are really tied to FTD with the Advantage computer and website. I really could go either way on Teleflora, But we get a large volume from 1800 but they are cheap orders and have the highest fees.
 
Do a search on this and you can read for days, maybe even weeks.
 
Fire away

If you dont send out a lot ( a ton) of outgoing orders, dump all three of them. Before you dump the one that does your website, get your own, shopping capable website made or make it yourself. I made mine myself, took the pics and put up a rudimentary shopping cart. The website costs about $150 a year and $50 a month for the shoppping cart. I am looking for a new shopping cart thats easy to implement.
(any ideas? anyone?) Anyhoo, all said and done the WS are bloodthirsty, greedy parasites and Chez Bloom's life has greatly improved after kicking them to the curb.
 
We can't answer that question for you. It is something internal that you will have to make that decision.
I would make a pro and con sheet for all three and go with what you feel is the wire service that will work for you if that is what you want.

I find it hard to believe that we still get question about WS and web site with all the discussion we had on this board.
Ryan offered you a FREE wesbite set up with low monthly fees.

Besyt of luck on your decision...any way you look at it, you will gain.

Luc
 
We dropped tf and went with ftd. They have a "small town" program and it doesn't cost nearly as much as we were spending with tf.
Also, it was our experience once we notified that we were stopping tf, there were ALL KINDS of discounts they were willing to give us. We didn't take any of them because it gripes me that they will give you stuff to keep you, but never offer you anything if they've got you!
Good Luck and remember if you stop any of them it has to be in writing.
 
Kickin em to the curb isn't that easy for many, and although the topic has been talked about twenty three gazzillion times, it'll be talked about twenty three gazzillion more.
Lots of new people here.

Website ----What are you actually getting out of the WS website ?
---- Is the site being picked up by the search engines ?
---- What is your site ranking ?
---- Is FTD actively and agressively promoting the site,,,,your site ?
---- Have you ever had someone evaluate the effectiveness of your FTD site?

We dropped the FTD site a while back as it was producing for them only.

There are tons of people that you can talk with about a site that produces for you, and you alone, but the first step needs to be taken.

I'm putting my faith in Ryan and his team.
You can easily find the funds necessary to have Strider create a full ecommerce site that will be found, with a few quick cuts off of your FTD statement.
My guess is that it would be the best investment you've made.

Unsure though if there is full integration with Advantage.
 
TF is the most florist friendly with marketing support, education and web development etc.

800 & FTD blatantly competes against the retail florist.

TF's parent company owns other gift type companies. At least those gifts don't get lumped into the TF flower website.

joe
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Don't let Advantage be something to hold you back. Since it's days are numbered with you anyway. Once your support is up, you're on your own. Maybe that will be the time to make your decision, unless you go with a non-wire service POS system - but be prepared to pay a good bit of $ for an interface to the w/s you keep - if they will offer the interface to begin with.

- H.
 
I think the best way to evaluate your situation is to analyze WO (wire-out) and WI (wire in) operations separately.

WO business is always better off, financially, by just keeping one WO channel. By splitting the orders into multiple channels,thus paying multiple monthly fees, you are increasing the sending cost per order.

So the only question is to ask whether WI profit from a particular WS is or isn't paying the monthly fee. If it isn't, saving from dumping this WS would outweigh the loss of WI profit.

Finally, there is another issue that has something to do with your business strategy.

I'm in opinion that WS is a necessary evil that we all have to learn to live with, just like any other stuff in life.

With that said, I think that percentage of WI among overall revenue should be limited. I think it should be less than 20%. There are many reasons why that is; I'm sure you can find these discussions elsewhere.
 
Direct Comp.....

paradise bird said:
Wire services as they are structured now, are detrimental to the industry, TF seems to be less direct competition. They really seem to put forth effort when there is a problem.
P. Bird
Click to expand...


Looks like that used to be the case !!!!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back