Why do florist not go direct more!

Status
Not open for further replies.
FTD had a great campaign on for a while, marketing Merc POS as "an employee who works for $1 / day" which is an excellent way to look at a POS system. I don't want to hijack this thread, so if you want to talk POS we can chat it up in the POS forum.

I've installed POS systems in more shops than I can count, and there hasn't been one case yet where it wasn't a benefit. I've also worked in our shop since we used triple carbon forms and used hand-drawn pictures for our marketing ... times do change :)

FYI - the pet stores in our area use POS systems. Not floral specific, since they aren't florists ... but POS none the less.
 
inferno63 said:
Just curious though.....how do all the other retail businesses survive without the WS POS system?
Click to expand...

Again, it depends on the shop. I see two reasons:

(1) Most flower shops I know are run by designer/owners. They want to spend as little time as possible doing paperwork. A POS system helps them spend more time at the design bench.

(2) I was told a POS system would replace at least one employee, possibly two. In my experience they were right. Streamlining the ordering process has saved me more than one full-time person. (Example: John Smith calls and he's a regular. The minute I pick-up the phone and type in his name - all his info. goes into the order form, including who he sends to, what she likes, when he last ordered, how much his average sale is, and how much he's spent y-t-d, and his cc info. The customer appreciates this easy order process as well. We no longer have to ask them 20 questions, when 5 will do.

Accounting is easier. Click of a button and end-of-day procedure now takes ten minutes. Monthly promotional mailers printed in less than 30. Same with monthly statement. Sales tax reports...payroll reports...all easier.

Ever had someone call about an order from two months back? We used to go to the file cabinet (hoping it was in order) and flip through the paperwork. Now I can retreive info in seconds.

I could go on and on. I can't believe I did it all manually for 15 years. Maybe that's why so many owners hate the business side ~
 
Many places do have POS, think of restaurants with take out, and especially the major chains. I have TF eagle, and it single handly saved me from hiring and paying labor whre i don't nned too. Hand written cards, manual record keeping, filing, questions from customers on previous orders, time clock, end of the month reports and records, none of which I care to do at any great length. It was making me dislike the business and taking me away from what I need to do.

Also, I will say that I was recently audited for Pa Sales tax, going back to 2001 (intimidating, to say the least) my POS saved me hours and hours, and made the audit go smoothly. Unless you are excellent and exact( I was neither, but now reformed) in record keeping and storage, an audit of this type is daunting. My most difficult records to deal with were the year or so without the POS. Yes I had QB, but the paper trail was more demanding and I did not have everything in it that was needed. The auditor told me not to be surprised to be audited again in three years, because sometimes one audit triggers another for follow up. My POS made it easy and will again. Not so intimidating the second tme around.

Two things: One I have not always used my POS to full capacity, i.e., marketing capabilities, and allowing employees not to enter orders diretly in to it. These were mistakes on my part, now corrected.
Secondly, I would not be attached to the wire service for the POS again, for interface problems with other services, upgrade and support issues, and paying more for it than I probably needed to. That being said it was lack of knowledge on my part, when I made the decison. Now that I know better, I would do better, and leave the long term commitment behind.

I still believe that a POS was one of the best decisions I have made. I think my independent web site will be the next one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Inferno,
To support what others have said, I have had my POS for 10 years now. It was the BEST decision I ever made.
We installed the system 30 days before Mother's Day....i was scared stiff. In 30 days, me & my employees (2 of which could only twyp about 20 to 30 words/minute) were taking orders directly into the system.....while talking to the customer. Smoothest Mothers Day we ever had.

in terms of Labor elimination: That holiday alone saved me the wages of 2 people @ 50 hours/ week (100 labor hours) who previously just sat & hand-wrote out delivery tags and enclosure cards. That savings alone, multiplied by at least 3 major holidays/year, makes the savings worth it. Over the course of a year, as we have grown, we estimte that the POS systems saves us the cost of 2 employees (Fulltime) each year. :)

It allowed us to handle more customers, easier , than ever before.
It allows me to know what products are selling....how many I have left, etc, etc.
EOM bookkeeping is made much much easier. Billing can be done daily weekly or on whatever schedule you choose.
Our credit cards process as we finish processing the order. No second step here on a separate cc machine.

labels and marketing lists and materials are another side benefit.
I can tell you who bought last year, which holiday, and how much.

The point is that you don't have to be a very big business to use a POS system today. It does not have to be florist specific. Some folks that I know use Quickbooks for everything. If you are just starting out, this might be something to consider.

It is well worth the investment. And, today, It does not have to be a hughly expensive investment.

Cheryl
 
We borrowed $10,000 from our Father to buy our (cost was $14,000 for Daisy w/ 3 terminals if I remember right)

Without it, we would have never grown past the 200K/year sales level - I am certain of that.

The ability to be unsurpassed at servicing customers has been our key to growth more than anything else, freshness, design, anything.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Ultimately, some shops need and MUST have access to a wire service to send AND receive, and some shops do not....that has NEVER changed.
We send a fair amount shop direct because of the lack of WS coverages, BUT, to be honest, sending direct by CC, is NOT really that cost effective, although it's "intent" is to give the filling shop "more value", I've seen way too many instances where the end result is the same.
You really DON'T have to be a huge shop to benefit from WS affiliation, BUT, you GOTTA make sure that ALL your costs are covered, when sending and receiving, BECAUSE, the downfall of most shops, is that they "subsidize" their wire service business, with their LOCAL business, and THAT is bass ackwards...you DON'T have to "make" a lot of money on wire service orders, BUT, that portion of your business MUST pay for itself!
 
I guess my question was misunderstood. I also have a POS system but my question was why do florists insist on the FTD, Teleflora, etc as their POS system? There are so many others that do the same thing as their systems. Why is the WS POS the one that some florists can't seem to live without?
 
They have attractive financing for their systems, some others may as well not sure. They have seamless sending systems to a large netowork of florists. Which takes us back to it's much easier to hit enter and have the order go on it's way than to call it out. We send 25 + outgoing orders a day and don't have the extra help to call them all out.
 
cs1 said:
They have attractive financing for their systems, some others may as well not sure. They have seamless sending systems to a large netowork of florists. Which takes us back to it's much easier to hit enter and have the order go on it's way than to call it out. We send 25 + outgoing orders a day and don't have the extra help to call them all out.
Click to expand...

Is the cost of the WS POS offset that much by the sending and receiving? My shop policy is different than some. I encourage my customers to call direct or I charge a small fee that can vary to make the call myself. And I am WS free. My situation is different so I am speaking from that side of the shrubs. I know that in my case it would not be cost effective.

My POS is simple Quickbooks and I since I have no need for a WS it works effectively. I can look up customer purchases and keep inventory. I have history, pretty reports, run statements, pay bills, etc. All of this for under $500 including my cash register. I don't know how much the WS POS systems cost but I have heard well into the thousands. I suppose in some situations for big senders it pays for itself. If I worked a manual system I would certainly have to hire someone to do that so my system does eliminate an employee also.

I am just on a quest to understand, not offend.
 
Simply put - wire services finance systems and in some cases even give them away - a method of firmly placing ring in nose, not always a bad thing.

I don't know about QB POS but I'm guessing it doesn't do Floral Specific things (Like print cards for one) that a Floral Specific POS does.
 
bloomz said:
Simply put - wire services finance systems and in some cases even give them away - a method of firmly placing ring in nose, not always a bad thing.

I don't know about QB POS but I'm guessing it doesn't do Floral Specific things (Like print cards for one) that a Floral Specific POS does.
Click to expand...
Or marketing, or email confirmations, delivery management, shopping lists from previous years, nation-wide address verification, quick entry of repeat orders...

I have to wonder: Do shops using QB POS really use it as a POS -> Entering orders live on the phone? Or do they write on paper first and enter later?

Ryan
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
simple answer : because wire services go into your shop demo it, explain it, sell it, and finance it.
to me, when you are purchasing a POS you are on the beginnning of the learning curve, striving to do better, grow and decrease labor intensive non floral time. When they market to you successfully, which they do without parallel, you are usually at the point where your time is limited any way. It is easy , convenient and affordable, when applied to your statement. (or so you think ;) )

My POS desicion was still the right thing at the time, and I didn't know what I needed or was even looking for until I saw it. The floral specific software is THE key selling point, and I would never go back.

Like I said, it may not be what I would do now( the wire service POS), but when you know better you do better. Without the benefit of FC, or friends in the industry, or experience, the question back to you is why not? Who els is in your store selling directly to you?
 
Infinite said:
Or marketing, or email confirmations, delivery management, shopping lists from previous years, nation-wide address verification, quick entry of repeat orders...

I have to wonder: Do shops using QB POS really use it as a POS -> Entering orders live on the phone? Or do they write on paper first and enter later?

Ryan
Click to expand...

Well there are limitations but I can do live orders on the phone, credit card purchases, email, and repeat orders are a breeze. I don't know what WS pos can do but I can create mailing lists, labels, and such that I can use in other marketing programs to include my website marketing with a few clicks. I cannot print cards. I use publisher to do that which is a template I made. There are some things I write on paper and enter later, especially if I am taking an order at the design table or on the road. I have to enter my purchases and expenses as I receive them but I imagine even WS pos is the same. I am just thankful that I am able to do many of the same things without the expensive system. I wouldn't want so much of my resources tied up that way. If I was huge with branches that might make it worth the investment......but probably not for me.
 
I have specificly had customers ask me to "hand write" the card (which I always do because I don't have a POS). They tell me it is very impersonal and it is one of the things left that you can send and have the special touch of a handwritten card.
Gotta say, they have a point. My son's generation however will be happy with
LLFE (lots of love forever) typed out on a computer.
 
One look at my hand writing, and people ask me to type!

On a serious note, though, the impersonality of a typed card was much more true 10 years ago when POS systems used fixed width typewriter-esque fonts. Now, most use nice scripted fonts or something with character that gives a much nicer feel.

We started using printed cards with Daisy in '97 and received a few comments - about an even split between pro & con - but no serious negativity. Customers stopped talking about it a long time ago.

Ryan
 
I personalize cards in different ways. If the deceased love to fish then I put a picture or watermark on the card of a bass or boat, whatever. I also snap a pic of the tribute sent that I put on the back of the card. Families appreciate that when they are writing thank yous that the picture is a reminder of what the person sent. Then they can personalize their thank you notes. I have all the scripts and fonts available to use that you would find in any microsoft program. It does take some time to insert the pics on the back of the card with the senders address but it is a piece of customer service that has netted more customers. I know that my cards are noticeable at the funeral home because all the other florists in the area use the same fonts and cards.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
I completely realize the benefits of having a pos. However right now, my business is too young for me to justify and investment of 10 grand.
Unfortunately right now I have PLENTY of time to do the bookwork as much as I hate it. In a one owner run store...business would have to pick up considerably before I would even entertain the idea.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Or, you could invest $100 / month in a POS that frees up a LOT of your time to start marketing more to grow your business.

Paperwork is about the least efficient use of an owner's time (not counting planning & analysis as paperwork).

Ryan
 
Infinite said:
Or, you could invest $100 / month in a POS that frees up a LOT of your time to start marketing more to grow your business.

Paperwork is about the least efficient use of an owner's time (not counting planning & analysis as paperwork).

Ryan
Click to expand...

NOT having a floral specific system in place for your business, may NOT be catastrophic, BUT, for those of you that DON'T have one, I CAN tell you, that Ryan is absolutely correct....time is money, and the lack of it, is MORE impacting on your business than you realize.
A system DOES save you more than just time, it saves money on enclosure cards, on contact keeping, on customer info & past histories, and certainly presents your business in the 21st century.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back