In Teleflora’s “Flowers & Profits” March 2008 edition, there is an article titled Pay Per Click Ads: Are They Right for You? While I am not sure that PPC works for the "typical" local florist, the article does a very nice job of explaining how PPC ads work. But there is one statement hidden in this excellent educational article that frightens me:
“…General words on the search engines, such as “wedding flowers,” “corsages,” and “sympathy flowers” are the most expensive because they attract thousands and even millions of consumers. National advertisers such as ProFlowers and FTD will pay $15 to $20 per order to get business away from the local florists…”
Before I go further, I must stress that Teleflora is conspicuously absent from this statement but I have knowledge that Teleflora also uses Pay Per Click services. (Could it be because this is a Teleflora publication? "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Jesus Christ)
My point is that our wire services and other order gathers (OG) are willing to pay $15-$20 EACH for our customer. They know that once they have established a relationship with the customer and market to them regularly, they will get repeat business. It is time to look at our wire services and OG’s in a different light…as adversaries. These companies are taking the advertising dollars that the local florists pay to them each month and yet they spend it to drive our customer directly to the wire service. The wire services are spreading everywhere…Wal-mart, Aldi and most of the retail grocery stores and now on-line, you can become a wire service affiliate without even becoming a florist. Today, the consumer is being offered drop-shipped merchandise – straight from the distributor, bypassing the florist all together. It is my opinion that retail florists are in for the fight of their lives. So what do we do?
First, the local florist must be proactive. I recall many years ago when the wire services were our friends. “Back in the day”, they had standards for their members, including requirements for a brick & mortar store, a clean and well-kept sales area with quality in-store inventory. Today, I have a real hard time taking an order from an OG that has no inventory and from a sales person with very little knowledge of the floral industry (and some with little understanding of the native language!) Quite frankly, my store has more problems with an incoming OG order than any other type of order. Therefore, in my store, we refuse to take an order from an OG...no exceptions. Several callers have asked me why we won’t take their order and our answer is “you guys are our direct competitor…why would we support your business?” The key is that we don’t need them…they need us. If florists are not available to fill their orders, then the OG's cannot fulfill the order. Each shop is different but I encourage each florist to seriously consider their relationship with the OG’s.
Secondly, the local florist must be vocal. Speak out – loudly! Talk about this issue with the wire service reps and regional directors…make them uncomfortable if you must and insist on real answers. Don’t take their typical spiel seriously. (I had one FTD rep who told me that "florists should be grateful that his wire service was willing to take the internet orders so that 1-800 Flowers couldn’t have it. Therefore, FTD would transfer it to a FTD florist instead of just any old florist." I should be grateful?!!!! -And he actually expected me to buy this garbage? Let me repeat, we don’t need them, they need us!) Talk with your fellow florists at your local and state wide association meetings. Many florists seem too timid to start the conversation but are willing to chime in after some brave soul brings up the subject.
Lastly, re-evaluate your relationship with your wire services. If you have more than one, do you need them all? Who can do the most damage to your business? Look at your statements…who costs the most? Better yet, ask yourself: Do I really need a wire service at all? Some will argue that you need a relationship with at least one and I tend to favor that thought. The professional relationships, educational benefits and the camaraderie from a wire service organization are all important to me. However, none are without sin. Numerous florists have discontinued their membership in all wire services and use their credit cards, and yet they indicate that they have not had a significant loss of business since taking this bold move. My store, for one, discontinued our FTD membership before Valentine's Day, yet our sales were up. And we didn't order a single nationally advertised Teleflora Valentine container (sales rep: "everyone's gonna want one...") yet we didn't even get one request for this container from any customer or wire service.
The bottom line is that there is an elephant in the room and few people are willing to speak above a whisper, lest they disturb him. It is time for florists to take back the industry. If we are not careful, instead of business owners, we will be employees of the wire services. Now, who wants that?
I welcome any comments.
Rex D. Rish
President
Rish Florist
West Columbia, SC
[email protected]
“…General words on the search engines, such as “wedding flowers,” “corsages,” and “sympathy flowers” are the most expensive because they attract thousands and even millions of consumers. National advertisers such as ProFlowers and FTD will pay $15 to $20 per order to get business away from the local florists…”
Before I go further, I must stress that Teleflora is conspicuously absent from this statement but I have knowledge that Teleflora also uses Pay Per Click services. (Could it be because this is a Teleflora publication? "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Jesus Christ)
My point is that our wire services and other order gathers (OG) are willing to pay $15-$20 EACH for our customer. They know that once they have established a relationship with the customer and market to them regularly, they will get repeat business. It is time to look at our wire services and OG’s in a different light…as adversaries. These companies are taking the advertising dollars that the local florists pay to them each month and yet they spend it to drive our customer directly to the wire service. The wire services are spreading everywhere…Wal-mart, Aldi and most of the retail grocery stores and now on-line, you can become a wire service affiliate without even becoming a florist. Today, the consumer is being offered drop-shipped merchandise – straight from the distributor, bypassing the florist all together. It is my opinion that retail florists are in for the fight of their lives. So what do we do?
First, the local florist must be proactive. I recall many years ago when the wire services were our friends. “Back in the day”, they had standards for their members, including requirements for a brick & mortar store, a clean and well-kept sales area with quality in-store inventory. Today, I have a real hard time taking an order from an OG that has no inventory and from a sales person with very little knowledge of the floral industry (and some with little understanding of the native language!) Quite frankly, my store has more problems with an incoming OG order than any other type of order. Therefore, in my store, we refuse to take an order from an OG...no exceptions. Several callers have asked me why we won’t take their order and our answer is “you guys are our direct competitor…why would we support your business?” The key is that we don’t need them…they need us. If florists are not available to fill their orders, then the OG's cannot fulfill the order. Each shop is different but I encourage each florist to seriously consider their relationship with the OG’s.
Secondly, the local florist must be vocal. Speak out – loudly! Talk about this issue with the wire service reps and regional directors…make them uncomfortable if you must and insist on real answers. Don’t take their typical spiel seriously. (I had one FTD rep who told me that "florists should be grateful that his wire service was willing to take the internet orders so that 1-800 Flowers couldn’t have it. Therefore, FTD would transfer it to a FTD florist instead of just any old florist." I should be grateful?!!!! -And he actually expected me to buy this garbage? Let me repeat, we don’t need them, they need us!) Talk with your fellow florists at your local and state wide association meetings. Many florists seem too timid to start the conversation but are willing to chime in after some brave soul brings up the subject.
Lastly, re-evaluate your relationship with your wire services. If you have more than one, do you need them all? Who can do the most damage to your business? Look at your statements…who costs the most? Better yet, ask yourself: Do I really need a wire service at all? Some will argue that you need a relationship with at least one and I tend to favor that thought. The professional relationships, educational benefits and the camaraderie from a wire service organization are all important to me. However, none are without sin. Numerous florists have discontinued their membership in all wire services and use their credit cards, and yet they indicate that they have not had a significant loss of business since taking this bold move. My store, for one, discontinued our FTD membership before Valentine's Day, yet our sales were up. And we didn't order a single nationally advertised Teleflora Valentine container (sales rep: "everyone's gonna want one...") yet we didn't even get one request for this container from any customer or wire service.
The bottom line is that there is an elephant in the room and few people are willing to speak above a whisper, lest they disturb him. It is time for florists to take back the industry. If we are not careful, instead of business owners, we will be employees of the wire services. Now, who wants that?
I welcome any comments.
Rex D. Rish
President
Rish Florist
West Columbia, SC
[email protected]
