WS industry in 2014

[Rock]

Already doing them now!

Had to go direct ship to your area Rock, and it works like a charm.

It seems that your area can't be found in our International Directory?

We live in hope!

So, 'direct ship' from the nearest FDS shop? Of course you could try Air Canada Christmas or Valentine's Day... good luck with that! lol

or "direct shipping" from Edmonton to Newfoundland.....

scary.

If my delivery job in the Caymen Islands doesn't work out I'm gonna deliver for Mikey! :>

 

[Dazeal]

Ricky, thanks for asking - Number 2- 25% and number 4- 75%

However I personally believe that Teleflora has more staying power. The reality is no one knows for sure what their financial situation is as they do not have to publish their financials as the FTD and 1-800 do.

TF will fall if they don't change their model weather they are public or private.

TF has not diversified as much as the others and are in the biggest trouble. Filling for Proflowers and other OGs is TF ace in the hole, for now. 100s of consumers figure it out every day. And when more consumers figure out that ordering direct for free gives them more power of choice, saves them money, feels better talking directly to the florist designing the flowers, more convenient (to this new generation) will TF still be a viable business model? Will filling for PF and other ogs be enough? Every day consumers get smarter.. it's only a matter of time and by 2014 the WS as we know it will be weak. Don't ever forget the variable of information.. and we live in the age of information and it's movement is exponential every passing second.

Since Teleflora has much less direct ship, and less direct to consumer sales, they would in theory be the first to become insolvent, based on not having a lot to offset membership losses, and declining revenues.

Exactly.


Flowers& - I have no idea what being held privately has to do with a failing business model. You can re-arrange the furniture on the titanic all you want, but if you don't fix the hole, you stink... rich or poor, private or public, etc...

 

[mlou]

Teleflora ceased to exist in 2012. They had allowed too many unqualified florists, too many OGs with poor services. ..

I look for this to change...especially the unqualified florists part.

Ms Resnick tried to stop the hemorrhage by offering Pom Wonderful (another brand she manages) to member florists for free. this tactics, however, didn't work because most TF member florists were already addicted to unhealthy drinks at that point.

I'm hearing buzz of new marketing from the "Ms Resnick group" that could change the playing field...

1-800-flowers ...Their ad campaign using Twitter, one of the greatest fads in 2009-10, ...

This "fad" is so powerful that since the iphone was released today...
there has been an average of 500 tweets per minute about iphone and another 400 tweets per minute about AT&T...I'll sure follow that kind of power anyday... Now how do we get them to tweet flowers at that rate.

.

 

[goldfish]

Don't you think, as more shops disappear, that the remaining will grow simply by default somewhat?

Somewhat, but probably not much, as long as the overall market for local florists keeps shrinking.

I discussed this very issue with someone in private message the other day. I told him that my shop appears to be growing, but I attribute much of this "growth" to the disappearance of my local competitors.

This worries me. Perhaps in a year or so, all the weak competitors are gone. After that, potential for growth might vanish. And our shop, together with other surviving shops, will suffer a gradual decline as our local market shrinks.

I think the true growth must come from expanding the market. My store must find more new customers, rather than simply picking up the customers of failed florists.

 

[goldfish]

For shops in mid to high populated areas, I believe that florists that operate in commercial areas will have the best chance for success. These operations will target the event side of the floral industry, such as weddings, parties and funerals. They will also offer wholesale prices to the public where customers can choose from a wide variety of fresh flowers and purchase by the bunch. For everyday designed arrangements, they will rely less on walk ins and more on their internet and phone business via their websites. The lower overhead of operating in a commercial area will allow for better pricing, higher volume and a larger customer base than the traditional flower shop.

At a very local level, I think success of a shop will be simply dependent on the operator. Whether s/he is targeting event-side of the business or Internet sales, a good operator will always find a profitable niche and be able to exploit the vacuum left by clueless competitors.

At a regional-national level, I'm not so optimistic about event-side of the business. It's not that people will suddenly shrink their wedding budget. Rather, I think event florists will be competing against other wedding vendors, who will be increasing their fees.

If the overall wedding budget stays more or less the same, increase of fees by other vendors (catering and clothing, for example) will squeeze the budget for floral decorations.

On top of that there will be more and more supermarket floral departments entering to the wedding business, not to mention the former florists now acting as home-based event florists. Both will create a downward price pressure.

Funerals, too, are a shrinking market. I blogged about it some time ago; take a look if you are interested "Funeral directors want bailout."

Internet is a growth area and any florist who manages to capitalize in this market will out-compete.

In a larger city, it does make sense to use the Internet to capture random customers. In a smaller town (like ours), however, I think the reward would be greater if we focus on local clients. This is because in a small town, there just isn't enough random Internet traffic to capture.

Finally, I agree that every florist should at least give a serious though to selling "wholesale" flowers to the public (i.e., consumer bunches). Currently, this market is being served by supermarkets almost exclusively.

By allowing this to happen, local florists didn't just lose the sale of cash-and-carry businesses. They lost the face-to-face human contact with a large number of customers. This must be reversed if we have any chance for survival.

Just a random thought...

 

[LJVF]

At a regional-national level, I'm not so optimistic about event-side of the business. It's not that people will suddenly shrink their wedding budget. Rather, I think event florists will be competing against other wedding vendors, who will be increasing their fees.

Agree with this. I find it to be very difficult to run an event florist on a national level.

If the overall wedding budget stays more or less the same, increase of fees by other vendors (catering and clothing, for example) will squeeze the budget for floral decorations.

On top of that there will be more and more supermarket floral departments entering to the wedding business, not to mention the former florists now acting as home-based event florists. Both will create a downward price pressure.

Funerals, too, are a shrinking market. I blogged about it some time ago; take a look if you are interested "Funeral directors want bailout."

Internet is a growth area and any florist who manages to capitalize in this market will out-compete.

In a larger city, it does make sense to use the Internet to capture random customers. In a smaller town (like ours), however, I think the reward would be greater if we focus on local clients. This is because in a small town, there just isn't enough random Internet traffic to capture.

Finally, I agree that every florist should at least give a serious though to selling "wholesale" flowers to the public (i.e., consumer bunches). Currently, this market is being served by supermarkets almost exclusively.

By allowing this to happen, local florists didn't just lose the sale of cash-and-carry businesses. They lost the face-to-face human contact with a large number of customers. This must be reversed if we have any chance for survival.

Just a random thought...

Great blog piece on funerals.

I believe that there is strong future for the florist that is able to combine the event floral business and the local everyday internet business. I also believe that there is a growing market for wholesale type pricing for no frills, grower and consumer type bunches of standard, and more importantly, unique type flowers.

I predict that 10 years from now, the most successful florist, I like to call the neo-florist, will combine the event type business structure of a florist like Modern Day Floral with the everyday business structure of a florist like Oberer's. This of course would be for florists located in mid to high populated areas.

The video of Modern Day Floral that master J posted a while back is very interesting.

[youtube]M92vBnl5qZ8[/youtube]

 

[Flore]

I believe that there is strong future for the florist that is able to combine the event floral business and the local everyday internet business. I also believe that there is a growing market for wholesale type pricing for no frills, grower and consumer type bunches of standard, and more importantly, unique type flowers.

I predict that 10 years from now, the most successful florist, I like to call the neo-florist, will combine the event type business structure of a florist like Modern Day Floral with the everyday business structure of a florist like Oberer's. This of course would be for florists located in mid to high populated areas.

Thank you Goldfish and LJVF for saying what I have been thinking. This is exactly the direction I have been taking my company, with, of course , the usual hesitation/questioning whether I am doing the right thing. Hearing both of you concur makes me feel so much better. Truly...thank you!

 

[strippinrose]

Market share of local florists hit the bottom in 2012 at 30%. Mass marketers (such as supermarkets and FTD kiosks) control 50% and Internet commerce at 20%.

All the weaker florists have quit... um... "retired" by then. Many of them became basement... um... "freelancers" competing against event florists who still dare to pay taxes.

More than half of the local florists is now hobby florists, by which I mean the owner's personal expenses are paid by spousal income.

In fact in 2011, they established a trade association "Society of American Hobbyist Florists" and petitioned for non-profit tax-exempt status. They aren't making profits, so why not?

It didn't work. Obama simply said he needs money to run his GM; most small businesses are hobbies anyway, you got to pay.

Most OG operations are gone though, because WS commerce is now practically non-existent. JB was let go by his sister in 2012 because he was spending way too much time in FC. He is now running a bike repair shop with prestonway. They are doing well.

so Mc Cann is delivering for you....LOL we just gotta keep a sensse of hummor in the wacky daily rut....thanks for the laughs