FloristDetective

Why are we, retail florists, even bothering with any wire services. They need us to fill their orders. We don't need then. With the price of gas, can retail florists really afford to take the break-even sales from wire services. There was a time the wire services were needed to get out-of-town orders. But with a good wed site, I don't mean one of those generic sites, and a good search engine like locate-a-flower-shop we get lots of orders from out of town, even from troops in Iraq. And the best part...we don't split the money with anyone.

From Stockton-on-Tees, UK. Very, very interesting reading. Just dipped my feet into literacy and site. I am a member of teleflorist, which is affiliated to Teleflora, need it at the moment, but if their intergrity doesnt improve [I have told them about florist detective], then will I have loyalty to them in the future? Thanks for bringing these issues to the fore.

In reply to "Southern"...



It gets more difficult with each passing day for Real Florists to continue to try and ring out any semblance of profit from incoming wire orders. Personally I believe we must continue to fill those orders for our Real Florist Bretheran if we ever hope to work toward a new model. Stopping the flow from other "REAL" florists will only lead to distrust in the consumer sector. That said, I am a firm believer in non-wire service web sites, that would allow not only consumers to find our stores, but with link-share building and listing other "trusted" florists in other cities on our sites allowing the consumer to contact them directly, thus building consumer confidence in Real Florists and at the same time getting them more for their dollars spent.



The days of order transfer are coming to an end, the consumer is figuring out the game. Good for them!



To Stockton... Loyality is a two way street, the wire services seem to be the ones that have decided not to be loyal to those that built and supported them since 1910. They have for the most part turned a blind eye to the devastation caused by affiliate marketing and thrown the rule book out the window. It used to be a florist would send and recieve orders somewhat equally, balancing the scale, but with the very wire services we relied on for "support" becoming our biggest competition, the balance has shifted where by most florists recieve more than they send causing them to work at a loss on most incoming orders.



Until Real Florists work to bring the new model into play not much will change.



Thank you for telling Teleflorist about FloristDetective trust me when I say that Teleflora and it's owners are fully aware of its existance as well are FTD and FSI.



Should you care to add a Florist Detective logo and link to either of your sites, please contact us thru our Contact Us link on the site, and we will email you a logo file as well as links and ALT Text.



Another site, that has over 600 registered members that may be of interest to you is FlowerChat which cover the intire floral industry and them some. You do have to register, as we do not allow non-industry folks in.



Thanks for the kind words.

Dear Boss,

Thanks for your feedback, but I'd like to pursue the wire service angle a bit more. I have no interest in harming any real brick and mortar florist. In Central Florida we've seen too many die. But the longer we participate in the wire services the more we hurt ourselves. Think of it as a codependent relationship. Under what circumstances would you give a drink to someone trying to break an alcohol addiction? The longer we participate in any way with a wire service, or an order sent by a florist through a wire service, the more we hurt the retail florist industry. We don't need a complicated business model to end the hold of the wire services. All we need to do is pick up the phone and call each other, pass along the out-of-town order by phone, tack on a small convenience fee and delivery charge and that's it. Gracious florist will offer a commission, some may not. But so what? The real deal is to make sure that the customer who walked into our shop is properly served. I've been a partner in this floral shop for five years. Both Teleflora and FTD ripped us off for thousands. The wire services push fear. They push the fear that if we don't have them we'll miss out on business. But that's not true. It's true that wire orders can make your shop busy. But there's a big difference between being busy and making money. Only the wire services make money, not the retail shop. Indeed, the losses created by wire services cut into the profit produced by your local walk-in business. The wire orders wreck your cash flow. It took me years to realize that it's impossible to make any money filling those wire orders. It took me years to convince my partner -- in the business for 30 years. Now she agrees and we're ditching FTD by the end of this year. As it is, we reject most of the low-ball orders they send us. For years the wire business has been undermining the success of our shop and left us nearly broke. But now as we have sharply reduced filling those orders we have seen our profitablity increase. I'm 10,000 percent convinced that over the long term the only retail shops that will survive are those who ditch the wire services. Retail florist need to act boldly. We don't need a complex new business model, or to redo FTD. All we need to survive and thrive is to build our own websites (you can get a kit for as little as $40) or you can hire a web builder. I'm not a computer geek, but I built my own site. It took me a couple of days. it includes pictures of our shop, our products, activities in the shop, consumer information. I'm even running a 60 second video clip on the site. I would argue that we have the best flower shop website in the nation (and I've looked at hundreds of flower shop websites). During the past two weeks that site has brought in nearly $2,000 in business (the cash is in the bank) and the best part is that we didn't have to share a dime of it with Teleflora or FTD. Come on florists, let's act in our own best interest and kick these wire services to the curb!!!!

Mr. Porter, all very well stated, and I concur with most everything you said.



One thing that I do feel that will remain necessary however for the next 2-4 years, is the ability to easily transfer orders between shops, as many have too much volume to stop "cold turkey". I do concur the 80/20 wire service model is out dated.



Thank you for your post, I'll expound more on my thoughts this weekend.

In 1776 the original colonies declared their independence from England's tyranny. In 2006 retail florist should be declaring their independence from the tyranny of Teleflora and FTD. It's the only way retail independent florists will survive. The reason for doing it is simple: Shops will save thousands of dollars. By doing that those shops will also increase their profitability. Here's what shops need:

A digital camera (you can get one for less than $200)

A 800 toll-free phone line

A computer

A digital camera card reader

A website kit (get one at your nearest computer store, prices start at $40)

A florist search engine. I would strongly recommend Locate-a-flowershop.com It'll cost you about $150 a year, but it brings in tons of business, and you don't share as penny of those incoming orders with locateaflowershop.com. All that money goes into your pocket. Two weeks ago it brought us an $1,800 order.The search engine is key to connect you and the prospective on-line customer.

Build a website (it doesn't require much computer knowledge, if you still can't do it I bet you could find a kid in a high-school computer club you could pay a few bucks to do it for you)

Too many shops rely on those generic wire service provided sites. They all look exactly the same BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. (the wire services don't want those sites to look to snappy, or what do you need them for.)

Here's what your website needs

1. Lots of pix showing your shop interior and exterior, as well as your staff in action and your delivery van. Change the pictures on a regular basis to keep your site interesting.

2. Brief bio telling who owns the shop, how long it's been around and professional background of your lead designer. Customers like to know who they're doing business with.

3. Pictures of a few of the signature arrangements that can be found in your shop. Include a brief written description, including height and types of flowers in the arrangement. Don't forget the price.

Have everyday arrangements, as well as seasonsal selections.

Put some consumer information to explain the benefits of using a local florist over a wire service and also include a link to floristdetective.com

All over the site be sure to list your local and toll free number. That tollfree number is critical to get orders from overseas, including members of the Armed Forces. The tollfree line also is critical to facilitate florists exchanging out-of-town orders.

Also be sure to list your e-mail address and an emergency phone number, such as cell, for after-hours emergencies, such as a funeral. Believe it or not that has helped us get a few orders.

Setting up what I described here could cost a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand dollars (if you don't have a computer in your shop).

Once you have this in place you no longer need FTD or Teleflora. Now let's all go make some money!!!

P.S. If the wire service reps show up promising all kinds of deals to get thir hands back on your business, please give them the boot out the door. They need us. But we don't need them anymore.

Again, I feel the need to thank you for your insight and well thought comments.



Every Real Florist should seriously consider everything you said. The good thing is, many already are, the sad part is that not nearly enough are.



I'll be in touch directly Monday, if you don't mind.



mark

Being my first visit here, I must say I'm Very impressed with your site. I've been preaching about the same thing for 15 years and still, up till now, are paying out the nose for benifits from these wonderful wire companies that we could provide ourselves since all the modern tech services are available to all. Come on florist's. Get your statements out and do the math! How many of you say you don't have the time for that but you don't mind working your *!#&^ off for them on the design floor!

Florist's detective is the best thing that's come along for us since the telephone.

I certainly will support it and will drop a couple of wire services soon.



By the way, I was just paid a visit by BLOOMNET. Anybody know if they are as great as they say they are?

Michael...



Thanks for the Kudo's. We take great pride in our sites as they do take a concerted effort by several individuals to make happen.



Like you mentioned, sadly many do not do the math that they should, but as more and more florists are getting connected the information is spreading.



Regarding Bloomnet, one has to decide for themselves. Bloomnet has come out with some interesting changes to the old models, but sadly not really a "new model". That too, is something *we* hope top rectify this summer.



Thanks again.