The Current State of the Local Florist
My wife and I moved to Asheville in September 2007. Marina is very creative and artistic. She was a ballerina in Russia and devoted her life to the world of dance starting at the age of 6. We met in 2000, were married in 2001 and she continued as a ballet teacher in the US until we moved to Asheville. Marina and I decided to buy an existing local florist business in November of 2007. This decision was based on a number of factors. One, and perhaps most important, was that this would provide a creative outlet for her. She has taken to floral design the same way that she devoted all her efforts to being a professional dancer.
I am the one dealing with most of the tasks of running the business. Of course, with any new business, there are many new things to learn that are special to this business. Although this was not my first business, I quickly found out that being a local florist is a complex business. Dealing with perishables, marketing, advertising and perhaps the biggest learning curve has been how this business, although local to Asheville and it’s surrounding towns, just how the internet has changed the floral business. I found out very quickly that there is a very strong and essential need to be found on the internet. At the time of purchase, I thought we would be okay because buying the business included a website. It was a Teleflora website.
Knowing that this was a brand that everyone knows, I felt confident that this was all we would need.
The reality of this situation was that it is very expensive to be a part of any of these wire services. Besides high monthly fees, they keep 20% of all orders that flow through their system. The next thing I learned was that due to the internet, the nature of this business changed dramatically. There are companies throughout the United States and Canada that are not florists, but they appear to be a local florist. These companies are called order gatherers. If you look at Google or any of the search engines, you will see that it is not easy to find a local florist. In fact, even now, many local florists don’t even have their own website. These order gatherers are marketing machines, with deep pockets that not only outspend your local florist on the internet and yellow pages, but they do so, in a very deceptive manner. Their ads do not list their actual address and the ad copy would make anyone think that they are actually a local florist in the town or city that they are trying to find a florist in.
These deceptive companies use ads that say “save $10″, “FREE VASE”, “50% off”, “free delivery”, “Asheville Florist” in order to entice customers. The reality is that these non-florist companies add a service fee of $12-$15 to the order. Then they place that very same order into the wire service computer network. That order is then sent to one of the florist members of that wire service. However, by the time it gets to the real florist, many order gatherers have skimmed a hefty percentage from the gross revenue, the wire service gets 20% and the local florist is left with about 65% of the original dollar amount. The local florist is expected to fill the order to the full value of the order and then deliver it.
This ongoing scenario is hurting the local florist, the consumer and the industry as a whole. Many consumers feel that they spent too much for what they received.
What’s the solution? Consumers wishing to order flowers need to realize what happens when they use such companies. As with any segment of existing businesses, there are good florists and not so good florists. Most florists are very proud to be florists and consider their profession to be a source of great pride and privilege. Consumers need to realize that it is to everyone’s benefit to find and use a good local florist. The other strong benefit to using a local florist as opposed to an On-line retailer is that much more of the money spent stays in the local economy.
This first blog post is intended to help the consumer distinguish between an order gatherer and a truly local florist.
Internet
- Look for local phone number and address (look at “ABOUT US” PAGE)
- Ask Questions when calling - Are you from Asheville? May I talk to the
Designer?
Yellow Page
- Should have local phone number and a physical address listed
My intention with this first blog post is to begin to raise consumer’s awareness of how the floral industry has changed and to help the consumer find the best way to receive the best prices, the best service and to help their local economy.
For additional consumer information about “why use a local florist“, please click http://www.floristdetective.com/”> HERE . This website will give much more information about these issues.
Our store website is here. If you would like to contact either Marina or myself (Mike), please send us an Email to info@rosepetalsasheville.com
Future posts will include photos of Marina’s arrangements, articles about floral trends, points of interest in Asheville. Thanks for your time and interest.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
…good start. These blogs show up well in google searches and help spread your passion. You picked a beautiful town to live. Good luck.
Congratulations on your florist business. Like you, when I acquired my floral shop I quickly learned A LOT more of the behind-the-scenes activities required to keep the shop running and to keep it profitable. The information you have shared here is important for the public to understand. It is also important for those looking for florist education because they will need to explain this to customers for their own livelihood. Thanks for sharing.