Valentine's '23 ... time to get the lippy out!
Will it be a bed of roses or a massacre. We'll know the answer on Feb 15th but given it's a Tuesday and things are getting just a little bit easier on the economy front we could be pleasantly surprised. But whatever you are feeling about it you have to prepare the worst, hope for the best, never ever try to price match and keep your nerve going until 18.00 on Feb 14th. In our first Valentine's feature a few tips to get you started ... including a strong recommendation to cruise the beauty counters!
1: Be prepared – plan the workload
Tuesday is traditionally the second-best day (Wednesday usually takes the top spot) but we’re not sure Love has any boundaries. What we like about a Tuesday is that you can prep on the Sunday and still be able to take orders on the Monday right up to the wire – especially if you use a UK based wholesaler.
Obviously, there are no guarantees, but we haven’t found anyone expecting it to be gruesome and with the economic news getting a teensy-weensy bit better (mortgage rates dropping, fuel bills lessened by warmer weather etc,) whilst there is no doubt a squeeze out there remember that Love conquers all!!
In an ideal world you would work out what you can realistically achieve with minimal or no overtime but obviously you want to grab every sale so talk with your team now about the shifts you want worked to try and avoid pulling an all nighter on Monday!
2: Price it fair ... price it to tempt!
Try to get a range of pricing that averages out at around £70 – 90. If that sounds too rich for your area, then tweak your price points down but please don’t underestimate the willingness to spend. This is not just a special day but in uncertain times people may want to make a grand gesture so don’t deny them the choice. It is not your job to decide how much money a person has and wants to spend!
Check out what players like M&S, Bloom & Wild, Arena and Waitrose are offering. Waitrose wasn’t live when we wrote this, but Arena isn’t holding back on their luxurious range (£90) and we were actually quite surprised (or maybe not) at how much M&S were charging for some fairly squitty, short-stemmed (35cm when you read the small print) offerings.
In other words whilst we know there will be the Tesco Finest (not) offering to get the punters in to buy higher margin things like wine/chocs etc. the differences in price do not seem that wide this year. You could even be really cheeky and put one of yours next to one of the supermarket offerings to show the difference between your long luxury and the average 50/60cm being offered on line – especially as our wholesaler panel tell us the prices aren’t that bad. The investment may pay dividends!
Always include one or two fabulously priced options ... well and truly breaking the £250 price point! You may not sell them, but they’ll make your middle price point lines look a whole lot more reasonable!! On the other hand you might sell them so put a cut-off date to make sure you can service these big orders!
And make sure you have some low price point options as well. Not dropping prices but offering a genuinely smaller, petite design range that fits the £25 price point – either seasonal flowers, simply tulips or mini vases. Don’t however be tempted to drop the price of your classic collection just to try and get sales. It won’t help you or your profit and customers just won’t understand.
2: Squeeze the range and pucker up!
Adopt the KISS approach (Keep It Simple & Straightforward) and think about having a maximum of 10 options – less if you can.
If you are doing add-ons, make sure the picture shows the whole package. Yes, some people spend hours choosing, but chaps particularly don’t want to be fannying about; they just want to do a bish bash bosh order and be finished.
Always use evocative names. Whether its Amore or Red Hot Lover, Sexy Kisses or Loves Young Dream, giving design names make them look a lot more special. A trick here is to look at the names of lipsticks … they are always so evocative and will prompt thoughts you may not have had – also a jolly good excuse to wander the beauty counters!
3: Give them the facts
Explain what roses you will using ... not everyone understands the difference between a 60 cm Freedom and a 90cm Supra Porta Nova. Take pictures of your smaller ones next to your Naomi’s or Explorer but make sure they are standing up, not head on; showing them head on to the untrained eye doesn’t actually show the difference very well – you want to emphasise stem length as well as head size.
4: Have a range of alternatives
OK Red roses may be the traditional but offer different choices too ... not everyone likes red roses plus they give more scope for better margins. Think Pinks, add in mellow yellows, go classic green and whites and don’t forget the arrangements. Hat boxes are still hugely popular, and arrangements can often show a far better profit margin.
5: Pimp the plants
With the craze for houseplants seemingly never ending think about adding in heart shaped plants like Anthurium, Ceropecia (String Of Hearts) or Sweetheart Hoya
6: Stick to the menu
At an average price of at least £2 per stem it only needs one or two extra stems per design and your profit will be blown. It’s easy to keep tabs on the 12 red roses but make sure there isn’t too much filler going in.
On mixed bouquets you need to be even more careful as it’s easy to lose track of the odd tulip or carnation. Make sure the team know exactly what is going in each design and you’ll keep profit to the max. Write it down and give them all a list ... they can’t be expected to remember everything.
7: Delivery
If you are short of drivers talk to your local taxi firm and see if any of their drivers will do a deal for multiple drops. They may be feeling the pinch so might welcome the work and will know the area. Pay them hard cash and maybe a free bouquet too.
When it comes to delivery charges only offer Free delivery if it works for you .... don’t do it to compete with someone else. It could be a useful device to encourage people to order for Monday but it has to be worth it otherwise you are just throwing money away.
If you offer Click & Collect then make sure you have the space and don’t clutter the shop so that it stops on-the-day buyers – there will always be the stragglers and you don’t want to lose a single sale. If you have the space consider investing in a gazebo (you’ll need it for Mother’s Day too) and not only do you have a spacious environment but a second chance to showcase your name/look.
8: Start Marketing Now
You need to start selling now. Not just on the social media channels but directly as well ... be it emails, flyers or good old fashioned telephone sales. However, it might be worthwhile picking up an idea Bloom & Wild started which is mindful marketing. Basically it’s sending out an email asking people to give permission to sell to them.
Not only is it a really neat way of showing you care (after all, the customer may have broken up with/divorced their special person so won't want to be hassled) but starts a dialogue.
And don’t underestimate the power of the phone call. In a world ruled by screens a friendly voice is a rarity especially given inboxes are overflowing with emails. It may take longer but it is far easier to sell up in a real conversation than via email. The one thing to watch for is do it from a land line – preferably one that shows your shop name. Unrecognised mobile numbers are a real turn off.
9: Talk to the press
There is always a need for good news amongst all the dross. Put together a compelling story ... like the fact you’re offering a discount for NHS workers or giving away a 100 rose bouquet to the best partner in town (you’ll need to set up the competition first!) and you could be surprised at how keen they are to pick up the story.
10: Link ups
Work with local traders and see if you can put together a full on Valentine’s package .. like a takeaway dinner, chocolates, wine and flowers. Not only do you share the delivery costs but you’ll extend the marketing message to more people.
12: Prepare for Mother’s Day
Don't forget Mother's Day is just around the corner. Given the bulk of VD orders will be for women (who do most of the flower buying at Mother's Day) it's the perfect chance to get your name in front of key buyers.
Getting all the details of the sender is important as well – you can see what the Ed has to say about that here – because they too are potential buyers down the line so never think it’s a waste of time or you’re too busy for data capture – it could be the bed rock of your marketing throughout 2023.
You’ll need to make sure you put in a line getting them to give you permission to use their details, but we cannot emphasise just how important to make the most of your Valentine sales to boost future trading as a lot of recipients may never have been to your shop or website before.
At the point of delivery include a voucher or some sort of incentive (maybe a 'win a bouquet for Mother's Day') and again use it to drive traffic to your website.
