Valentine's Day 2023 Countdown D Day -11
As expected, the world and his friend are trying to tempt people with their Valentine offers - some of which to us look either completely crazy or are just plain misleading! As always, the customers are being slow even though you have been banging on at them and we know many florists are still wondering how much to order!
Welcome to the wonderful world of Valentine’s and the start of 11 days of twitching, worrying and wondering why you ever chose to be a florist in the first place!!
We’re not going to say it will be a record breaker … no-one will know the position until 18.00hrs on 14th February. But we don’t believe it will be a disaster either. Not only does ‘Love know no bounds’, but it is always last minute (being a Tuesday it will probably be a week before the world really wakes up) so if you’ve any orders ‘on the clip’ then personally we’d take that as a win at this stage!
What we would say though is:
1: DON'T UNDERSELL YOURSELF
Please, please, please don’t under-price to get orders - that way madness lies. No indi can ever compete with a multi-million-pound player nor should they. Assuming you are offering a bespoke delivery of decent flowers rather than a supermarket copycat you offer a completely different experience … that carries value.
2: ALWAYS HAVE A BBB
We keep saying it but put some high ticket items on offer and always have some BBB’s (£150/250/500). One of our awesome Good Florist Guide members put a £500 bouquet online and it is selling … there are big buyers out there.
3: KEEP MARKETING
Make sure you keep up the marketing and not just on social media. Don’t be afraid to send more emails – just keep it friendly and inclusive* and it will be fine. Lots of people may have missed the first one and will appreciate the reminder. We’ve been monitoring how many some of the big brands send out at peaks and trust us it’s a lot!
*On emails and posts you can have some flirty fun given Valentine’s is all about love but we would caution using the ‘don’t be a Dick/will you be getting it’ type posts as they can often be seen as tasteless/rude!
4: EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCES
Always make sure you explain which roses you are offering at what price points, so customers understand the differences and the benefits of spending more. And always be honest about what you are using and show them in a way customers can understand – in our research we have seen some shameful and very misleading rose comparisons … a real test of our teeth gritting abilities!! There is absolutely nothing wrong with have shorter/smaller roses for lower price points, just don’t pretend they are something they are not!
5: NEVER APOLOGISE
You are running a business not a charity and unless they have been living in a cave everyone knows everything has gone up in price! You can choose to explain if you really feel you need to, but we would caution against being too apologetic. None of the big boys have sent us any notes to say sorry or fessed up they are using a lower/shorter grade than last year (naughty but happening). Our view is that as long as you are offering the right product and the right price then stand proud.
6: BEWARE DODGY ORDERS
Beware of strange orders coming in and never do deliveries for companies you don’t have a proven relationship with. Not only is Valentines a scammers field day (triple check the card is legit) but we have been advised there are companies trying to build up a network of florists for same day/hand delivered orders. We know any sale is tempting … even at 75% … but always consider the implications and never take any order without a guaranteed method of payment.
7: THE ED'S OBSERVATIONS
I have trawled the web to see what the online, non-indi florist brands are offering.
They all have some seriously high-priced lines - they are not all about cheap offering so don’t be afraid to have your BBB (Bally Big Bouquets) on show!
That said there are some seriously stupid price points out there, but truth is the promises simply can’t deliver. 100 roses for £70 sounds wonderful but read the small print and you learn they are only squitty 38/40cm sweethearts so not exactly amazing and the reviews are rubbish!!! If on-line players worry you (although they shouldn’t) reassure yourself by reading the actual content being delivered – M&S and Waitrose are very honest – and I reckon you will see you are not that much more expensive on a true like for like basis.
The company who shows a picture of five different roses and claims by implication that their Rhodos choice is amazing and better than Freedom should possibly be reported. Not one of the Good Florist Guide panel of experts would put Rhodos as a luxury rose (that’s Naomi/Explorer territory) and certainly not better than even a small Kenyan grown Freedom. The trouble is to lay consumers – to whom all red roses are the same - it looks good – that’s why honest comparisons are really important! They won’t always work but if enough florists do it the message will get through!
