Have We Changed?

Has the floral business changed over the past decade? When it comes to the basic wants and needs of your customer, the answer is, well, not really. The floral industry has changed just like every other industry. But the people driving these changes have not changed very much at all. Look at it this way- ten years ago, people liked receiving flowers. Today, people like receiving flowers. Ten years ago people had flowers at funerals and weddings. Today people have flowers at funerals and weddings. Ten years ago, people had babies, today people have babies. Ten years ago, you spent a lot of time and effort on an arrangement that sold on a razor-thin margin. Today, the same deal applies and probably the margins are even thinner. Or worse, many of your arrangements are selling at a loss.

What has changed are your costs, your uncertainties, your method of fulfilling orders, your styles and your product mix. The days of the local hardware store have fallen to the likes of Home Depot and Lowes. So too the days of the local florist have given way to the big fulfillment centers based on the Internet and wire services. Now a customer in Utah can order flowers for her sick aunt in Delaware all with a few swipes on her iPhone. With the notable exception of the perennial male "last-minute syndrome" on Valentine's Day, foot traffic in your business is down and many florists just simply cannot afford the overhead of a storefront at all. Many now work from home to fulfill orders online and center wholly on event planning, shifting costs to transportation and manpower for help.

So taken together these changes have not represented so much a shift in the demand for flowers, though certainly the economy has provided a shift in that regard, rather these changes have a significant impact on how people get their flowers and the prices they will pay for them. This has created an environment in which florists have to work faster, harder and with less resources than ever before.

We've worked with, listened to, and collaborated among many industry leaders to help meet your product needs. By knowing and understanding the challenges that you face, we are able to provide you with products that meet your daily needs. Our hope is that these products will allow you to turn out artistic, profitable arrangements that promote the sentiments that they convey.