Mother’s Day is one of the two busiest times of the year for retail florists — and it can make or break your retail year. Pay attention to the operations fundamentals that will set you up for success.
Delivery Logistics
Mother’s Day typically has a delivery window that can span seven to 10 days. The logistics for delivery on a holiday can be daunting, from having an adequate number of drivers and vehicles lined to routing for efficiency. One approach to making Mother’s Day deliveries profitable: Instead of trying to get the customer to change what they want or are willing to accept in terms of delivery time, charge for the extra service and work required to get all the deliveries out on time. For deliveries that are booked in advance for the day of the holiday or the day before the holiday, add $5 to $6. For deliveries booked in advance for two or three days before the holiday, add $3 to $4. For a delivery not booked in advance to arrive on the holiday, add $10.
Efficiency and Productivity
During this hectic time, productivity needs to be increased. You may want to limit the number of choices on your website. Normally florists might have more than 100 choices available; this needs to be dramatically scaled back. Although you still may have a VIP client or two insist on a custom arrangement, the bulk of your work needs to be standard, recipe designs. Designers need to be able to make five, 10 or 20 copies of the same thing using efficient production techniques. When you do make a custom arrangement, never make just one. Make up two, three or four copies. You’ll be much more efficient.
Set Yourself Up for Future Success
During a normal holiday, a large share of the arrangements are picked up at the store. You can use this opportunity as a way to market future sales.
Try to make visiting your shop an experience. Make sure there are plenty of “add-on” purchases available to enhance an arrangement. You’ll be amazed how small purchases add up. Give people the opportunity to sign up for future emails — and offer them a reward, like a coupon toward a future purchase, for doing so.
Read more in Floral Management.
Jennifer McNally is the interim editor of SAF NOW.
