Editor’s Note: This is part of an ongoing series highlighting floral industry stories of change, grit and perseverance — and biggest lessons learned — during the pandemic.
For the Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Co., the start of the COVID-19 pandemic presented one challenge — and opportunity — after another.
At first, sourcing product and being able to keep employees safe at work while providing pick-up and delivery services were critical issues. But, says Georgianne Vinicombe of the Princeton, New Jersey shop, their strong relationship with a smaller wholesaler kept them going. Eventually, their main wholesaler was back and sourcing product got easier.
Bridging the Gap
With product and employee safety in check, Vinicombe notes that their next hurdle was generating enough sales without the social and corporate events they relied on. “That is what caused the biggest dip in our sales, but as daily picked up, the next hurdle became getting all the work done with fewer employees,” Vinicombe explains.
“I wanted to keep the staff lean just so we were not stepping on each other and to keep our expenses as low as possible.” They started funneling customers online, in part because of short staffing. But Vinicombe and her crew quickly realized that their website enabled them to sell higher per average order and a second “non-floral” website helped expand their product line.
“We sold more ‘add on’ items because customers could not only ‘see’ the main gifts but all the additional items they could add to make the gift more special,” Vinicombe says.
Becoming More Efficient
At the start of the pandemic Vinicombe notes that they had to eliminate the sales associate position because they couldn’t afford it, but now with so much business coming in through the website, it’s simply not needed.
“Our designers are more than happy to assist customers when needed on the phone, process website orders, help walk-ins, and design,” Vinicombe says. “As a matter of fact, they love the variety of the job and would not want only straight design.” She adds that the shop also offers sales and design incentives, which means commissions for designers. “They make more money and who better to advise someone on a flower purchase than a floral designer?” Vinicombe says.
Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Co. continues to funnel customer calls to the website whenever possible, but still offers a quick call to those customers who need personal help. “We found that existing customers who fell in love with the website are still using it,” Vinicombe explains. “Our website volume almost doubled, our employee productivity shot up, and we had zero complaints.”
Vinicombe says that driving sales is always a goal, but they have been more focused on gaining sales that are profitable without putting too much strain on the company. “Since the recession we have been more profit driven rather than sales driven,” Vinicombe says, “and COVID just reinforced that this is the best direction for us.”
Molly Olson is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.
