Article Four of Six. Why Support Local Florists – “Keeping It Local” – You get what you pay for

This is Part 2 of Article Four on “Consumer Fraud” and deals with why we encourage consumers to support local business vs. Call Centers, Wire-Services, and Internet based companies.  Keeping It Local will offer insight that will encourage future local buying habits when it comes to gift purchases.

 

 

Local Means…”You get what you paid for”

Flowers are much like produce and meats in the fact that they have fluctuating price from day to day.  Supply and demand, seasonality, and availability play into whether a particular flower like a rose is worth $2.00 today or $6.00 tomorrow.  When you purchase flowers on-line from a call center, direct-ship company, or wire service you are paying for cost average arrangements.  This means that the floral design was priced on year round averages.  For the consumer this is not good, this means that when product costs are low, you are still paying the escalated price.  As discussed in “Are you receiving your value?” , when prices are high, the florist will simple remove product from the design as a result of all the other companies taking their cut.  The 20% going to the call center, and the 10% going to the wire service.  Order from you local florist and they can tell you what is in the cooler at a great price, and what good buys are on the market at that time, especially with a couple of days notice.   A great example is Gladiolas; in the off season they can cost as much as $3.50 a stem, in the summer as low as $1.00 a stem.  What a great design to have 20 stems of Glad’s in a vase for only $30 in the middle of the summer.  If you look on-line, that same design would cost you $65 on-line year round.  You will always get more bang for your buck when picking up the phone and actually calling the local florist in that area.  The phone call takes no longer than completing all the fields of entry on-line.

 

 

Please post your questions, concerns, comments, or articles you would like to see.  We promise to respond. As always, thank you for supporting your local Central Ohio florist.

Sincerely,

Russ Griffin

http://www.floristdetective.com/