An Overview of Articles to discuss Consumer Fraud as a result of the Internet.  Consumers are being cheated and ripped off, generally paying as little as 20% more and as much as 50% more for their floral gifts when purchasing on-line.  We at Griffin’s Floral Design have become so alarmed by these deceptive practices that we have decided to begin a series of articles to discuss, educate, guide, and help.

This is Part 5 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 More…”Local Tax Revenue”

Are you sick of Taxes?  Aren’t we all!  Well the statistics are in and  they are overwhelming.  Studies show that when you support local business specifically, you lower the possibility of increased local taxes.  Your local business is forced to pay a number of taxes that you may not be aware of, some include, Federal, State, City, County, Schools, Medicare, Unemployment, Social Security, Workers Compensation, and Sales of Commodities and Services.  If you notice there are ten taxes listed here, of the ten, seven stay within your State/Community.   Simply put, when you buy products outside of your community, you are paying the taxes of other communities, helping them create better schools, roads, parks, and neighborhoods.  In the community I reside in, we no longer have recreational parks supported by local government offices as a result of continually failed tax levies.  We also have damaged and poorly repaired roadways, along with no winter salting and plowing due to the same reason.  Why is this?  Perhaps we can look for the answer above, “Supporting local community and creating jobs”.  No sales results in no jobs which results in no tax revenue. This phenomenon is US wide; the community that continually refuses to pass local tax bonds is often the same community that is building up other communities by continuing to purchase products outside of their local area.  Support Local and Create Taxes for a better community.

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/

http://aboutflowers.com/

http://www.safnow.org/

Keeping it Local…Part 5. Local Tax Revenue is a post from: Griffin's Floral & Event Design

This is Part 4 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 More…”Creating Jobs”

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/

http://aboutflowers.com/

Keeping it Local….Part 4. Creating Jobs is a post from: Griffin's Floral & Event Design

Article Four of Six. Why Support Local Florists – “Keeping It Local” – Supporting Local Community

This is Part 3 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…”Supporting Local Community”

So you live in Belleville Michigan, Sarasota Florida, or Chicago, Illinois and you need an oil change.  Are you going to drive to Detroit, Elhurst, or Bradenton for that $25 oil change?  Of course not, they are too far away; you will find your local guy/gal to complete the job for you.  The same would hold true with your dry cleaning, dentistry, family physician, hair dresser, and other similar purchases.  So why wouldn’t/shouldn’t it hold true for your floral purchases, your florist is part of that same community and often lives and supports those same businesses in your community.  Supporting local community keeps the funds in the community, it allows others to earn the income to turn around and continue purchasing from such local businesses.  It’s what keeps the ball rolling.  You wouldn’t hire someone you don’t know to style Aunt Betty’s hair for her memorial service, as that is a very important moment for the family.  In other words,  a local florist will care more about your order hands down than any wire service, call center, or direct ship company.  They live in that community and are forced to face others in the community; your local florist has more to lose than all the rest combined.  All, local florists understand the importance of supporting local community and giving back to local community as they have been so greatly affected by the lack of local support as a result of “convenience” due to the internet.  Keep your money Local, Support Local so they are able to as well.

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/

http://aboutflowers.com/

Keeping it Local…Part 3. Supporting Local Community is a post from: Griffin's Floral & Event Design

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/

Keeping it Local…Part 2. You get what you pay for is a post from: Griffin's Floral & Event Design

This is 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.  Their will be five parts to this Article to allow for short and quick reading.  Keeping It Local will offer insight that will encourage future local buying habits when it comes to gift purchases.

Local Means …”Less Middle Men”

                Flowers are commodities that require many middle men before they reach their final destination.  Years ago the chain of travel was; grower (Ecuador), broker (Miami-customs), wholesaler (Columbus), florist (Us), consumer (You).  The chain has drastically changed over the past ten years.  Now you see grower, broker, wholesaler, call-center, wire-service, florist, and consumer.  Two more middle-men have been added to the equation.  As discussed in “Are you receiving your value?” Consumers pay on average 30% more when using a call-center or wire service and receive 30% less as a result of “where the money goes”.  If you take out the middle man you will receive more products for your money.  This is a nothing new; it’s business 101, lower COGS results in higher profits and greater value for the consumer.  The game played by call centers, direct ship companies, and wire-services alike is that you are receiving fresher, product at a better cost eliminating the middle man (namely the florist), oh by the way,  you also get a free .99 vase that they say is $5-$10.  This is furthest from the truth; they almost always charge you both a delivery fee and a service fee, and sometimes and expedited delivery fee.  These charges often cost you double what you would have paid by just calling a “Real Local Florist”.  Save yourself some dough, factor out the middle man and call your local florist.

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 Columbus Florist.

Sincerely,

Russ Griffin

http://www.floristdetective.com/

http://aboutflowers.com/

http://www.safnow.org/

Keeping It Local. Part 1. The middle man is a post from: Griffin's Floral & Event Design

An Overview of Articles to discuss Consumer Fraud as a result of the Internet. We at Griffin’s Floral Design have become so alarmed by these deceptive practices that we have decided to begin a series of articles to discuss, educate, guide, and help consumers make wise flower purchasing decisions when ordering on-line.

The hardest thing for a consumer to understand is value perception when purchasing on-line flowers. As a general rule a consumer only has a few items to go by; a picture, a price, and a description. Today’s article is going to focus on what you get, for what you pay when buying on-line. We will break down who makes what in the process of your on-line purchase and why the consumer often walks away with less. We will start by showing you pictures of on-line designs from various vendors at the same price level with the vendors names removed. We will offer a price break down as it relates to labor, delivery, containers, and stems. We will offer you the profit margins on who is really making the money. You may be shocked!

Special note: All of these designs are one-sided designs to offer a perception of value to the consumer. The photographs are being produced by a professional photographer under strict lighting conditions.

Below is an example of how the profit share works out and is an example of a real order that I shared with you in Article 1. “Consumers and Florists are scammed”. This is what happened to a consumer purchasing from a Call-Center just after Mothers Day.

As you can clearly see the Call Center charged a delivery fee and charges an expedited delivery fee to guarantee that the order would be delivered the same day. They kept both fees plus the convenient service fee for shopping on-line. We received a total of $39.99 to work with; oblivious to the other charges the consumer was charged.  Our suggestion is that you be aware of where all the money is going.

That same design if ordered locally would have only cost the client$49.98 with same day delivery, and a complete value for the amount spent. They would not have been shorted stems; the design would have been all the way around and full, not one sided and skimpy.

Our next Article will speak exactly about this subject, why should you shop local? We will offer insight for the reasoning to use your local florist vs. a call center or a wire-service company.

Please post your comments, questions, and article  you would like to see.  We promise to respond.  As always, thank you for supporting your local Central Ohio Florist.

Are you receiving your value is a post from: Griffin's Floral & Event Design

Article One of Six.

An Overview of Articles to discuss Consumer Fraud as a result of the Internet.  Consumers are being cheated and ripped off, generally paying as little as 20% more and as much as 50% more for their floral gifts when purchasing on-line.  We at Griffin’s Floral Design have become so alarmed by these deceptive practices that we have decided to begin a series of articles to discuss, educate, guide, and help consumers make wise flower purchasing decisions when ordering on-line. 

Over the years we have noticed a considerable increase in customer complaints as a result of customers feeling they aren’t receiving the value for the floral gifts they are paying for.  So what’s the deal, are we not doing a good job?  Are we not giving the customer the value they paid for?

The answer is no! This simply isn’t the case.  The colossal increase in complaints is always related to what florists call “Wire-In Orders”; orders coming from other florists.  Around 95% of the complaints we receive are a result of orders received by what the floral industry calls “Order Gatherers or Call Centers”.  Companies that simply aren’t florists; many of these companies are sitting in a cubical gathering orders and then farming them out to real florists such as Griffin’s Floral Design.

To offer you an example, I will tell you a story about a woman I recently spoke to regarding an order she placed with a company called “XXX” (name deleted).  We received an incoming order early in the morning from “XXX” going to the customer’s daughter here in Columbus, Ohio.  The order was for birthday flowers that are national advertised by Teleflora, a gift called “Cotton Candy”, and selling for $39.99 on “XXX’s” website.  We received a total of $39.99 from “XXX” for the order.  To complete the order, we deducted our delivery fee of $10.00 on the order leaving us a total to work with of $29.99, $10.00 less than what the item sells for on “XXX’s” web-site.  If we asked for an additional $10.00 for delivery, “XXX” would cancel the order and find another florist to complete the order for the $39.99.  When she was placing the order the “Order Gatherer” informed the customer that the delivery fee for the Columbus Ohio area was $14.99 in addition to the $39.99.  Further, they asked her if she would like to purchase expedited deliver for an additional $10.00, they would guarantee her that it would be delivered the same day.  She stated to me that “XXX” truly made her feel that they were a local Columbus Florist.  She paid a total of close to $70.00 for the order and received a flower arrangement that was worth $29.99.  The company at question, retained $24.99 profit for the overcharges in delivery fees, plus an additional 20% from Teleflora for making the sale, as well as a $6.00 rebate for sending it through the Teleflora family of florists.  The profit for “XXX” was $38.98, the profit for us the Real florist was $3.48, and the recipients received a gift for $29.99, not $39.99.  How is it that “XXX” profited more than the customer even paid for the actual gift? 

Seem Extreme?  Not at all, she is the 3rd person in just the last week I spoke with being tricked, lied to, and deceived. 

Is there an answer?  I’m really not sure; however, I do believe that education is the best defense to all things. I will offer in a future article the exact cash flow on these orders to help customers better understand how the margins work and where the money actually goes.  The problem for many florists is that they need orders (any orders) to move product out of their coolers and to help create some cash flow for their company.  As a result, they find themselves behind the eight-ball, filling orders that are cutting their own throats.

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

Websites of Interests and further education.

 http://www.floristdetective.com/

http://aboutflowers.com/

http://www.safnow.org/

http://www.aifd.org/

http://www.ofa.org/

Customers & Florists Are Scammed! is a post from: Griffin's Floral & Event Design