Flower Sales have bloomed during the lockdown. As millions of flower-aficionados nationwide have discovered, flowers are an excellent way to brighten up your day during seemingly dismal times.

Soaring Sales

As a matter of fact, flower sales have soared as a direct result of COVID-19. On Mother’s Day alone, 2020 has seen an aggregate spending increase of $100 million dollars nationwide. It seems as if flower lovers everywhere are realizing that despite the cancellations – love, empathy, compassion, caring, and thoughtfulness are not canceled.

From making exciting new contributions in the garden to adding much-needed greenery around the house, homeowners everywhere are experiencing a revitalization in their passion for all-things petal related, so this is a time to engage with your customers and remind them you’re there. 

Social Media Presence

Influencers and everyday Instagram users alike are making the most out of each and every post as a result of the shutdown. Can you guess what is among one of the most popular hashtags?

You guessed it! With over 184 million posts on Instagram alone, flowers are among the most trend-worthy topics to post about. Influencers have a heavy hand in the mix as well, sporting flower delivery companies, vase merchants, and even eco-friendly soils!  The 200, 300, and even 800% increases that flower companies have experienced are in no small part to the efforts of these influencers.

Why Flowers?

During difficult and isolated times, flowers are one of the best ways of people to show that they care. Here are just a few examples of situations where individuals have been sending increasingly high rates of floral arrangements:

• A close friend or loved one in a nursing home
• Mother’s Day during travel restrictions
• To a neighbor in need as they experience loss or grief
• To a family member just to show that you care

With so many great occasions to send love and regards, it is no wonder why millions of people worldwide are participating in the trend.

Closing Remarks

Florists, have you caught onto the flower-frenzy orders yet? If not, it’s never too late to start remembering your customers that you are still there!

If you’re a florist, you may use a floral wire service a system has existed since 1910 when the Florist Telegraph Delivery Service was created. Is now the time to switch and start saving money?

Wire services promise they will send orders to your flower shop and magically earn you more. Buyer beware – nothing in this world comes for free. After signing binding contracts you will get hit by expensive fees. 

Here are all the reasons why NOW is the time to switch from wire services and be independent with your own website and expand your business.

Floral wire services = cookie-cutter websites

When you’re paying to have a wire service market for you, your customers will defer to their website or a cookie-cutter website attached to you.

Websites are now essential for all businesses (especially small businesses) to survive and thrive. Websites make you competitive and allow them to communicate effectively about your brand, products, and services. Having a personalized florist website gives your customers access to custom arrangements, products, and information about your floral business.

Are you earning 100% of every order? 

When you work with wire services they get a percentage of your order, this fee depends on the wire service your working with but, with an independent florist website you’re going to get 100% of the money for the order, this is a great way of increasing your profit because nobody is going to take the percentage away from you. 

Are you tired of wire service hidden costs? 

Wire services often have hidden costs like membership fees, advertising fees, and floral product fees. If you switch from a wire service to an independent florist website, you can save money, increase your revenue, and have more flexibility to brand yourself the way that you want to.

Some wire services want to control your customer reviews

While many wire services want your reviews on their website, you’ve worked hard to build that relationship with your customers. Your website should direct your reviews to Google so your website can gain a better ranking and visibility. 

Wire services charge YOU to market THEIR brand

When you utilize a wire service, one of the fees that you pay is an advertising fee. You’re paying these sites to gather orders for you when you could be spending that money to market for yourself (and do a better job of it!). When the wire services markets for you on your behalf, they’re not telling anyone about your business specifically. They’re vaguely selling flowers in a way that appeals to their entire network. When you take over marketing for your audience, you can capture your customers’ attention, build a brand, and turn them into loyal customers.  

Why switch to an independent floral solution?

• Save money – and earn 100% of every order
• No hidden fees
• Unique website – stand out with a distinctive brand
• Own your customers – no one else marketing flowers to them
• Flexible solutions – run your business your way

As a small business, you deserve the ability to develop your own brand and customers. Many people in your community will support a local flower shop and love the idea of contributing to the livelihood of someone they know.

Wire services have restrictions and fees that can minimize your ability to run your business the way you want to. For instance, membership and other fees (advertising, floral product, etc.) will come out of the product filled payments owed to you. You’ll receive either a check or a bill at the end of the month.

However, if your filling products did not cover all your fees, then you can expect a bill. Especially if you’re just getting started, wire services can restrict a flower shop’s ability to run the way they need to.

A local flower shop can survive and thrive without Wire Service’s help. Don’t let them impose restrictions or fees when you can develop your own brand and improve your Google ranking to appeal to customers.

Be Independent, run your flower shop your way!

Your florist website is a key part of your business, it’s crucial for you to have your website up to date and with all the features your customers are looking for nowadays. Here we present the 6 things every florist website should have in 2020:

Designer’s Choice. 

When customers go to your store they can decide whether they’d like to get an arrangement that’s already made or ask the designers to create something beautiful. You must have the same option enabled on your florist website, that’s how Designer’s Choice works. Having this option will give the customer the choice to send a unique design created just for them.

Subscription Flowers.

We all know that subscriptions are the perfect way of having things that you need constantly without the troubles of ordering them every time you need them. Subscription flowers are the perfect way to deliver fresh beautiful flowers to your constant customers. You can set up and personalize this experience specifically for your flower shop needs but it’s a must feature to have on your florist website. 

Close-Up Product Images

One of the main things customers look at a florist website is a detailed image, they love to see every color and flower used so they can be sure of how it would look when delivered. Having a close-up image feature of your products is crucial to convince your client to purchase.

Florist Checkout

Having your florist website with the right software will make your life easier and the customer experience a lot more pleasant. If you use a software that is specifically designed for florists the set up of the checkout, deliveries, and even card messages options will be instantly integrated and make your customer’s journey easier. Adding things to non-florists software, that can lead to creating a confusing customer experience and lose sales. 

Marketing Reminders

One key feature for your customers is the ability to remind them of the special occasions in which they bought flowers before. This must need feature will send email notifications that will remind them with 15 days in advance of the flowers they bought last year for a special occasion such an anniversary or a birthday. 

Google Reviews

Ranking in a good place with google is crucial so your customers can find your business. Whenever customers make a purchase, ask them to review your business in google so you can obtain good reviews and rank higher in the search engine for new and potential customers to see. 

We’re sure these features will help you keep your florist website up to date with the trends that customers are looking for. Be sure to evaluate your website to see which ones you already have in place and which ones you need to apply as soon as possible.

Did Mother’s Day 2020 survive Covid-19? For most flower shops, the answer is a big YES! 

A huge congratulations on making it through the most unusual holiday ever. Here are the results of our annual Mother’s Day Floral Industry Survey. 

A big thank you to everyone who participated in our annual survey. Once again we received a strong response from our readers and members.

Results were based on 245 retail florists surveyed by Floranext between May 15 and May 19. 

Were you open for Mother’s Day?

91% Yes 

9% No

Was this Mother’s Day …. (better, same, worse) than expected?

84% Better

9% Same

7% Worse

What percentage of orders (approximately) came from your website?

What Percentage of orders (approximately) came from Phone calls?

An average of 41% of the orders was made by phone. 

Were you able to get the flowers needed?

49.1% of Florists did get the flowers they needed but with some troubles.

39% of Florists got flowers without problems. 

11.9% of Florists couldn’t get the flowers they needed. 

What were your top-selling products?

87.3% Arranged Flowers

10.9% Hand Tied Bouquet

What was your most popular gift item?

44.7% Candy/Chocolates

39.1% Other Gift

14.4% Balloon

1.9% Stuffed Animal

What was your Average Ticket sold?

The Average Ticket was $75 USD. 

When did your floral business start receiving Mother’s Day orders?

47% Last Week of April

37% First Week of May

16% Mother’s Day Week

Where is your floral business located?

85% United States

8% International

7%  Canada

Florists, was this holiday successful? What would you consider to implement that next year? Do you have any feedback on your 2020 sales season? Your fellow florists would love to hear about it—please feel free to share in the comment section below. 

Do you know Google My Business may be saying your Flower Shop is closed right now?

Florists have been closed in many US states. Many flower shops have marked their business Temporarily Closed following Google’s guidance. 

Beware – if you plan to offer delivery for Mother’s Day make sure to change this well in advance of Mother’s Day. Google is running on limited staff and is not re-activating profiles quickly. 

Step 1: Update Your Google My Business Profile

Update your florist Google My Business profile so you don’t appear closed!  

If you plan to operate for Mother’s Day Delivery, here’s how to update your profile. Click to Info > Re-Open Your Business (bottom right).  

Step 2: Contact Google 

Our profile update was STILL PENDING with Google 3 days after we made this change request. We reached out to them using the Support option. We posted on the Community support in the end and got quick feedback from a Product Expert within 2 hours. 

Only after we sent them a message via the Community did we get a reply: 

We hope these instructions were helpful! Good luck, stay safe, and have a successful Mother’s Day! 

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, Floranext surveyed florists to learn more about what floral shops are doing and the outlook with COVID-19 as a backdrop.

To our Canadian/International customers, we still have limited data from those areas so apologies for the US-focus of the graphs! 

Will your flower shop be open for Mother’s Day?

With all the retail shutdowns across the world, the overwhelming majority of florists said that they plan to be open.  84% open in the US (in Canada all reporting provinces reported open except Ontario with 66% planning to be open). 

Dark Blue = Open  /   Lighter Blue = Some Open and Some Not  /  Grey = No Data

Will your city/state allow floral delivery? 

Of florists surveyed, 89% will be legally permitted to open on Mother’s Day while 11% believe they’re not going to be permitted to operate this holiday.

What delivery/pick-up options will your shop offer?

84% of florists that reported are going to do delivery for Mother’s Day. 59% of flower shops are offering curbside pickup with only 19% are having store walk-ins.

What Mother’s Day delivery/pick-up options will your shop support?  

Dark Blue = Open  /   Lighter Blue = Some Open and Some Not  /  Grey = No Data

Dark Blue = Open  /   Lighter Blue = Some Open and Some Not  /  Grey = No Data

Dark Blue = Open  /   Lighter Blue = Some Open and Some Not  /  Grey = No Data

Will your flower shop be able to source flowers? 

An important in the industry right now is, what is the availability of flowers for Mother’s Day? 93% of the florists surveyed will be able to source flowers for this holiday, while 7% won’t. 

What is your expectation of sales? 

COVID-19 Pandemic has many florists worried about floral revenue. 58% think sales will be worse, 24% believe sales are going to be better and 17% believe sales are going to be the same as 2019. 

We surveyed 380 florists. 93.83% are located in the United States while 6.16% are located in Canada. 

 

Thank you to all the florists who took the time to answer our survey. We hope this information provided by florists, like you, is useful for planning your Mother’s Day operations and gives you insight into what other floral shops are doing this holiday. We hope you have a successful Mother’s Day!

COVID-19 is literally putting a pause button on flower business cash flows, enter the Families First and CARES Act which offers significant relief to floral businesses. 

The Paycheck Protection Program provides direct financial assistance to florists and there are guidelines for forgiveness.  It’s not clear if the government funds will run out or if it will be replenished, so YOU MAY WANT TO ACT SOON!

Note: you should consult your accountant/bank before taking action and use the CAREs Act (let us know if you need a recommendation).   

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

The PPP program to provide direct funds to cover payroll expenses and can be forgiven. 

• PPP Gives 2.5x monthly payroll 
  • • Example: If your monthly payroll is $10,000, you could get a PPP grant for $25,000
    • No personal guarantees required; cover sole proprietors, contractors
    • Proceeds will be paid out a week after application completed and accepted.
• PPP Forgiveness up to 100%
  • • Forgiveness if hiring back staff by June 2020
    • Forgiveness available if used for specific categories of spending: 
      • Payroll, healthcare (company part), state/local taxes, rent, utilities
    • Any un-forgiven amount will be payable over 2 years at interest of 0.5%.
• How To File
  • • Loans are made through local lenders (e.g. Chase, Bank of America). Change it to Speak to your Bank Account rep today!
• What you Need to File
  • • Average Monthly Payroll Amount
    • Number of Employees
    • Annual Revenue
    • Incorporation Date
    • Documents showing payroll (e.g. 941 or Business Tax Returns)

Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL)

A separate program, Emergency Economic Injury Grant – loan to help run your business. In addition to this loan the SBA is offering an immediate $10,000 advance for working capital, they claim it will be paid within three days of applying. To get the advance, you must first apply for an EIDL and then request the advance. The advance does not need to be repaid (up to the $10,000). 

• EIDL Loan
  • • Rates are 3.75%, 30 Year Term
    • Payments are deferred a full year from the date of the loan 
    • Loans are approved based on credit score
    • Loans under $200,000 can be approved without a personal guarantee
    • No collateral like real estate is needed
• What’s new here?
  • • Now available to a sole proprietor, contractors
    • $10,000 in an emergency grant cash advance that can be forgiven if spent on paid leave or maintaining payroll
    • Faster approval process – based on self-certification so less red tape
    • Previously you had to show an inability to get funds from another source
• No Forgiveness
  • • There is no Forgiveness, this is just a loan

Filing Taxes and Extensions

• 2019 Tax Filing deadline – moved from April 15 to July 15
• No estimated taxes – for Q1 and Q2 are due; pay 75% of estimated on Oct 15
• Matching SS, Medicare – taxes (the 941 company portion) are not currently due. Can put off without interest/penalty.

Employee Retention Tax Credit

The goal is to encourage companies to retain their current payroll as-is: 

• Tax Credit
  • Of as high as 50% of wages paid to an employee up to $10,000 in wages. 
• To qualify 
  • Full/part shutdown due to Coronavirus or decline in revenues of 50% or more
  • Can’t be taken alongside other COVID-19 loans

Bank Forgiveness 

The FDIC is encouraging banks to go easy on borrowers and credit cardholders. This might include, “waiving fees on late or missed credit card or loan payments and waiving early withdrawal penalties for out-of-work savers who need access to money locked up in CDs,” according to Forbes. 

The Family Medical Leave Act is the 20-year-old labor law that provides job protection and unpaid leave for medical and family reasons. Flower shops that are still operating are facing some updated rules due to COVID-19 here are the new rules for Sick/Medical leave. 

New FMLA Rules for COVID-19 

• 2 weeks paid leave
  • • Small business must provide for all employees that have to stay home because of the Coronavirus, whether sick or caring for the sick. 
• Childcare
  • • You must pay 12 weeks at 2/3 pay if an employee needs to stay home with a child. 
• Payroll Tax Reduction
  • • This expense will be reimbursed to you through reduced payroll tax payments. 
• Health Care Coverage
  • • • If you have been offering employees health care coverage, you must continue to pay that during these times of leave, which is also paid back to you through a payroll tax reduction.

On condition that your payroll taxes are not large enough to offset the expense, the remainder of the money paid out will be refunded to you “as quickly as possible”. Whether this causes a financial hardship for the company, you can file for an exemption from this provision.

It is important that you take into account these new rules for your business when you’re employees are applying to the Sick/Medical leave during the COVID-19 crisis, you must review everything to see if your business has everything in order for giving these leaves to the employees. We would like to remind you that you always have to talk with your accountant and adviser about these topics. 

In Floranext we want to tell you that we’re all in this together and that this crisis shall pass too.

It’s a challenging time for every retailer, especially small businesses. Many small business owners are staying positive during the fight against COVID-19, including the florists who are coming together with unique ways to delight their communities. 

On social media, people are using the hashtag #alonetogether for this unusual time. Some florists are using the hashtag #bloomtogether for some of their new community-supporting initiatives. 

Here are a few initiatives that embody the spirit of #bloomtogether. 

Flower Give-Aways

In some states flower shops and wholesalers have been forced to shut down. Some have been giving away flowers rather than seeing them go to waste. Perfect examples of #bloomtogether love from the floral community. 

Pop Up Flowers

Brightening up their communities with flowers in public places. Sprout Florals in Woodland, TX they decorated public monuments with some of their leftover flowers including nine deer sculpture deers at the entrance to the city with floral wreaths. We love this #bloomtogether spirit. 

Free Flowers for Hospitals and Nursing Homes

In Bakersfield, California one florist turned canceled wedding flowers into a colorful #bloomtogether gift for local hospitals and nursing homes.  And UK national markets are giving away flowers to healthcare workers. 

Flower for Charity

At Every Bloomin’ Thing and Nelson Florist in Cary, NC wanted to do something for a #bloomtogether good cause.  Gary Nelson the one owner said, “I’m a wholesaler florist so I get flowers from all over the world and I couldn’t stop my shipment from coming in from South America this week. It’s a lot of flowers, and I don’t want to throw them away.”

While the flowers are free, you can leave a donation. It won’t go toward the flower shop; instead, the funds will go to Hope Community Church’s Mina Project.

__

We love these flower shops giving so much back to their communities. Share your own initiatives below in comments and by using the #bloomtogether hashtag on Instagram and Facebook!