The holiday sales are nearly upon us. For most florists, the Thanksgiving through Christmas rush is a huge boost, especially after the slower summer months. But is your flower shop doing everything that it can to make the most out of the busy season? Here are ten tips that will help your flower shop stand out among others this holiday season. With the right combination of florist marketing and preparation, you can help ensure a happy holiday season for your flower shop.
1. An exciting and festive storefront is incredibly important during the holiday season. Your shoppers are feeling festive already and they want to know that you’re as eager to celebrate as you are. This also gives you a great chance to show off your design abilities and unique seasonal products before customers even step through the door.
2. Host an open house. Invite Santa! We’ve discussed community marketing before. This is another great opportunity to establish your business as a hub of seasonal festivities. Host an open house with warm drinks and even a Santa. Encourage your customers to bring their own cameras for photo opportunities with the kids. Hand out coupons that last through December to make sure your revelers come back soon.
3. Celebrate poinsettia day with cash and carry discounts. This year, Poinsettia Day is December 12. Use this opportunity to push more of what is already one of your biggest Christmas sellers.
4. Now (and maybe always) have a coffee for your customers. Exhausted from Christmas tree and gift shopping and chilled from the onset of winter, your customers will absolutely appreciate a complimentary coffee, tea, or hot chocolate as they relax and enjoy picking out flowers. It’s all about making their experience pleasant memorable so that they come rushing back (hopefully with friends!).
5. Don’t forget about the plants, start greening early, and use antidesiccant. Attracting all of these customers won’t do any good if the product isn’t up to snuff. Antidesicant will help the greens will last longer. This is a lifesaver closer to the day when you’re in a hurry to push out the last of your Christmas stock and plants could otherwise start to droop.
6. Stay open longer hours. The Christmas season is crunch time for florists! Keep your doors open longer than usual to catch customers returning home from other shopping or on their way to holiday parties.
7. Variety is key. Don’t feed into the misconception that poinsettia is a poinsettia. Carry larger specimens of poinsettia that will stand out. You should also use peanut and other baskets to give smaller plants extra flair
8. Make all your bows ahead of time. Bows don’t wilt or go bad, so save yourself the hassle of putting them together during a rush and get them taken care of ahead of time.
9. Advertise home and business decorating services. This may not be viable for every shop, but if you have the time and resources, offer to help businesses and homeowners brighten up their spaces for the holidays. If you can’t get away from the store, you could always offer decor consultations in your flower shop.
10. Be sure to thank your loyal customers. Be it a discount, coupon, a Christmas card, or just a friendly email, be sure to send something out to your regular customers and the hospitals, churches, and funeral homes that give you regular business.
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these tips are great. celebrating poinsettia day should be embraced by our industry.
All the points listed above are rather very important for business and customers point of view. however I would like to highlight a point of having a variety. there should be customized orders as per customer’s taste.
thanks for sharing.
I have a flower shop and some of this tips helped me to increase my profit ! Thank you !
Great tips It would help if you checked out the different holiday days in the different countries you run your programs with to help them be more efficient as we dont all share the same holidays as America.