Why a £17 letter tribute damages us all

Monday, 13 September 2010 18:46 |

I read with horror that a florist was offering named tributes at just £17 a letter. Because not only does that price mean she isn’t… hell can’t… make any money on it – the letters alone are going to cost her in the region of £6 each never mind the flower cost - but sets a dangerous precedent for everyone. If customers see one florist charging that little they either think florists charging the right price are expensive or just don't buy them.

Which begs the question on how we can get naive florists like this out of the industry and get across that decent floristry comes at a price and £17 a letter isn’t it!

Because while this florist may be very happy working for nothing… or worse still doing a lousy job because she’s scrimping on content… most florists I know expect to both cover their costs and make a bit on top which is why the average price for a letter has to be circa £33 and even that can be tight.

And the same things is happening on weddings… florists do a quote, bride goes trolling around clutching said quote and someone thinks it’s cool to undercut the quote to either get the business or because they are just too silly to realise what it should cost or because they aren’t quoting on a like-for-like basis which the bride doesn’t realise till the day.

I am well aware that its ‘dog eat dog’ out there but florists charging too little is just as bad as florists who charge too much and does diddly squit for the reputation of the industry at large. I’m going to ask F&PA if they can think of ways to help but if anyone has any bright ideas please let me know because I, for one, am fed up of seeing the good florists in our industry undermined.

Comments

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+1 #28 Nikki Budd 2012-04-18 08:45

I have closed my retail side of the business this week due to supermarkets selling bad flowers at cheap prices and other flower enthusiasts calling themselves florists. I trained in London, got up at 5 to travel there after we moved to another county and gained top grades, my work is designer but I am fed up with having to battle against these cheapskates. Looking at their work it defies everything I was taught regarding E's & P's but the public just see a colourful mess at a cheap price. So I have moved my business back to my workshop where I can concentrate on the weddings and events without spending 6 days a week behind a counter just to sell a bunch of daffs and have people walking round saying they are just looking. Can't they be done under the trades desciption act these dabblers??

+2 #27 Guest 2012-03-04 16:18

We recently had a customer for funeral flowers who told us they had been somewhere else and they were much cheaper but wanted us to do the job as they knew from the service we provided and the quality of our local portfolio that we would be better, and that followed with a thank you card. I think the wholesalers are also to blame as well as wedding fayre organisers for letting those that do not pay the rates, the vat, the staffing costs and everything else that comes with running a business. Like a fellow guest on here it seems wide open for anyone to buy flowers at cost and suddenly become a trained florist! It take years to build up an established business with a great reputation. I recently looked on yell for florists in my area and the amount of people advertising as working from home with their mobile numbers given and a rubbish website - as specialist wedding and event and also as funeral tribute designers, completely shocked me!

-1 #26 pam 2012-02-06 01:44

although i am not a trained florist(i couldn't get any local)i do make funeral wreaths for family at cost and have always had a passion for flowers from a very early age,i work to a very high standard,some of my work has been taken to other areas of the country,i have had many many calls thanking me for the wonderful work i had done,how beautiful they were and exceptional quality,the local florist for that area didn;t do as good a job,shop not everyone who opens a shop knows what they are doing one lady made a 15" heart wreath and charged 17.00gbp when she told me i corrected her on the price it should have been 45.00 (what is charged in the area)while talking a local undertaker was on the phone to her wanting her to make all future wreaths as his florist was using dead flowers,CORRECT ION i said it's because he can make more profit from you,i have had to tell florists to de-thorn roses,change flower/foliage water.

+5 #25 Guest 2011-01-05 13:44

The family has been florists for over 15years,trained through the colleges to gain certs. only to have flower arrangers (everning Classes local schools etc) call thereselves florists the work is apporling and gets FLORISTS fully trained bad names.There is also the odd shop that have had all the monoplay for a few years that plays dirty ,and wonder why they get bad names and less and less business.One such near to us have even reverted to buying up all our domain names just so we cant use our shop name for a website.its a pity these cant be named and shamed, They then have the cheek to try to buy flowers from us,as there delivery was rubbish or non existant.

-2 #24 Guest 2010-12-28 07:22

RE : #21 Joy Gilder 2010-11-06 15:08

I agree with your passion Joy, but in the real world you don't have to be licensed to sell flowers!!

Flowers are freely available to everyone to re-sell via various means.

The trick is to make your product better than your competition and perhaps promote a NON OG policy for genuine florists.

Kick the Interflora, OG, etc. habit!! and promote and let the brides freely choose between buying flowers wholesale or getting a professional to arrange for such a special day.

DIY is free to everyone...

+1 #23 Guest 2010-11-29 21:00

My company Blue Geranium works closely with two very respectable "green" funeral directors. Many of the funerals are for burials in Woodland cemeteries and the floral tributes are all bespoke, constructed with willow, dogwood and moss. Flowers are an important part of the grieving process and help us communicate in a ritual that often words cannot. All of my clients are fully aware of the amount of care and attention to detail that my style of floristry involves and they are more than prepared to pay what my work is worth.

Your work reflects you and what you charge for your hard work and overheads is subjective. Need I say it really, at the end of the day it's up to the individual to choose.

+3 #22 Guest 2010-11-16 06:16

I echo all the above comments regarding prices. We had a couple who emailed only last week to see if we could waive the delivery charge, oh and do the table arrangements for £10.00 per table. By the time I'd added it up and worked out a percentage they'd actually asked for a 15% discount for the same amount of flowers! My feeling is always hold out for your price, we've done this often (especially with brides) and 90% come back. I read an interesting article (although about photographers high end vs cheaper) Its nice to know its not only our industry who has the 'I love flowers so I'm a florist' approach, photographers and other professions are going through exactly the same thing. One thing with higher prices is that you have to make sure your service is spot on, this is the reason that brides, funeral directors etc will come back. Return calls, follow up quotes, reply to emails ... be seen to be going the extra mile

+12 #21 Guest 2010-11-06 15:08

I agree with all the points raised i would also like to add that i was horified to see that wedding flower magazine has started to show brides how to make there own bouquets.!! Great just what we needed.

+3 #20 Guest 2010-11-05 17:16

We have a problem with kitchen sink florists and so called florists who are not in retail, or paying high rates, rents and overheads that we have to pay. This is the first year prospective brides have come in with quotes from other florists asking for prices to undercut. Needless to say, I do not entertain them. If price is all they care about, not design or quality flowers, they probably would not come to us anyway. Funerals are the same - pricing. It's terrible. I wonder how a Funeral Director would like it if someone said "I'll think about it!!". I agreee with Cindy Jackson's comment about too many florists even retail undercutting to get the order, instead of working together.

+7 #19 Guest 2010-10-25 18:23

I have been in the floristry industry for over 20 years and I to am sick and tired of all and sundry thinking they can 'do flowers' We should be pulling together, educating the customer and making them understand the skills involved an ecouraging professionalism throughout the industry. It's these people charging £15 giving florists a bad name.....these people are not able to create professional designs, they do not understand what profit margins and they certainly do not understand how to cost out a design. The competition should be based on our skill and customer service not cheap stunts and price wars. But take heart and stand your ground we recently explained to a customer why we would not get her the flowers to make her sisters wedding bouquet, she returned the next with her sister and placed an order for the bouquet and buttonholes.

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