Out of the Box and Into the Dog House

"Thank you for calling Avante Gardens.  This is Cathy"

"Hi, I need to send my wife two dozen roses this afternoon.  Can you make something really impressive and get me out of the doghouse? Your roses come in a vase? Right?"

The customer went on to explain that he had waited until the last minute to order Valentine's Day flowers and purchased the first rose arrangement he could find online. Seeing a photo of a vase filled with roses, he hit 'buy' and placed an order for what he thought was a hand-delivered, professionally presented Valentine gift.

As you can imagine, he was stunned and disappointed to find out the flowers arrived at his wife's office in a box. He described them as 'small, browning and wilted'. "She was embarrassed and I feel stupid. She's still teasing me about it today and I need to make it right."

Valentine's Day is the holiday where probably more gift-givers see their purchases than any other major flower gift occasion. Instead of just being thanked for the flowers sent to a distant locality, whether in a box of via a florist wire service, the buyer often lives with or near his or her Valentine and has the chance to witness first-hand the purchase. 

For many local flower shop owners like myself, we've experienced the comparisons of our prices brought on by the heavy advertising of companies that deliver 'fresh from the grower.'   What's often missing is consumers' understanding that the flowers are not IN a vase (even when it's a 'free $10 value') and NOT professional designed for maximum presentation and visual appeal. 

It's no surprise that part of the skyrocketing complaint rates after Valentine's Day experienced by online companies such as ProFlowers.com, FTD.com and 1-800-Flowers.com are as a result of misunderstood purchases.  The texts read "flowers are hand-picked and tied" or "ready for the recipient to arrange in their own special way" yet the product images are professionally arranged designs in vases.  Visual comparisons of florist-delivered products with these parcel-delivered offerings are almost indiscernible. In fact, one company uses the same images for florist and parcel-delivered products.  Talk about confusion....

Every florist has a few glitches and replacements after such a high-volume day like Valentine's Day. One particular challenge this year was an education for both a shopper and myself.  The gentleman placed an order for red tulips and blue iris arranged in a vase to be delivered to his girlfriend's office. He stopped into the shop during the late morning of the holiday to take a look at his custom order - a tall design accented with curly willow and seeded eucalyptus. Though not quite finished, the order met with this customer's approval and was detailed and routed for delivery shortly after his departure.

At three o'clock, our customer called to say his girlfriend liked the arrangement but when he had her count the flowers and there were 'only 16 tulips and 18 iris'. "I saw an arrangement online at ProFlowers.com for the same price I paid you and it had 20 of each kind of flower." Quickly pulling up the site, I saw that the tulip and iris combination price was for a simple box of flowers. No vase, no foliages, no willow, and no design. He had no idea that the flowers on that site were shipped unarranged. Thankfully he realized the good value he'd received from us. Stem for stem, service for service, we offered the better value.  So much for saving by going 'direct from the grower.'  In the mean time, we florists have to spend a lot of time educating consumers and explaining the differences between what they see and what they'll get from a drop-ship site.

Late today, our driver reported that Mrs. Doghouse was delighted with her grand two-dozen rose arrangement.  We hope her husband will appreciate the benefits of his florist-delivered roses tonight.

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