3 ways you can simplify selling American grown flowers
There is an emerging movement to put American grown flowers back into our floral studios!
Many of you have told me that you want to be a part of this movement and make an impact in our industry, but that you aren’t really sure how to go about it.
Here’s a look into how you as a small business owner can simplify the process of selling more American grown flowers.
Let’s start at home.
Locally grown flowers are the obvious first choice, but for many reasons local isn’t available or accessible. What’s a florist to do then?
Go American grown with The Floral Source!
The Floral Source was founded by floral designer Kelly Shore in 2014, when she began to ask herself “What if I made bold and beautiful arrangements with exclusively seasonal and local product?”
Kelly believes that sourcing domestically year-round is possible and deeply gratifying.
She wants you to be a steward of change, whether sourcing in your own region or seeking product from other states to fulfill your clients’ vision. There is an abundance of beauty that grows right here in America and she wants to explore it all with you!
So she collaborates with over 20 American flower farms to curate mixed boxes of flowers and foliage to bridge the gap between U.S. flower farmers and designers.
The Floral Source will ship farm direct boxes right to your door 365 days a year. How awesome is that?
Plus at the end of this blog post Kelly has a special offer for active EveryStem members this month, December 2022!
I recently had the pleasure of ordering two mixed boxes of flowers from The Floral Source to experiment with the product and experience it for myself.
The flowers were delivered via FedEx. I printed out my EveryStem vendor lists to process and check in all the varieties that I was expecting to receive from CamFlor and Green Valley Floral, two of the farms that Kelly sources from regularly.
I use EveryStem to calculate how many flowers I need to order and then print out the vendor export list before I process my flowers. It’s simple to highlight each flower variety on the list as I inspect them for quality and counted in for quantity.
If I didn’t receive enough of a certain product, I don’t highlight that item and simply note the shortage on the list. Then at the end of processing time it’s easy to see what is missing and quickly address any issues.
I’ll be sharing a blog post about the biggest flower processing mistakes florists make soon. So, please take one minute to join my email list if you want to be notified when when new blog posts are released!
I’m happy to report that all of the flowers in my shipments were the correct quantity and highest quality.
So, let’s move on to the main attraction!
3 ways you can simplify selling American grown flowers
The Floral Source offers you not only great products from over 20 flower farms, they also offer a service of curated mixed flowers boxes with pricing that includes shipping and box fees. These curated boxes make it easy to brainstorm creative offerings for your business!
1. Create an American grown flowers subscription service!
You can do this as a monthly or quarterly offering and sell the arrangements as pre-orders right on your website.
Flower subscription services are rising in popularity and make great gifts. A program like this is great for all retail florists and even helpful for event florists who would like a little quarterly boost to their revenue!
Offering a subscription service to your clients is a great way to drive recurring revenue, but if you want to use this concept as a promotion several times a year instead of a subscription you can do that too!
This would be a great program for professionals in your community to buy repeatedly from you. An example of professionals I would target with a program like this are real estate agents who want to thank their clients.
Let me give you an example of how a floral subscription offering can work for your small business.
You can use EveryStem to easily calculate the flower recipe and retail price of the design. Simply choose two boxes of curated coordinating flowers and greenery.
One can be a mix box of greenery and accent flowers and the other a mix of roses and spray roses or other focal blooms. Since The Floral Source boxes are hand-selected by Kelly, an experienced florist, all you need to do is divide out the bunches and put an equal amount of product in each arrangement.
In the case of my example once I entered the quantities into my EveryStem event, it was easy to see that one fifth of each flower variety would work nicely in my design. I could make 5 arrangements from the two mixes boxes. It worked beautifully!
Here’s my flower recipe:
You can see here that the quantities worked out perfectly for 5 arrangements to be designed from the two curated boxes of flowers.
The recipe made for a great mix of flowers and a profitable result! By pre-selling all 5 of my arrangements @ $260 each I was able to turn a “profit on flowers” of $899.10. The EveryStem Profit Summary is a great way to see a snapshot of the profitability of this promotion.
EveryStem florist software builds a profit summary of flower costs, retail prices and profit margin in real-time as you build your flower recipes. It’s a powerful tool that enables you to make smart business decisions.
Now, just imagine if you sold 20 beautiful arrangements of American grown flowers every quarter. It would be a nice profit boost!
I ran the numbers because it only took me a few seconds to change the quanity from 5 to 20 arrangements in EveryStem. Here’s the profit summary.
EveryStem profit summary shows that 20 arrangements would result in a profit on flowers of over $3500!
And, here’s a quick time-lapse video of me creating this beautiful arrangement.
Let’s move on to the next way you can simplify selling American Grown Flowers.
2. Create an American grown wedding florals package!
Kelly and her team at the Floral Source know flower seasonality like the back of their hands. The great thing about this is that you can use it to your advantage to simplify wedding package sales.
Retail florists, you might even get in on a few simple events because this strategy makes package wedding work so easy!
Here’s how you can make this happen in your floral design business.
In a similar fashion to the subscription method above, using the curated boxes from The Floral Source makes creating an American grown wedding package a breeze.
Let’s take the two mixed boxes I received from CamFlor and Green Valley Floral as an example.
Start by using EveryStem florist software to calculate your flower recipes. Enter the flower information into your event. Divide out the quantities into the elements of the design package you’d like to offer.
Based on the amount of product I received, I felt confident that I could make about 4 designs plus a boutonniere or small pin-on corsage. So, I ran a little experiment and made some sample arrangements. The curated boxes enabled me to easily create these pieces!
5 piece wedding package:
1. A hanging piece that could be attached to an arch or tree @ $375
2. A low lush ground design to accompany the hanging piece that could also be used as a welcome, sweetheart table, or entry arrangement @ $375
3. A large bouquet @ $250
4. A small bouquet @150
5. A boutonnière or small pin-on corsage $20
These designs combined used up the vast majority of the flowers in my two mixed boxes. I had a bunch of berries that I didn’t use, but was able to use in one of my other designs. Nothing went to waste!
Here’s a video of the two larger wedding designs coming together!
These prices are based on a 3X markup and I typically shoot for a 70% profit margin on all my floral designs. EveryStem calculated the profit margin at 69% on this package. Since I’m planning this to be a website purchase with very little client contact, I think that’s pretty darn good.
Please note, these prices do not include delivery. So I recommend adding that on separately if you decide to offer a package like this with a drop off service.
Highlighting that these are 100% American grown flowers is what will stand out from your competition. This marketing strategy will appeal to a certain clientele. She is less particular about the specifics and more interested in being eco-friendly and enjoying a simple flower ordering experience.
And here is a screenshot from my EveryStem event of all the recipes.
The Floral Source does have some packages that are available year-round and they’d be the perfect choice for this type of offering. You’ll want to check with Kelly’s team to make sure the boxes you choose are available when you need them.
In order to do that, you’ll need to create an account with them and I’ve included the link at the bottom of this blog post for you to get that process started!
This package concept is something you’ll want to describe on your website as non-customizable.
EveryStem member Courtney Zuber has done just that with her Simplee Cone business. This is a sister business to her full service wedding studio Cone Flower Designs and I recommend checking out her website to get some ideas of how you can do this for your clients too.
By offering a fixed package there is no need to customize the elements. Many clients are looking for a simple and more eco-friendly option when it comes to wedding flowers and this offer allows you to provide a beautiful package that requires less back and forth with the client than full service.
The key to offering a package like this is establishing and keeping your boundaries.
Require a minimum spend so you’ll cover all the flowers you buy in your order. And, when clients ask about customizing you can check out the last FAQ on this page. It’s “Can I customize the collection?” And, you’ll see the short answer needs to be no.
Offering an American grown wedding package can supplement your full service weddings if you are a wedding and event florist. While for retail florists it can offer a simplified option for selling wedding florals on a smaller scale that doesn’t require full service set-up or rental items.
It’s a great way to sell more American grown flowers specifically to wedding clients!
3. Teach a design workshop with American grown flowers.
You can build community, heighten awareness of your business, and learn a lot about your ideal customers when you offer a workshop.
Take it to another level by offering a workshop focused on designing with American grown flowers!
Something simple is always best for a beginner workshop. I like the idea of buying a box of roses and spray roses from Green Valley Floral, supplementing with some local greenery, and creating an easy recipe for your students to follow.
And, here’s my recipe with the pricing from EveryStem included at the bottom:
A low 5 inch wide cylinder vase with some chicken wire in the bottom and a tape grid on top are my favorite mechanics for beginners because it offers both stability and flexibility in placing the stems.
My favorite design of all the ones I’m sharing today is the example I created for you with this concept in mind. I love the simplicity of it because it allows your student to concentrate on placement which is fun for beginners to play with in a workshop setting.
Here’s how it turned out!
This would retail for $150 based on a 3X markup, but since it’s a workshop you might adjust your retail price based on labor to staff the workshop.
What do you think about creating a workshop with all American grown flowers? Will you give it a try?
I know I said I’d share 3 ways to simplify buying more American grown flowers, but I have a 4th way I want to share with you. It maybe basic, but every bit helps when you are trying to do your part to support flower farmers.
4. Buy a box of American grown flowers whenever you can!
You might not be ready to dive in fully to American grown flowers with one of the concepts I suggested just yet. However, as a retail florist you can always purchase a box or two of flowers from The Floral Source to supplement your weekly standing order.
And for my wedding florist friends, you can check on The Floral Source website to see which beautiful varieties are available and buy a box or two of flowers that align with your client’s style and color palette!
Let’s all do what we can to support American flower farmers.
I can’t remember where I read this or who said it, but I really do believe it’s true.
“The bouquets at the center of our tables should be as fresh, sustainable, and homegrown as the food on our plates.” -unknown.
I hope you’ll try at least one of these ideas in your floral design business. And when you do, please let me know how it goes.
And here’s a bonus for active EveryStem members.
The Floral Source is offering a 10% discount on one flower order during the month of December. This offer is limited to one use per customer and it expires on 12/31/22. This is not limited to one box. It will be 10% off your entire order.
So, grab yourself some beautiful American grown blooms this month!
The discount code is on the homepage when you login to EveryStem!
Remember if you’re not a current customer, but you’d like to give The Floral Source a try, you’ll need to sign up as a new customer by setting up an account here and sending them a copy of your resale tax ID. (Business tax ID required for purchase).
I hope you’ll take advantage of the offer!
Cheers to you running a profitable business. Until next time,
LuAnn