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(This post originally appeared in 2009.)
I received a request for comment on great retail Valentine’s promotions I’ve seen this year. Gotta tell you – none.
I liked the banner on 1-800-Flowers, “Give Her Something To Talk About.” They also had an intriguing link to Cheap and Romantic Valentine’s Ideas but it was pretty much a recipe site and fell flat.
There are a handful of companies including specialty retailers asking people for their “worst Valentines’ gifts” with a discount provided for those who send them in. How this promotes anything good resulting to gifting is beyond me.
Why these companies didn’t choose to judge the most romantic, the best place, the best gift, etc to inspire rather than ridicule is beyond me but part of the reality show crassness pervading our culture. But I digress.
The rest of the Valentine’s promotions I’ve seen are all, “Save $x on a dozen roses,” “All chocolate candy X% off,” etc. The same tired and uninspired ideas recycled with the bent that people won’t spend due to the recession. An article in today’s USA Today provides even more evidence. Also Friday’s Los Angeles Times.
How many times have you been tempted by a $9. bunch of flowers in the supermarket, brought them home and they were dead by the following morning? I know I have, lots of times. Let them go one day and the smell of death creeps into your vase instead of the sweet smell of life. That nine bucks was ultimately a very expensive purchase.
When it comes to flowers, people want lasting personal expression. Big websites can promise fresh but I think the local florist has the upper hand. Here’s how:
What if when a customer called they said, “One of things that makes a gift of flowers from our shop the best choice is because I personally go down to the flower mart at 3am to pick only the best flowers. We place them in clean water, bring them to the shop where we cut off the ends, place in floral preservative until we carefully arrange them just the way you ordered them. We deliver with care instructions and, because our flowers last so long, we send them two followup cards how to take care of them and how to use them in new ways for up to a week.
If you truly wanted to pursue freshness and sold that on the phone or on your sales floor as your differentiating feature compared to cheaper products, customers would be raving about your product to their friends. And what would their first place to look next wedding, birthday or other event be? Your shop.
It’s a no-brainer to sell flowers for this Saturday, February 14 but unless you stand out, how will you fill your till in the soft months like September or January? You have to hit it out of the park or you are an also-ran.
If you are a Hallmark or other card store, give everyone a shopping list when they walk in for everyone they could buy a Valentine’s card for including the gardener, pet, teacher, pastor, yoga instructor, you name it – be creative. You want to build a larger sale for more people. That’s easy if you make it easy for your customers.
Oh and don’t forget to offer a guest book, a card or bag stuffer asking for all of these customers’ email addresses so you can market to them effortlessly.
Elevate the standards and creativity of your business and you can elevate your prices. Give in to the doom and gloom and your offerings will be cheap and ultimately unmemorable for your customer but more importantly unmemorable for your business. And that doesn’t smell sweet to anyone.
When a $9 bouquet of flowers go back within 24 hours, it is a horrid purchase. I’m with you: Order online to a florist in that loved one’s locale and have it made to order and sent by courier to their address. This way you get the type of bouquet you want and looking the way you want it to look!