Greetings Uzzz! I am going to offer my own suggestions and point you
to some Internet links as well.
The first thing that came to my mind was an in-store window campaign.
A slogan would read "Turn an ordinary day into a special occasion -
send a love bouquet" or "Flowers turn an ordinary day into an
extraordinary day!" If your friend has access to a female mannequin,
she could dress it in an old housecoat and slippers, and put curlers
in the hair as it held a bouquet of flowers. The comic approach
always draws visitors and creates word-of-mouth traffic. Or maybe
dirty the face a bit and offer the slogan "Turn your Cinderella into a
Princess - make her feel special with flowers."
A second idea would be to use an item/purchase card as I have seen in
many small business. When each total purchase is made, the card is
punched or stamped. Then, after XX number of purchases are made or
after XX number of dollars are spent (when the card fills up), the
customer receives a premium - a deep discount or an item for free such
as a bouquet in your friend's case.
If a normal customer comes in 4-6 times a year for flowers, then your
friend would design the card item amount for 10 visits - or if an
average customer spends $150 a year in the shop, make the total amount
for $250. This should cause the incentive for the customer to pick up
a few extra purchases a year. The shopping card would be good for 12
months.
Also, she should ask customers to register with their addresses and/or
emails. Have your friend create a mailing and email newsletter that
is sent once a month. For flyers, make the inside design of the
tri-fold into a calendar where she would note unique special
occasions. See http://www.earthcalendar.net/_php/datesearch.php to
search for every day of the year to see what is celebrated around the
world each day. For unique holidays, visit
http://www.wellcat.com/holiday.html and click on the Winter, Spring,
Summer and Fall buttons at the bottom of the page. Another great
place for dates is http://www.scopesys.com/today/
Also, perhaps she could include a snippet in the newsletter about the
meaning of flowers (or put it on cards next to flowers in her shop)
using "The Language of Flowers" book
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/3791323962/qid=1045525205/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-9471954-4931023?v=glance&s=books)
or "Forget-Me-Not - A Floral Treasury: Sentiments and Plant Lore from
The Language of Flowers" located at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0821220004/qid=1045525205/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-9471954-4931023?v=glance&s=books
as a reference. Or utilize a website like
http://www.locateaflowershop.com/meaning_of_flowers.asp. Other
"meaning of flowers" sites that have varied definitions are:
The Meaning of Flowers
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3693/flower.html
The Meaning of Flowers
http://www.usabride.com/wedplan/a_flowers_meaning.html
Internet Florist - The Meaning of Flowers
http://www.iflorist.com/en/act/meaning/
She could combine all the various meanings for each flower into an
educational paragraph for each monthly newsletter. Educate those
customers!
The website at http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol50/florist.htm states
"Recent trends indicate that the majority of those who buy flowers buy
it for themselves" and states that "the American Floral Endowment
Consumer Tracking Study conducted in 2000 showed that about 67 percent
buy flowers for themselves and only 33 percent buy it as a gift."
PowerBiz
If your friend sees more buying as gifts and less as personal
purchases, create an in-store flower campaign with a slogan like "Who
needs a special occasion? Treat yourself to fresh flowers!" and then
have a special each week of certain types of flowers. I see people
picking up flowers at my local grocery store all the time. Give them
a special reason to stop and get fresh flowers from a flower business
and not next to the produce section. lol
Frequent window merchandising is also an eye-grabber. I would suggest
she have a new display each week in the window and concentrate on
color schemes to draw the eye of passers-by. If she has a window she
can split into two areas, have her make one side always with a wedding
theme and the other to be general flowers.
She probably already offers gift baskets with flowers and she should
network businesses and corporations in the area to let them know she
offers a "corporate basket" program. Candles go well with flowers for
gift baskets and she could also have an in-store display with perhaps
ten items where a customer could choose any three of those items with
flowers for a one-price gift basket. A "fruit and flowers" basket
would be an idea, too.
I hope the suggestions and links I have provided will assist your
friend in increasing her business. Should you need clarification of
any information or links I have provided, please use the "Request A
Clarification" feature of this program and I'll be happy to respond.
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