Florists under the Umbrella of Wired Services
The wire
services came to USA in 1910 and have existed ever since. Teleflora,
1800flowers and FTD have a firm grip in this segment and continue to provide a
stable service since a long time. On those years, the florist did not have the option to
venture into anything else other than the available wire services due to lack
of competency and capital, thus, making the wired services, the most desired
one. Now, when a first time florist decides to choose the florist wired service, he gets
the details of the available sources and naturally ends up in choosing the most
advertised service, especially if it is by companies with decades of presence.
The most advertised service is naturally from the one with deepest pocket
and may or may not be the best available. The florist later continues to
suffer due to this wrong decision.
The current lack of Transparency
The
detailed information related to the POS software and web services are not
easily available to the florists due to the lack of transparency among the
leading wire services who prefer to keep the information hidden on their
websites and only reveals it in person to get the benefit, judging the
florist’s capacity to pay or their budget and it keeps differing at every part
of the city from florist to florist. Also, whatever information available is
often not clarified by the right authority over phone or mail. This leads to a
situation that florist has to get educated from various sources inclusive by word of mouth and paid advertising. It is quite natural that the lack of
transparency among the larger players like Teleflora, FTD or 1800 flowers is
overlooked while taking the decision to acquire the best software to run their
business; the smile and sweet talk of the vendor rule and convince. see Lack of Transparency from Florist Wire Services.
Fear to face the new technologies
The “advanced”
age of the florist owners results in a number of hurdles. The florist is unable
to establish the emotional connect with his customers due to the generation
gap. They are afraid to try and adapt to new technologies and services. They get attached to
the legacy system and want to continue with it. Also they apprehend that if
they try to set up a new system, it might take time to stabilize and this would
create issues and may result in losses. Also to decide to scrap the existing
wire service in favor of something which they have experienced is tough for
this age group, Young People do not want to be a Florist. The florists are afraid that the new system would need skill
sets which they do not posses. They wish to continue with what they have
mastered over the years. Like every other businessman, the florists fear that
new social trends would bring instability.
Florist as
a profession is losing its appeal due to Order Gathers that have started to
reap benefits through their small websites and a low pay to the local florist. In
fact 90% of the people attending a florist congress are over 45 years of age.
They may not have detailed knowledge of the latest software and hardware but
they have their expertise and yet due to the various hurdles try to remain
under the umbrella of these wired services. They have a tendency to accept and
move on rather than experiment and aim for better success and better revenue.
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