By Mark Bennett, sales and marketing director, Florisoft
I have been involved with the world of floristry for more years than I care to mention, firstly co-managing a market garden, then running a retail floristry business in Darlington and, in recent years, establishing the Strelitzia software.
I have seen enormous changes – the most notable being the growth of the supermarkets and out-of-town shopping, the increasing popularity of the internet and, right now, world recession – all of which have had a massively detrimental effect on the traditional retail florist.
But, despite this, I believe that the retail florist can not only survive but become stronger and will thrive if they embrace change. Florists need to be able to use information technology and the web to make them professional, streamline their business and market to new and existing customers.
Florists need to change from keeping the paperwork in a shoe box under the counter, sending out invoices randomly when they get a moment and advertising in the local rag on a whim when there is a special offer.The twenty-first century florist should be running their business with computer technology, printing professional orders, sending out monthly invoices on the first of each month, and organising their delivery routes using IT.
The web has enormous potential for marketing and reaching far larger markets than possible on the high street. Facebook, Twitter and collecting data in the form of email addresses should be embraced because they have the power to enable you to reach your target audience and with no significant cost.
Florists have been slow to realise the benefits of IT and are often frightened of anything too technical. That is why we saw such an opportunity to help florists embrace technology and wrote a simple software package that would run a flower shop called Strelitzia. Our florist clients at Strelizia realise that IT doesn’t need to be complicated and its benefits are huge, it saves the florist time and money and easily captures customer data that is invaluable as a marketing tool.
I am looking forward to a tough but positive 2011. Strelitzia is being translated into German, Dutch, French and Spanish versions after huge interest from the continent. The florists who embrace all the positive aspects of IT will be the ones that grow strong and thrive in this climate of so much doom and gloom.
