Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, which delivers 25 percent of annual U.S. cut flower sales.
We always wondered how florists plan, attract, ramp up and meet the Valentine’s rush. Take a peek inside Dallas-based McShan Florist, which handles the day with aplomb in this video.
So why are consumers choosing this 70-year-old, local flower shop over others?
They have online presence.
McShan’s website attracts and captivates visitors with images of their beautiful arrangements, an easy-to-understand site experience and a well-designed interface to encourage orders! Shoppers may search for floral designs by occasion, theme, price range and best sellers and then buy online or by phone.
There’s no question that the well-established business, coupled with local search presence, helps McShan compete and own their Dallas territory — despite the presence of national, online sellers like 1-800-flowers, ProFlowers and its owner FTD.
They engage online.
More importantly, this florist actively communicates and connects with consumers all year long. They interact almost daily through Facebook and Instagram, and experimented in the past with Twitter and Pinterest. That’s wisdom, because companies need to pick and chose what social networks work for them.
McShan also has attracted 680 Google and 62 Yelp reviews. Here’s one that caught our eye: “If you’re gonna get flowers in East Dallas, get McShan’s. This place is an institution, and their online ordering system is shockingly up to date.”
They stand by their product!
Best of all, McShan Florist offers a guarantee to their customers, which helps consumers feel more comfortable purchasing from them. Their company promise is 100% satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. Flower orders are not exactly the same as what’s shown online, and they want customers to buy with confidence.
“We take pride and the time to create each floral design for you because it’s the customer we care about ” is the McShan company promise.
They are over-prepared, and that’s a good thing.
At the store, McShan clearly hires many excellent customer service reps waiting to help and respond to inquiries. The florist adds seasonal workers for their busiest times, especially the week of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.
These seasonal workers also allow the store to be most efficient when it comes to creating, packaging and shipping their arrangements. According to one of the owners, Jodie McShan, the florist hires some 20 sales reps taking calls, 30 designers and 80 delivery drivers for the season. They even rent extra trucks around the rush, with a total of 87 delivery trucks on the road last February.
This Valentine’s day…
We admire how one florist follows best online and operational practices for the seasonal rush. They appear well-prepared, committed and responsive to customers, and succeed on their own local terms.
Take a customer-first and digital mindset, apply it to your own organization and you can flourish too. #FlourishingFlorists
by Amanda Worrall, Feb-2-2019