I've had some comments on my blog and email asking questions about this and this is a good thing to discuss right now. See my earlier post as well on Valentine's Day.
I had mentioned that if you are a regular predictable customer of a wholesale florist you can usually get your prices locked in for Valentine's Day so you keep the prices you've had all year.
That does go for my wholesale florist business as well. Most wholesale florists require a set in stone standing order to keep the prices down all year. I personally just need it fairly predictable because I have to keep a standing order with the importer to get one for you.
Usually standing orders with the wholesaler are done by December to lock in those prices.
As of right now I can still sell long stem red roses, which is the most expensive thing you can get from a wholesaler, now through Valentine's Day at my regular prices which are on my website.
A new rose seller mentioned paying $1.40 per stem for long stem red roses. This is quite high but you can expect to pay that and more this time of year.
My long stem red, which is Night Fever, read the post on these, is $1.13 per stem for 75 and $1.06 for a box of 150 which includes a Free Shipping special, so that's the price delivered right to the door.
I also have a newbie special running, where you can just buy 25 roses, they will be already stripped, come with all the tubes, sleeves and baby's breath you need with that, plus an instruction book on rose selling and preparation, a sample prepared rose, with free shipping for
$34.99 and the same package with 50 roses for $59.99. The cost of the roses themselves(which are the long stem red roses) is less than .75 per rose if you subtract the cost of all that comes with it. So my roses are on sale with a special on free shipping at a time of year roses are sky high.
Roses do go into very high demand from florists and the public very soon, if you are experienced you know this is true. So regarding the question on my prices, they stand for right now. As of this week you can lock in prices and be sure to keep it for Valentine's Day but it really is on a first come first serve basis as I have only a certain size order I'm allowed to get from the importer at my normal price than my costs will go up quite high if I want more. If you let me know now than you've got it.
Later,
Claire
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
A Comment on Work Roses
If you are an experience rose seller or florist, you know what I'm talking about. For florists I think they have certain uses. For example I knew a florist that used them for funerals because they were going to go in the ground anyway.
If you don't know, they are just older roses that the wholesaler is selling and he is suppose to let you know that's what they are and sell them for a lower price.
When I first sold roses, the person who taught me suggested I buy these because they were cheap and at the place they were selling them they really appeared not so bad. After enough experience with them( I put them in my own vase at home to test them), I learned I really couldn't rely on how long they would last and some were obviously not good from the start. For a few cents more per rose I got much better roses that had a much more impressive lifespan. I've seen other wholesale places call roses in much worse condition than the above, work roses.
Some rose sellers don't mind selling these and I can tell that's what they are selling. I've seen some pretty bad ones. I don't know what they are thinking.
Actually I do know as I've heard this even from wholesalers before. Oh, the customers are drunk and they'll leave it in the bar and they will never see you again.
Never see me again, believe me some of these bars and nightclubs have some really regular customers.
I think that's crazy. Why would you want to rip off your customer? They aren't going to keep buying from you if the rose turns out to be crappy.
How do you stay ahead of competition and get repeat business? Obviously- have a great product. Customers do comment on roses that last and big beautiful roses. They also comment when someone has sold them a bad rose.
I had a friend who was a rose lady and she told me the above about selling old roses--they're drinking etc... I told her my thoughts on it as I've mentioned and she did have competition on her route, so she took my advice and she was very happy with the results.
The rose sellers I sell my wholesale roses to are very particular about their roses being fresh and high quality and I'd be the last person to try to give rose sellers a bad name. But there are different opinions about it so I thought is was something worth commenting on.
Happy sales,
Claire
If you don't know, they are just older roses that the wholesaler is selling and he is suppose to let you know that's what they are and sell them for a lower price.
When I first sold roses, the person who taught me suggested I buy these because they were cheap and at the place they were selling them they really appeared not so bad. After enough experience with them( I put them in my own vase at home to test them), I learned I really couldn't rely on how long they would last and some were obviously not good from the start. For a few cents more per rose I got much better roses that had a much more impressive lifespan. I've seen other wholesale places call roses in much worse condition than the above, work roses.
Some rose sellers don't mind selling these and I can tell that's what they are selling. I've seen some pretty bad ones. I don't know what they are thinking.
Actually I do know as I've heard this even from wholesalers before. Oh, the customers are drunk and they'll leave it in the bar and they will never see you again.
Never see me again, believe me some of these bars and nightclubs have some really regular customers.
I think that's crazy. Why would you want to rip off your customer? They aren't going to keep buying from you if the rose turns out to be crappy.
How do you stay ahead of competition and get repeat business? Obviously- have a great product. Customers do comment on roses that last and big beautiful roses. They also comment when someone has sold them a bad rose.
I had a friend who was a rose lady and she told me the above about selling old roses--they're drinking etc... I told her my thoughts on it as I've mentioned and she did have competition on her route, so she took my advice and she was very happy with the results.
The rose sellers I sell my wholesale roses to are very particular about their roses being fresh and high quality and I'd be the last person to try to give rose sellers a bad name. But there are different opinions about it so I thought is was something worth commenting on.
Happy sales,
Claire
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
New Blog
I started a new blog. It's at www.buildabusinessnow.blogspot.com. It's just for people who are not interested in what I have to say about rose selling but just interested in starting a business online.
I will still talk about that here as well and you'll probably see the same post on my other blog.
I also have a new website www.buildyourownbusiness.homestead.com where you can learn how to create an online business from scratch starting with easy, professional do it yourself websites and including some great cheap ideas on exactly what kind of businesses you can put on there.
I have some step by step Camtasia demos on exactly how to do this. I'll be posting a short demo on this blog soon but if you'd like to see the full set on "How to create your own online work at home business" you can send me your email address here.
Bye,
Claire
I will still talk about that here as well and you'll probably see the same post on my other blog.
I also have a new website www.buildyourownbusiness.homestead.com where you can learn how to create an online business from scratch starting with easy, professional do it yourself websites and including some great cheap ideas on exactly what kind of businesses you can put on there.
I have some step by step Camtasia demos on exactly how to do this. I'll be posting a short demo on this blog soon but if you'd like to see the full set on "How to create your own online work at home business" you can send me your email address here.
Bye,
Claire
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year! (And Heads Up on Valentine's Day)
So how was your New Years? I went rose selling of course. It's one of the nights you can be sure to have great sales. Right before and right after the clock strikes 12 there seems to be a rush on rose purchases which continues late into the night.
The next really big holiday is of course Valentine's Day. If you're not a rose seller yet and you've been thinking about doing it, this is the time to get started so by the time V-Day comes you've got it down. Also if the first time you purchase roses to sell is Valentine's week, you are in for paying some high prices from any wholesaler, as the prices from the farms go way up on all their purchases except for those which they have standing orders for. If you become a regular customer fairly soon you will be locked into a significantly better price than if you wait. At this point the prices have already gone up but nothing like it will be closer to Valentine's Day. It will go down for a bit after V-Day and then you should quickly lock in a better price before Mother's Day. But you don't want to miss getting to sell on Valentine's Day especially since this year it falls on a Saturday which will make it an even bigger date night. You won't to miss the week or two prior either.
In fact starting with Christmas time all the way through Father's Day, it is the best time of year to sell.
Happy Selling,
Claire
The next really big holiday is of course Valentine's Day. If you're not a rose seller yet and you've been thinking about doing it, this is the time to get started so by the time V-Day comes you've got it down. Also if the first time you purchase roses to sell is Valentine's week, you are in for paying some high prices from any wholesaler, as the prices from the farms go way up on all their purchases except for those which they have standing orders for. If you become a regular customer fairly soon you will be locked into a significantly better price than if you wait. At this point the prices have already gone up but nothing like it will be closer to Valentine's Day. It will go down for a bit after V-Day and then you should quickly lock in a better price before Mother's Day. But you don't want to miss getting to sell on Valentine's Day especially since this year it falls on a Saturday which will make it an even bigger date night. You won't to miss the week or two prior either.
In fact starting with Christmas time all the way through Father's Day, it is the best time of year to sell.
Happy Selling,
Claire
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