The Importance of Pricing Your Flower Designs on Your Website

Episode 191: As a floral business owner, it can be challenging find the time and have the expertise to price your designs competitively and profitably, especially in the online market. In this episode Kami Martin, Director of One Clique at Flower Clique, joins Vonda to discuss the important considerations to price your designs correctly on your website and how to avoid worrying about your direct competition. 
Tune in to learn more about this crucial topic and approach pricing with confidence. 

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

If they put a $39 design up on your website that's full and lush and beautiful, and you're looking at it going, I can't make that for $39. I'm losing money on that design, right?

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your hosts, Vonda LaFever and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Vonda.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Good morning, Cammy Martin. Well, good morning. Thank you for having me today. I'm so excited that you've joined me today. We've let Lori have the day off, which doesn't happen too often, does it?

SPEAKER_02 0:42

It doesn't. It feels like something's missing, but I think we'll be okay. She's like our security blanket.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Isn't that the truth? She always fills in the gaps. If we don't have anything to say, Lori's always there to just kind of nudge us along and to add the pleasure to the business and pleasure, right? It's true. She just makes me smile. It's true. She makes everyone smile. We know that.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Did have a little Lamarco Polo with her this morning. She was asking me how the girls enjoyed their first day back to school. It's back to school time. Yeah. And a lot of members that I'm talking to are like, man, that's early. You know, it does feel early here. It's you know, early August that they go back here. And so three freshmen entering the high school. They look like little deer in the headlights walking in yesterday morning.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Oh my gosh, that just seems impossible, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02 1:35

It does. And they came home and I expected them to say, Oh, it was great. It was a great first day, but they didn't. They came home and said, I got lost. I couldn't find my class. And, you know, and I was like, today will be better. Today will be better. You'll know a little more each day.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

It's a challenge. I mean, high school is a challenge. It is overwhelming. I had the grandchildren here. They are six, eight, ten, and thirteen. And they're all going back to school and talking about their clothes, doing the shopping, and not high school yet. We have another year before we have to go to the high school level. But yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

A different ball game.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Yes, it is. And especially three of them, Cammy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Yeah.

unknown 2:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

It's going by too fast. I can tell you that much.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

For sure. Well, we're here together today to talk about pricing, which, man, we have a lot of members of Flower Click and people who we've talked to who are potential members for Flower Click. And one of the biggest questions is pricing, right? Pricing on the website, pricing in the store. And now, especially with inflation and people are paying more for their product, whether it's fresh flowers and hard goods, it's like, what do we do now? Right? Yep. Yeah. Prices are up everywhere. Not just this industry, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Prices are up everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

And I think that's what should give us a little bit of comfort because we look around and you go to the grocery store, and oh my, you know, you're like, you know, let's look at perishables because fresh flowers are perishable. So that's I think how we can equate the increases that we're seeing because strawberries are more, blueberries are more, you know, anything that's perishable has an increase in the prices.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

I have to tell you, my husband is the financial guy in the family. I'm the spender, he's the budgeter, you know. And uh the other day he did go do my grocery pickup and put the groceries away. I was busy, I made the order, but he did that. And he was like, You spent blah blah blah at Walmart. And I said, Yeah, and you saw what I got, right? Like, it's not like I'm buying beauty supplies out the wazoo or anything like that. It's just strawberries and blueberries and bread and eggs, and and it just doesn't stretch near as far.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

It just doesn't so right, and all of the things play into that because it's not just the product itself, it's now labor costs more, so they're having to charge more for labor at the store level and and maybe even harvest level, the transportation to get it to the store. It's everything that goes into that that causes the increase, which our flower shops are feeling the same thing. Yeah, the flowers are more, the vases are more, and they're having to pay more for their employees. So, all of those things tell us that you have to be proactive and know the prices that you're being charged so that you can increase those prices on your website and in your store. Otherwise, you're not going to be in business, right? That's true, it's very true. So let's talk a little bit about pricing out the designs. You know, you talk to a lot of shops, Cammy, who have a pulse on their website, or maybe they don't have a pulse on their website. You talk to shops to talk to them about Flower Click and you know, members and non-members alike, but what's their mindset when it comes to their website? So I'm gonna ask you a few questions. What's your take on shop owners? You know, there's different kinds of shop owners, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:29

Yeah, I find that there are, let's see, there's a couple different kinds of shop owners. There's the kind that are in control. They, you know, they know the importance of limiting what's on their website, how much time and effort they take, you know, how much as far as the designs that they put up, they're very in control. Those are usually going to be a really good fit for us, right? They because they understand the value we bring. Right, right. The second kind of shop would be they're in a hurry, they don't have time because they have every other thing they have to do in their shop, right, to run a business. Yeah, and the online gets neglected, they take what's given to them by a platform, a floral website platform, which there are a lot of them out there, and I'd like to circle back to that in a second, too.

SPEAKER_03 6:25

Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

They don't have time, they're very frustrated, they know the things on their website are underpriced. They get mad every time they have to make XYZ design because it's the most popular and it's underpriced. And gosh, I gotta go out and change that, but I don't know how. I don't have time to wait on hold and call. And I see that probably the most. Okay. I see that a lot. Yeah. The one that's in control and has the the tech savvy support to go in and do it themselves, that one is a rare find. Just because, you know, we're not all tech savvy. We don't all have the time to do it. And I would say there is a third one. The third one is may not be listening to this podcast, frankly. Okay. The third type that I see, they just don't understand the importance of profitability, and they're constantly trying to beat their competitors' pricing. And frankly, they tend to go out of business. I mean, they they pop up and then they go out, you know, they pop up with the shop and because maybe they just don't understand. Now, maybe they are listening, and I hope they are. That's why we listen to know it is important.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Do you think sometimes that's like the know-it-all?

SPEAKER_02 7:38

The know-it-all, yeah. I don't want to even say that it's like it's someone that goes into floral sometimes just because they want to play with flowers. Okay. We've had those conversations where you talk with someone and they don't fully understand all about the profitability, even just you know what their costs of goods are and what their labor markup should be. And you're the expert on that. I love to put those people with you, but they're just trying to make a business, but they don't think it all through so much. There's a lot of those out there.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

There are, and that's what I was just gonna say is when we talk to people and they're like, oh no, I haven't taken a paycheck in years. And I'm like, What? You know, you shouldn't just be working for the fun of it and to make everybody happy. That's the heart of a florist, right? Is that they want to serve, they want to make people happy and they know flowers can do it. And but it's a lot of hard work and dedication, and you've got to be paid for doing that. You go out of business for a couple reasons. One, there's no profit, but also you get so burnt out. I mean, because it's hard work. Yeah. So you're right, that third, that third person we hope are listening and know that there's hope, you can make some changes to make a big difference in in your business for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

It's true. And and to circle back on the website part of it, just because that's the part I'm dealing with, right? There's kind of this vicious cycle that happens because these platforms that host, which are great, right? They're great because they're set up for floral delivery. You know, it's hard to just launch your own website. I I have had a few people that do their own website custom, but then to like have add-ons and delivery based on zip codes, and all of that is not easy to set up, and your floral hosts do that for you, right? These are companies that give you a website, but most of those make their money with every order that comes through, every transaction, right? And so it's this vicious cycle because they're in it for to make money. And of course they want you to be successful, but really at the end of the day, they want to make money, right? And so if they put a $39 design up on your website that's full and lush and beautiful, and you're looking at it going, I can't make that for $39. I'm losing money on that design, right? It's a it's what we were just talking about, but they're getting paid the same amount whenever that transaction happens for $39 or whether it's $139. And you make a lot more money as a florist with that $139 when it's priced correctly.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

You know, I'm glad you added that when it's priced correctly.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

When it's priced correctly, it can't be a ton of orchids and you know, all the things. Yeah, that's the thing about it. But it's this vicious cycle because you're getting more transactions and you're busy because orders are coming through. The the customers going, oh yeah, $39, good deal. Boom, you know, added to cart. So it's a vicious cycle and it's something that you've got to pay attention to, and that's what we probably will go into.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah, you definitely have to have your eye on that because it's so easy. You think of that one $39 order, how much you're losing on that, and then you multiply that times 10 or 20 or however many times the customer's choosing that one. And the other thing that works into that, Kimmy, that you were talking about the lower end price, and that they're buying that and you're losing money, is that your conversion rate looks really good. It does. And that's why there's those lost leaders or those low-end items on your website, is because the customers are clicking and buying, and you're just continuing to lose money on those.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

It's exactly right. You do see a higher conversion rate on that because customer likes it. They're like, yeah, pretty. So I want to be clear about that. We're just saying put something that is actually you're making a profit and is $39. You know, it might be a bud vase, right? It might have a couple of flowers. It just needs to be priced appropriately. You still want to sell to someone that can only spin that. And let me also say the website is different than what you have in your cooler. That's something I hear a lot from people that know. That's the thing I get to talk to the number one customer a lot, the ones that know that pricing is important and profitability is important. And they'll say, Oh, I'll keep a $25 bud vase in my cooler, but I'm not, I'm not gonna deliver that. I'm not going to, you know, put that on the website, pay the transaction fee that I have to pay the website provider, and deliver it. I that's why I'm starting at $39.49. A lot of people will have a minimum on their website because of those things involved.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Well, our friend Andy just sent me a picture this week. It's three sunflowers and some foliage and some solid ego and it's like $39. And he said, This is a great seller for me. And I don't mind a $40 arrangement because I'm making good money on this. Yeah. And I think that's the key, is you got to price it out. And if it's a profitable $39 arrangement, go for it all day long. It's helping your conversion rate and it's giving that customer something that is more affordable, you know, in their price range, but you're making money. So that's the key. It's the profit, it's the margin that you have in that. Yeah, I totally agree. When you're talking to shops, both our Flower Click members and others who are potential members, is price something that they are worried about? Is it something they talk about? It is.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

And some of them, you know, salivate and love to see that our designs are priced correctly. And then some of them worry because they live in a lower income area. But here's what I tell them we can lower the prices on some of these. Like if your prices, if you can get your wholesale prices, and it's different across the country. So, you know, if you live in small town Oklahoma, like I do, your wholesaler might be closer, you might be able to get a better price. It just depends on all of those things. But they do worry about it sometimes. And I can just tell them, look, we'll put something on there that those customers can still buy. But that doesn't need to be all that you offer, you know. I have people say, I don't want to price out, you know, or I'll lose customers, or they'll think I'm too, you know, big for my pants or whatever you call it. Yeah, you know, those kinds of things. And I'm like, well, let's keep a couple of those low-end ones on there for those customers, but let's also add some others. And it's almost like because they've never offered it, they don't realize that there is a base out there that will buy those. And I'll have them kind of come back and go, you know, and their average order value always goes up. I can always get someone's average order value up. They're like, I just sold a hundred and fifty-nine dollar design. But before we took over, it wasn't offered. So they couldn't even sell it, you know, it wasn't even out there. I will say the thing that my members, once they join, they typically love it that our designs are unique. They're not like, you know, let's say you've got the same platform, the same website platform as your neighbor, you know, your your competitor five miles away, you know, they can really price shop that. They can see, you know, this design and then this design. They've got it for 89, they've got it for 59. Well, which one am I going to choose, right? Of course. With ours, we we have unique designs and we have a smaller customer base. So they can't necessarily price shop. So they love that. They love that. Even some of our designs we put in some of those, like you know, containers that are really popular, like the smile mug and those kinds of things that customers like, we'll put our own designs in them so it looks different, you know, and that really helps that price comparison. But what I find never goes away is typically dozen roses, because that even though I do think our dozen roses looks really nice, right? But that's such an easy thing to price shop. And so that's the one thing that I change the most. A new member comes on, they'll say, Okay, I want everything you have except make my dozen roses $89.99 or whatever, $99.99. And I'm like, okay, you know, and I don't, I don't scold them, I just give them a little, let's make sure that you're getting a good price on those, you know, your wholesaler. But that's the thing that I change the most.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, I can I can believe that. I can see because that's something that, you know, 12 roses and 12 roses, unless it looks so different in the design that that elevates that look. Because we see that at Valentine's Day, right? I mean, that's one of those things that if you have a customer who is a loyal customer and your roses are normally, you know, let's say $89. And at Valentine's Day, they go to $149 even. Let's say they really jump. That customer, if it's a loyal customer, is going to go, well, you know, it's supply and demand. These people have always done me right. I know that I'm going to go ahead and pay that. If it's just a shopper, just a casual shopper who only buys flowers at Valentine's Day or one time a year, then they're like, definitely look, oh my gosh, this is $149, this is $129. Oh, I'm just going to go with a lower price because they don't know your quality, they don't know your service. And so they're just going to be the price shoppers in that case. So that totally makes sense because dollar for dollar, they're just looking at 12 roses. It's just that we ask that each one of the shop owners look at the prices you're paying for those roses. And especially if it's like a free spirit or something in, you know, a lavender, if those are costing you more, bump them up on your website and let them buy the roses that are red that you have a better price on because you have a standing order or whatever the case is, so that you're still making a profit. I mean, I know I'm a broken record, Cammy, but it's all about profit and staying in business.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Staying in business. That's I have to say, one thing I've loved seeing this summer is some of our shops will get just a like a discount on roses one week, and they'll let me know. And we make them Elva, you know, I love Elva. Yes, sweetheart. I love Elva. She did, she got a really good deal on they were specific colors. It was like red, yellow, white, pink, you know, and she got a really good deal on them. And she said, just for this week only, if you would put those up on my website and put a banner that says special, summer special, hot, summer special, something like that. You know, I use some of Ellie's marketing tips, and we added a banner and we even gave a little slash through the price, you know, and she sold out of those roses, I'm pretty sure, because she didn't have me put them up the next week. But I love that you can do that sometimes. That's smart. You know, if you get a good deal from your wholesaler, then give it back to your customer, but it's gotta be thought through, right? You've got to actually get a good deal.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

It's gotta get exactly. Has to make financial sense for sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Make sense, yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yeah, and one thing when they were talking about prices, because we know that you have to really have your eye on that. I mean, we do that for our members, but if you're not a Flower Click member and you're there and you have all those prices, take the time to do it. Take off things on your website that you don't want to do or that the flower prices are so high right now you can't do them for a price that you think is something your customer's gonna pay for. So set yourself up for success, I think is number one. One thing I was reading, I thought was pretty smart, and we do this subconsciously. And it says, before you change the prices of all your products, it's useful to distinguish the role that certain product plays in your product assortment. That's kind of key value item. Think about how we price higher priced items for anniversary, especially anniversary and romance, birthdays, where oftentimes get well has a little bit lower of a price point. And so that really hit me because I'm like, oh my gosh, Cammy, we do that. It's that key value item, which the customer is going to pay a little bit more for, where others, it's like it's not quite as important of an occasion for the person to spend as much money. So the variance is always important, but I thought that was kind of cool. You know, so when everybody's looking at changing those prices, think about the value that is to the customer when they're sending those out for that special occasion. Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

And placement. So you mentioned the placement. We've always looked at that, right? We like to lead off with a certain price, you know, anywhere from 79 to 99, and then we'll put that 49 or 59 close to the top for that person, and then maybe a little over a hundred, like that. We call it merchandising internally, but I think of it like I'll tell the shop owner, you know how there's certain areas of your store that it seems like the customer just walks straight to, you know, and and whatever you set there sells, right? And they're always like, oh yeah, like they've got that high traffic area that if they put it there, it sells.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

It's a hot spot.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

We call it a hotspot. And we kind of do that on the website too, right? We we do, and that can definitely be done. I would also like to say you don't have to have all of that because I think we mentioned the the number two customer, which is the one that is overwhelmed. And they're they they know that their site is full of designs that aren't priced right and they're frustrated. I would say to that particular florist, you don't have to have as much on your site as is put up there.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

So a good starting point I always say is the homepage. I'm a broken record about the homepage. That's okay. You should you know, start with your homepage and then hide categories. And I'm using my words correctly there, don't deactivate them. Um, hide them is really the better term because you don't want a bunch of broken links on your website. And some of you might get overwhelmed that even you're like, I don't know the difference, you know. But usually if you know what you want, you can even, you know, email support or something, someone will help you somewhere, you know. But decide what do I want to hide? What categories do I not want? I don't need a full category for cattle lilies. I'm sorry, you don't, and you don't need a full category for tulips in August, okay? So go right and passionate. I'm impassioning you. That's okay. You should. It's okay. Make those things inactive, and then you can limit like start small and start with anniversary and birthday and get well and the categories that you know are going to be those high traffic areas and slim them down and get rid of products that you just don't even need.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Well, or that are super pricey at this point. I mean, that's why you always have to have your pulse on that. You know, it's like, well, remember when there was a white rose uh shortage, and we either took it off websites, we sent out messages to our members that, like, are you having problems getting them? We're increasing the price or taking them off. What do you want us to do? So it's like keeping the pulse of what's happening in the industry and in your area, because some areas weren't having a problem where others were like, oh my gosh, we can't do this. So always knowing. And we try to do that, Cammy, and you and your web team just react so quickly to make sure that each one of the members are taken care of, you know, with, like we say, white glove, right? It's like, take care of it and let's do it. But you're right, otherwise, email your support for your platform and try to get that taken care of because pricing is what keeps you alive, it's what keeps your store open, it's what keeps you paying your employees. And so that's why that's why we're covering this today, because it's that important.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Email their platform or email me and we can talk about how we can start taking care of it for them. I'm sorry, I I can't not pitch flower clay, Vonda. I don't know. I'm I've drank the Kool-Aid. I know what we do for them. And I'm like, maybe give me a call and we can see if it's a fit for you, you know, because that is something our members value too, is knowing it's taken care of for them, knowing that they don't have to constantly keep the pulse because we're doing it for them. That's a huge benefit.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Oh, it is. The flowershop owner has so much to do, and it's hard to find somebody with technology skills on a website to be able to do that. And so, yeah, you're you're right. We have to say we're experts at that, wouldn't you say? I would.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

And I think too, one of the biggest things our members loved is back when all those prices did go high, you know, in the industry. We were we were in there. Poor Vonda had to reprice all of her designs. And and then we fought it, it rolls downhill because then we had to change on the websites and then we had to change our recipes. Our members were like, oh, thank you. You know, we didn't just keep it what it was when we first came out with it in 2020. It's like, okay, this is an update as of 2021 fall because of all the changes.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Right. So yeah. So anybody who is interested, definitely reach out to Flower Click. Otherwise, our suggestion is limit the number of things on your website, know the prices of everything that's on there, make sure it's profitable, and don't let the fear of increasing the prices stop you. You know, you should be more fearful that the prices are too low and you don't have a profit margin and you go out of business. Then you should be fearful of raising those prices. So that's my advice, Cammy. What would you say?

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Well, and I I you know, sometimes I'm devil's advocate. I think they might be saying, but my competitor, but my competitor, you know, and that's what they're probably thinking right now. What do I do about that? And because they're selling XYZ for this, and it's I hear that a lot. So what would you say to that? I mean, I I I would say you've kind of covered it, but maybe I want you to cover it again. So, like, this is what we bring, and this is the value of my product.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

And yeah, I would say that make sure that you if you have the same platform provider, they have different images than what you have on your website. Limit what you have and maybe pick some different ones that aren't on the website right now. And that because that's what you mentioned at Flowerclick, that's what we do, right? We put on different images so that they can't compare side by side. But if you don't want to investigate FlowerClick and look at that, go through the library of images that your platform provider has and do not select the same ones that are on there that your competitor have, so that they can't look at this one and compare it, you know, side by side. So just have different images than what they have. That would be my suggestion, Cammy.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

Yeah. And if they if they happen to call in and say something, would does that ever happen? I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Uh I would guess it does. And sometimes, you know, your answer is of course, ours are a little bit higher because we use only the best quality flowers. And our arrangements we price out to be all the way around, where the prices that you're seeing from my competitor are priced out as a one-sided arrangement. I think those are a couple different things that you can use for, which are true, both of those would be, you know, value that you're giving to yourself and confidence you're giving to your customer.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Love it. I love that. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.