Growing your own flower shop for a profit? If you love flowers and you have a passion for creating beautiful flower arrangements to make people happy, then opening a florist shop is probably the best business for you. However, growing a flower shop is more than just handling fresh-cut flowers. There are important things that you need to manage and sustain to ensure profit. Learn these steps and know how to grow your floral shop for a profit:
· Develop a Complete Florist Business Plan
It is paramount for any flower business to start the journey with a complete florist business plan. From the location to the flower niche, to inventory, to marketing, to delivery, to website design, developing a business plan will help map out the business essentials. You will need to lay down answers to questions like how much will it cost to open and grow the business, who is the target market, what is the name of the florist shop in Singapore, and how many employees to hire. It is best to include future plans and solutions to problems that may arise while the business is already in operation. When you plan the business, give it some time and careful thinking and expect that planning will never be completed in just one sitting.
· Do Extensive Market Research
Market research is not only about who will likely be your customers but also about what products they will likely purchase. It is an advantage to do extensive market research to ensure the profit flower shop. You may need to think of suitable flowers for each occasion, celebration, or holiday, as well as the types of floral arrangements to offer for big events like weddings, birthdays, and corporate events. To make the florist business profitable, it is also necessary to do researches about seasonal flowers, factors that affect price, and markup n price.
· Know More about Your Competitors
Competition is an essential factor in a growing florist shop. In one way or another, you will need competitors to get more profit. Competitors include big and small flower shops in the community that sells retail flowers and wholesale flowers. In addition, there are florist shops operating online, and they are part of the competitors that you need to know if you want to earn more profit. Learn how they attract their customers, including their strong points and weak points. Try to find a way to meet the needs of their customers that they cannot provide.
· Make a Wise Decision about Having a Store
If the result of your market research shows that most of the potential customers prefer to shop flowers from a store, it will be profitable for your flower shop business to have a physical store. You may need to invest or hire a place where you can do your business, and it should be somewhere in the area where traffic is higher. On the other hand, if you find that customers prefer to do online flower shopping, you may want to invest in a fully accessible website. Selling flowers online can be done at the comfort of your house, but you will need a space to store, arrange, and maintain the flowers.
· Decide if You Will be A Full-time Florist or Hire One
If you want to be a full-time florist and manage your own flower stall, hiring another florist may not be necessary. But if you are operating a big flower shop, hiring some florists and staff is an advantage. This will allow you to handle different orders and respond to customers promptly. However, keep in mind that you have to be staff-smart. You can hire part-timers during peak season and schedule experienced designers depending on orders, instead of hiring them full-time.
· Provide Options for Delivery
Delivery of flowers is necessary if you want your flower shop on the profit side. Aside from express delivery and same-day delivery, it is a big plus for your bouquet business if you can cater to customers who want midnight or early morning delivery. But more than that, you have to make sure that your delivery team is reliable, professional, and courteous. It is important that the flowers arrive in the best condition at the expected time, or else the customers will go to other flower shops instead.
· Provide Safe and Secure Payment Methods
If you want to keep your customers, assure them of safety and security when it comes to payment methods. Whether you prefer to accept credit cards, bank deposits, debit cards, wire transfers, or cash on delivery, give your customers the assurance that personal bank details are confidential and secured. No matter how small or big the amount to pay, your customers deserve protection. Choose a secure e-commerce platform to meet this need.
· Maximize Your Florist Marketing
Give importance to marketing strategies if you want your floristry business to profit. When you employ efficient marketing strategies, you will not only attract more customers but will also engage them and educate them about your products, services, and customer care. If you have the budget, invest in your marketing techniques by hiring professionals. They can help you build a trustworthy brand image, increase brand awareness, and reach more customers. With such a wide audience and target market, it is beneficial for your flower bouquet shop to be present online through digital marketing.
Growing your flower shop for a profit may sound complicated but with the right moves and with the right people to support you, your profit is within your reach.
