Net commenced to gain wide foothold in Toronto and Canada in about 1997. Its arrival caused lots of media writers to make wide predictions about its future and transformation of shopping styles that the Net was about to make. As most academics are concerned, they wrote about efficiencies leading to better pricing for consumers. Predictions analyzed several retail sectors and look for the ones that should be affected faster than others. The writers predicted doom and gloom to those retailers not willing to adapt fast to the new shopping orders being established by consumers and businesses, by shopping on the Net.
Gift and florists retailers in Toronto were deemed to be pioneers of the change. Lots of enthusiastic Toronto florists jumped on the bandwagon of the change and looked for ways to establish a quick presence on the Net. Majority of florists did not know, what they were doing. What was the right thing to do? Many florists were scared to a hasty action by listening to the predictions and web designers canvassing Toronto florists for the sake of getting their business, while using scare tactics. Many design companies were pointing to the facts, how flower delivery business has been already shaped by large organizations, using central processing, a national 1-800 number and large advertising budget. These florists’ national organizations provided convenience to the consumers and advantages of sending flowers to the loved ones, anywhere in the world. If you do not join the Internet, you are taking a chance as Toronto florist being left behind, just to handle smaller and smaller sizes of the florists’ pie.
Stakeholders in new orders were cultivating image of impending mass exodus of shoppers to the Net. The traditional retail sector with flowers would shrink and only small pie will remain for in-person, and on the street shopping. The arguments that web design companies were presenting were convincing and many florists signed up in order to avoid missing the boat to the future.
Shopping on the Net means a shopping from a photo accompanied by a product description. Online shopping was explained to be done in a fully robotic way, with no live person from the merchant side involved. This kind of shopping means great convenience for the consumers since there is no need to go out, but shop from the home or office 24/7 and pay online with your credit card in a secure manner.
This was an outline and plan for Toronto florists, to do a business on the net. How does it compare with real practice and knowledge gained through the years, up till now, by local Toronto florists? No doubts that migration to the net to shop for gifts and flowers online has been a major one. Many shoppers gained their confidence to shop online, only over time. More people were getting lower priced computers and creating new markets. Some brick and mortar store retailers transformed themselves to the new online retail flower merchants. They vacated their old retail locations and moved to the new lower-rent business locations. Some Toronto florists retained their traditional business and added a website. First floral web sites were brochures-online types, only later came the automated shopping baskets with credit cards processing. Many florist doing business online prefer a secure transmission of credit card information and to be processed manually from the store.
The final flowers and gifts prices have to be readjusted many times due to several reasons. Substitutions since every florist in Toronto reserves the right to substitute by a similar product. Redeliveries due to insufficient information provided by the online purchasers are usually also charged extra.
Florists in Toronto have recognized that doing floral business online provides some rude awakening from earlier expectations they held on the web. The first expectations were fostered by the web designers and proved to be a great fallacy. Once you pay the design for your website, you just have an inexpensive hosting to pay monthly, but you can enjoy a free ride on the web. Many florists ordered their new websites thinking that they have a right to free traffic on the web. This misconception was quickly put to the rest as more Toronto floral retailers have realized in a hard way that gaining valuable traffic on the web is a proposition as much expensive, as having prime retail location on a busy street. One set of new costs has replaced old and traditional costs being associated with prime real estate in Toronto.
For web traffic, florists have to pay one way or the other. It is a quite expensive proposition to have your website optimized to appear on the first search page of Google, under several relevant keywords. In order to benefit from an online searches and traffic, you have to be included in the first three natural search results. The impact of being placed under top three is felt by the far fewer numbers of orders being received.
Ad Words or pay-per-click are additional promotional programs and it can be an expensive alternative. Participation in the program should be left to the expert who will charge a monthly management fee.Unless you have a plenty of time, it is better to leave pay-per-click to the expert. You have to compete with other florists for the top position on sponsored search results, driving the price for your keywords up. Since seven of ten searchers prefers to click to the natural search results, rather than a sponsored searches, it is better to pay to have your web site fully optimized. Your monthly costs of harnessing the traffic to your web site might be equivalent to the monthly price to pay for a prime location around Yonge and Bloor.
To have a fully functioning automated website does not necessary mean that you do not need any customers’ service to service purchasers online. In the age Web shopping, live customers’ service is still expected. Web shoppers will order online with an automated shopping basket, but still expect a personal service on demand.
Not having a phone number or business address listed on your web site means cutting down the chances of receiving orders. Internet shoppers in Toronto are looking for a local Toronto florist with web prices in Canadian dollars. They would like to talk to a knowledgeable person regarding their orders. Internet shoppers prefer avoiding brokers who are just generating orders online to be sold to other retail florists. More people in the business chain, the higher chances of something going wrong with their order. People are sending emotions with their flowers and gifts to their loved ones and look for assurances. A successful online florist in Toronto has to keep customer service line open minimum of 12 hours per day and the lines to be manned by personnel skilled in customer service and product knowledge.
Above are just few observations based on real experience of doing business as a florist in Toronto. Starting with a well established store in a traditional way and changing in scope to generate a bigger part of business coming from online.
Are you a Toronto flower delivery shop looking for online promotion? Check out the Toronto flowers online directory, that has a separate section for Florists Delivery.