There are two ways to make more money in your business. The first way is to sell more flowers, the second way is to control your business costs. If you can do both then you’ll have hit the sweet spot but as any business owner is well aware, it’s easier said than done. Customers are hard to corral and simply keeping the lights on, the flowers chilled and the orders going out takes every hour of the day.
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There are many new forms of technology you can try in your shop to make it more efficient with just the push of a few buttons.
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There are two ways to make more money in your business. The first way
is to sell more flowers, the second way is to control your business
costs. If you can do both then you’ll have hit the sweet spot but as
any business owner is well aware, it’s easier said than done. Customers
are hard to corral and simply keeping the lights on, the flowers
chilled and the orders going out takes every hour of the day. You’ve
likely heard of technological breakthroughs that could make your
business more efficient but you may have figured that they were too
difficult and expensive to implement. It may surprise you to discover
that technology is retailing’s best friend and today’s tools are easy
to use, cost effective and extremely beneficial. It’s easier than you
think.
If we examine the top end of the growth equation first then it’s all about increasing sales. Any retail Information Technology (IT) strategy needs to support the business’s goal to improve footfall into the store and to effectively convert shoppers into buyers. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a genie to tap your customers on the shoulder with offers that make them want to come to your store? Ask and you shall receive. RYCOM are the owners and operators of Canada’s largest payment transaction network and they are currently preparing to pilot a technology called Hip Mobile that allows retailers to send specific offers and notices directly to the smartphones of customers. It’s pretty simple, the customer signs up for communities of retailers that interest them and if they’re in proximity of your store, a message is automatically triggered to let them know that (for instance) roses are on sale for the next three hours. Your customer is delighted to receive a limited time offer and the florist gets to clear out some inventory that otherwise might be a writeoff. It’s the classic win/win.
Dragonfly Flowers in Winnipeg is leveraging technology to make the ordering process even easier for customers with a wizard on their website that gathers additional information about the recipient to allow more customization. The company believes that one of the things missing from the site was the ability to duplicate that personal exchange of information about the order. The wizard asks about the occasion, the style, the price range, and has a comment section for additional nuggets to help make the order more personal. The florist also updates a blog regularly to notify customers as to what’s new in the shop or to remind them of special occasions. “About five per cent of our sales are through the Internet,” shares Duane McLennan of Dragonfly Flowers. “The blog seems to be one of the more effective technology-based tools in terms of generating sales. We’re diligent about ensuring that a link to our website goes on everything we send out electronically. If our e-newsletter talks about roses, then we make sure the link takes the reader right to the rose page on our website,” says McLennan.
While much has been written about the ability of technology to market to your customer, less examined is the flip side of this equation – your operations. Retail technology innovations allow us to control our costs by increasing response time and accuracy and minimizing spoilage. Your delivery trucks are “mobile assets” and as the costs for fuel and repairs continue to escalate, every kilometre counts! If your delivery fleet is small then a simple GPS (Global Positioning System) unit will allow your drivers to locate recipients quickly and accurately. They’ll also help you to estimate time of arrival more closely and to keep a record of distances for deliveries. For fleets with a number of vehicles, GPS tracking systems can actually allow deliveries, vehicle speeds and positioning to be monitored from a central location. Some insurance companies are offering discounts to those individuals and companies who allow the information from their GPS units to be used to confirm mileage and positioning as a theft deterrent.
Operational efficiency also extends to the amount of rework your processes require. A corporate efficiency expert once pointed out to me that the team of employees at our company processing customer bill-backs was actually engaged in “rework.” It’s a production term often used when something needs to be scrapped because it’s out of spec and mixed back into the bigger batch to be processed again. Double handling means lower profitability. Do it right the first time and you’ll be golden. If your staff must take invoices and order forms and then key them into an accounting system – that’s double handling. Many large companies have implemented systems that integrate their entire business process from raw material to shipped order. If you thought such systems weren’t an option for you because your business was too small to warrant it, think again. “Our eBridge system links with 37 different accounting packages,” points out Dave Malda, sales and marketing manager of eBridge Software. “The eBridge software allows the online store and POS system to be linked to the accounting package so staff doesn’t have to re-enter orders. Those people can be deployed onto more important activities and errors are reduced,” says Malda. A tool like eBridge can update the website automatically as online orders are placed based on inventory levels. Customer service is enhanced because it’s clear as to what’s available or out of stock and often the shipping status can be tracked too.
If you’ve ever walked into your shop to be welcomed by a broken cooler filled with wilting inventory then a monitoring service may just be worth its weight in gold. For a small monthly fee, RYCOM offers a monitoring service that can notify you if the chiller has failed during the night. This same service can monitor your website and POS system as well. It simply connects to the Internet to transmit your equipments’ status back to a central location that’s monitored 24/7. For businesses without a strong Internet connection, the monitoring can still be done via a cellular device that can be installed for a couple of hundred dollars. The service can even tell you if your front door has been left open. A downed website can’t take orders and a cooler of ruined flowers could be a big deal if there’s a big wedding or event at stake so these services also enhance your brand reputation within your market.
We’re not supposed to be slaves to technology. The technology is there to serve us. Don’t shy away from it because you’re not an expert yourself or you think it’ll be too expensive. These companies specialize in small and medium sized businesses and they have the support to help you navigate the quagmire. Get informed,get the costs and you may be pleasantly surprised to find that it’s the perfect time for you to get plugged in.
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