N.C. Florists Consider Deceptive Telephone Use Problem

North Carolina florists met Tuesday to discuss the problem of deceptive telephone use by companies that pass themselves off as North Carolina florists. Billy Hardin, Jr., of Hardin's Wholesale Florist Supply of Liberty, N.C., state Sen. Janet Cowell of Wake County, N.C., SAF senior legislative representative Jeanne Little Ramsay and SAF's director of member services Dave Bowman led a panel discussion on the topic with members of the North Piedmont Florists Association at their meeting.

"This is a huge problem," says Jon Miller, president of the North Piedmont Florists Association and owner of Floral Dimensions in Durham, N.C. "We have to get florists together and make them feel that something can be done. They have to realize other people are doing it and there are things you can do." To date, 18 states have successfully enacted legislation to outlaw listings that misrepresent a business' location.

Ramsay advised the group to educate their legislators on the issue, drum up support with a grassroots lobbying campaign, and to contact key legislative committees as well as the governor's office and state attorney general.

Is this a problem in your state? Find out how you can help get legislation passed. Or contact Samm Malone at (800) 336-4743; smalone@safnow.org.

Floral Management covered several state-based efforts to get rid of deceptive listings in "Will the Real Local Florist Please Stand Up?" in September 2005.

--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org

 
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Give plants to co-workers, says Shape Magazine

Shape magazine's December issue has a tip that comes straight from SAF's 2003 Impact of Flowers and Plants on Workplace Productivity study with Texas A&M University. "Undecided what to give co-workers  this year?" reads a story promo on the cover.  "Add a dash of color  to their desks by buying each of them a houseplant. Studies show  that having a little green around the office enhances creativity and lowers stress levels."  The workplace research is a direct result of the SAF Fund for Nationwide Public Relations.

"This is another example of the evergreen value of our research studies and ongoing public relations campaigns," says Jennifer Sparks, vice president of marketing.

--Shelley Estersohn
sestersohn@safnow.org

 
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ProFlowers Hands Out $10 Coupons as part of Lawsuit Settlement

ProFlowers recently began e-mailing $10 "gift codes" to customers, as part of a proposed settlement to a class action lawsuit, which accuses the company of deceptive marketing. The lawsuit followed on the heels of similar legal action taken last year by FTD, which ProFlowers settled in August without admitting any wrongdoing.

The lawsuit was brought by Long Beach, Calif., law firm Westrup Klick LLP and the law offices of Allan A. Sigel PC, attorneys for lead plaintiff Theodore G. Phelps.

ProFlowers was charged with deceptive marketing for claiming its flowers are "fresher than traditional floral providers."

"We still believe that the lawsuit is without merit," ProFlowers spokeswoman Jen Carroll recently told the Denver Post newspaper. "We have a very innovative business model. We do have a seven-day freshness guarantee. We do go direct from the source. We do bypass middlemen."

Without admitting wrongdoing, ProFlowers will pay $250,000 in attorney fees and give the $10 coupons to customers who did business with the company between Oct. 4, 2001, and Oct. 26, 2006. The coupon can be used between Jan. 1, 2007 and June 30, 2007, but the company says the coupons cannot be used during blackout dates -- Valentine's Day, Easter or Mother's Day.

Coming up: Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman will rule on the settlement Dec. 20. 

--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org

 
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Helium Shortage May Affect Florists

As the holiday season approaches, a helium shortage may make filling balloon orders difficult for florists. "(Floral retailer) folks are the ones that have probably been hit the hardest," says Leslie Theiss, manager of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) field office in Amarillo, Texas.

According to Theiss, the helium supply shortage has been an issue for about three months, but Lynda Gervais, CBA, of Ann's Secret Garden in Bethany, Okla., says the shortage " didn't hit us until mid-October."

It's caused by the temporary shutdown of several international production sites. The Nov. 8 maintenance shutdown of the BLM's National Helium Reserve complex, located near Amarillo, may have also contributed to the shortage. Theiss says because of the shutdown the reserve is only producing at about two-thirds its capacity.

Gervais states that the shortage has been especially hard on Ann's Secret Garden, which does a lot of business in balloons. "Normally I would use six tanks of helium in a month," she says, "(now) I will be lucky if I get three." Gervais has begun to use nitrogen and air as substitutes in balloons that don't need to float. "I have had to adapt my design work, to not rely on helium," she says.

Many florists, however, have not had trouble getting helium. "It is not affecting us at all," says Betty Settles, of Bouquets & Etc by Betty in Houston, Texas.

Jan McDaniel, of Jan's Flowers & Gifts in Minco, Okla., says that while she hasn't had trouble getting helium, her supplier has. "My supplier wasn't able to get it from his larger supplier, so he went to a smaller one," she says.

Read more about the helium shortage.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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Wal-Mart to Open Fewer Stores

Starting in 2007, Wal-Mart plans to open fewer stores, according to news reports that followed a recent meeting the company held with its investors. The company plans to open between 305 to 330 U.S. stores beginning in February, compared to 340 last year.

Analysts say the slowdown is a move by Wal-Mart, which currently has 3,944 U.S. stores, to focus on improving sales and profitability at existing stores. The company said it plans to open between 265 to 270 new Supercenters, five to 10 discount stores, 15 to 20 Neighborhood Market grocery stores and 20 to 30 Sam's Club warehouse stores.

The Wall Street Journal noted that as Wal-Mart pushes into its "final frontiers" -- namely large cities, the Pacific Coast and the Northeast -- it is finding the costs of doing so higher and its sales weaker than in its traditional strongholds.

--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org

 
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Maryland Wholesaler Doubles Attendance at Show for Retail Florists

"What does it take to draw retailers to a wholesale show?" ask many wholesalers who've invested time and money in shows that only draw a handful of retailers. For Jacob Reiss and Jordan Amige, owners of Potomac Floral Wholesale, Inc. in Silver Spring, Md., it took a $25,000 investment. That budget allowed them to feature a celebrity designer, a mini growers and vendors exhibition, valuable giveaways, plenty of food and live music. It was enough to draw in more than 400 retailers from Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas to the program, double the crowd of 200 they attracted to their last show held about 18 months ago.

After the show, flowers were donated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Reiss attributes the success of this year's show to several factors, including a design competition and the draw of seeing internationally known designer Els Teunissen, who was partly sponsored by flower exporter Kontikiflor of the Netherlands and the Flower Council of Holland. Fifteen designers entered the design competition and Pat Florie of Rutland Beard Florist in Towson, Md., took home a $500 first-place award.

Reiss beefed up his marketing by sending out personal invites with response cards, advertising the show on his Web site and following up with phone calls to make sure it was on everyone's radar screen. "There was a lot of word-of-mouth," he says.
 
Also new to this year's show was a Q&A about floral financial management with Dave Crockett and Derrick Myers from Crockett, Myers and Associates in Baltimore, 14 vendors and growers displaying their products, plus a high-ticket drawing: a $1,000 gift certificate good at any Hyatt Regency Spa Resort. Each attendee also received a $100 gift certificate to spend at Potomac Floral.

"I wanted the show to be fun," says Reiss, who holds the open houses as a "thank you" to his customers. Does subsidizing that fun pay off in more business from his customers? "I think it does a few things," he says, "For the people we've dealt with for years (he's been in business since 1998) they get to see the variety (of product available) and share information with their peers. For newcomers, they get to see what we're about. It's a link between the growers and the customers."

Do you attend local wholesale shows? Weigh in on this week's e-poll.

Tell us about your favorite wholesaler and the memorable events they hold for their retailer customers -- e-mail mbarton@safnow.org.

See more photos of the event.

--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org

 
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Bronx Flower Shop Turns 100

"Commitment, perseverance, and a willingness to go that extra mile, " is what Gregory Chugranis attributes his family's ability to kept Olympia-Hearns Flower Shop, located in the Bronx, N.Y., going for a century. The business celebrated its 100th anniversary in March, and it's still going strong.

Chugranis' grandfather (also named Gregory) and three brothers, all of whom immigrated to New York from Greece, opened the store in 1906. Gregory (Sr.)'s son, Louis, took over in 1929. Gregory and his brother Nicholas (Louis' sons) now run the third-generation business.  "My brother and I have been in the flower shop almost since the day we were born," says Chugranis, "It got into our blood."

Keeping a retail florist operation going for a century isn't easy. Especially, says Chugranis, since retail florists are now forced to compete with much larger operations, such as Costco and grocery store chains. "Today it seems like everyone is selling flowers ... (they) have become a commodity, like a can of beans," he says.

Chugranis attributes his store's success in the face of this competition to its quality of service. "We treat our customers as our friends," says Chugranis, "I need the customers more than the customers need me, you have to always keep that in mind."

Is your business more than 100 years old? Let SAF know, so we can count you among the 2007 recipients of SAF's Century Award, given during SAF Palm Springs 2007, the 123rd Annual Convention. For more information contact Debi Aker -- daker@safnow.org. Applications will be accepted until Feb. 1, 2007.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

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Minimum Wage Update and Feedback

Victorious Democrats in Congress say a top priority is increasing the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour (unchanged since 1997) to $7.25 an hour. The passage of six minimum-wage ballot measures in elections last week (in Ohio, Missouri, Colorado, Arizona, Montana and Nevada) adds momentum to the effort, news analysts say.

Last week's E-Brief garnered response from these readers:

Tony Thonnerieux, AAF, Ward's Flowers & Gifts, Newton, N.J.

Justin Marotta, AAF, owner of Possum Run Greenhouse & Gifts in Bellville, Ohio, where voters said "yes" to a hike in the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85.

Lori Wheat, Lafayette Florist in Lafayette, Colo., where the minimum wage went up 52.7 percent, to $6.85

Read what they had to say.

--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org

 
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'No-Swipe,' No Security?

A new generation of credit cards may be fast and convenient, but at least one group is claiming the cards aren't secure. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, recently tested 20 "no-swipe" credit cards, whose data is transmitted via radio waves without need of a signature or swiping through a machine, and found security loopholes, according to The New York Times.

Despite claims to the contrary from Visa, MasterCard and American Express, The New York Times article says "researchers... found that the cardholder's name and other data was being transmitted without encryption and in plain text. They could skim and store the information from a card with a device the size of a couple of paperback books, which they cobbled together from readily available computer and radio components for $150. They say they could probably make another one even smaller and cheaper: about the size of a pack of gum for less than $50."

That shortcoming is significant: "Would you be comfortable wearing your name, your credit card number and your card expiration date on your T-shirt?" Tom Heydt-Benjamin, a graduate student working on the research, asked the Times reporter.

Millions of swipe-free cards have been issued the United States, and national companies, including CVS pharmacies and McDonald's, have begun to install the equipment to read the cards.

Credit card company representatives told the Times the research overstates the risk of abuse in the real world, adding that ongoing efforts to protect data and detect fraud within the payment system protect consumers and businesses.

"This is an interesting technical exercise," Brian Triplett, senior vice president for emerging-product development for Visa, said to the Times, "but as a real threat to a consumer -- that threat really doesn't exist."

Read the full story.

E-Brief first reported on the no-swipe technology in June 2005.

--Mary Westbrook
mary.westbrook@gmail.com

 
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Product Spotlight: MagnetMail

Looking for an easy way to market and send news to customers? SAF has the answer with MagnetMail. To send a professional-looking promotional e-mail or newsletter, insert the text into the pre-installed template, load up customers' e-mail addresses, and click "send." The message will be dispatched and tracked immediately.
 
Don't have time to create new content? Use SAF's new online library of news articles and photographs, which can be easily inserted.

SAF has also negotiated deep discount member rates on this professional e-marketing tool. 

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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The Talk on the Forums: POS and Floral Training

Dozens of members are asking questions and seeking ideas from floral industry peers on SAF's online forums.

One retailer is wondering about the pros and cons of the various point of sale (POS) systems used in the industry. Got an opinion on that? Share it with your peers by posting it online.
 
Another member is looking for a floral design course for a new employee that is reasonably priced, and lasts no longer than two weeks.

Read more about this discussion.

Speaking of training employees, visit SAF's Online Learning Center and find out about the Train Now program.

Also on the forums:
Blogging policies
Buying flowers direct

Start your own discussion.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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Seasonal Staff Numbers Remain the Same

About 65 percent of readers who responded to last week's e-poll said they will hire about the same amount of staff for the December 2006 holidays as they did in 2005. Twenty-one percent say they are hiring more seasonal staff this year, and about eight percent say they are hiring less. About six percent responded that this question is not applicable to them.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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Delivery or Carry Out?

Source: Ipsos-Insight FloralTrends Consumer Tracking Study, 2005

--Ira Silvergleit
isilvergleit@safnow.org

 
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