Thursday, September 07, 2006

Unique Gift Ideas from a Florist

We all know that very few retail businesses stick to their basic product lines throughout their lifetime. As things fall into and out of fashion, and new technology becomes embedded in our culture, the meaning attached to traditional gifts such as flowers changes. Often more literal gestures are preferred by shoppers over symbolic ones, and with the obsession over uniqueness, everyone wants to give a gift that isn’t just a formula from a giant like Wal-Mart.

Flowers, which have always been a popular way to convey a personal message, can only go so far. In order to keep up with the changing traditions of gift-giving and to add a whole new dimension to sending flowers to someone special, we have created the Floragramme section in our website. One of the most important ideas behind the Floragramme is giving our customers a unique way to send their message to a loved one. We began by offering unusual and unique gifts such as a delivery of Montreal magazines and tabloids in a pizza box, or art from Quebec accompanied by a flower of the day, and our Floragramme greeting. The Floragramme greeting was in this instance the main messenger, with plenty of space for our customers to write a long and personal message.

More recently we have embarked on a far more personal and fun way to send a message to someone. We realized, one of the most impressive ways to send a message is through personalization. It helps that on this age, with ubiquitous digital cameras, everyone wants their image on something. Out sprang our custom t-shirts and custom mugs & cups section, where we offer to print digital images from our customers onto a t-shirt or a mug. A customer continues to get a flower of the day or another product accompanying it and he or she can still include a Floragramme greeting. However, the better part of the message is conveyed through the personal images and text customers send to us for printing. Through the continually evolving technology of dye sublimation we can now get a colorful custom mug printed and delivered to someone in Montreal. And couple of processes involving heat transfer allows us to imprint t-shirts with personal images and messages. We’ve even had a marriage proposal made through a custom t-shirt! Now, instead of a simple card, a customer has a visual image to greet their loved one.

One might ask why we are doing this when something similar is offered through behemoths like Wal-Mart. Our answer is simple, we’ll stop doing this and more if Wal-Mart begins delivering flowers. The personal service that is possible through The Flower Pot is not possible in Wal-Mart. Our approach is far more friendly than the “do-it-yourself” approach of such giants.

I encourage you, our blog reader, to visit our Floragramme section to take a look at our products and tell us what you think of them. Can you think of other ways to reach out to our clients? What other ways can someone convey their messages? Do you think we’re a little crazy? What do you, as a potential customer, think of a florist that offers more than just good old flowers?

Floragramme here I come!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Noor you are really good and convincing. I love the picture of the dog in his cute t-shirt.
Keep it up.

Christian Wagner said...

Hey,

look at the beyondblossoms flower bog. their are nice ideas for flower gifts. The adress is www.beyondblossoms.com/blog

Bye, Chris