Teleflora Sues From You Flowers

kt4ye said:
..............What I think is going on is a squeeze play to see if BN can put TF out of business, or force a sale or merger.................But what do I know! Bill
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I agree, I think there's a major squeeze play going on or FU will gobble BN up.
 
From You will never buy 800Flowers... maybe the other way around, but most likely, FU will get into 800F for a bunch of cash over the "holiday stretch" and then 800F will be forced to take the websites in lieu of payment...

Teleflora, **could** save themselves, if they really chose to Save-the-Florists... I'd be happy to help them down the right path, as would others... but alas they are too short sighted to see the train coming at them...
 
This is all interesting, however the truth is that none of us really know the details yet, we will just have to wait.

I for one never understood the logic of 1-800 starting Bloomnet to get into the wire service industry. An industry that has been essentially consolidating and shrinking for the last decade or two, and which is mostly dominated by two well established players (one who has a very well recognized brand). Even harder to understand is the fact that the model 1-800 launched was virtually a duplicate model of their competitors, nothing better or innovative. All of this at a time when order sending was being done more and more by a smaller group of companies, a group that was leveraging their positions for higher rebates.

From where I sit I always felt 1-800 would have been far better off to open order fulfilling shops in major centers to fill their orders and offload orders for small centers to one of the two existing wire services (whichever rebated better).

Quite frankly as a group us flower retailers are too demanding a bunch when it comes to wire services.

I guess like they say, the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.
 
Doug Munro said:
I guess like they say, the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.
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the deeper the shyt, the better the green looks (on the other side of the fence)
 
Mark said:
From You will never buy 800Flowers... maybe the other way around, but most likely, FU will get into 800F for a bunch of cash over the "holiday stretch" and then 800F will be forced to take the websites in lieu of payment.......
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Ok, but when you look at corp. "sell factors" that make companies sell, (declining revenues, raising fees, membership slumps, weeding outs, closing facilities, quotas rasied so high they can't be met, etc.) are all signs of a sell. BN has all of the above staring at them and us. I think 1800 will have no choice but to sell "their network" BN to save themselves from the big "B"...........I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm not a spoon either and the last 2 quarters that I lestened to said "we're broke and it ain't gett'in better"....................not in those words. I was really impressed (not) that they can't even give projections, because if they did, it would scare the "hell" out of the investors........2011 going to interesting
 
1-800 releases their numbers tomorrow morning... and word on the street is they had a very good holiday season.

They needed their own WS to better control order flow - and to pay less in fees to competitors. Remember when TF orders also flowed through Merc? IIRC they had to pay millions to FTD just to allow their orders to travel through that system.

BMT is profitable for the company so don't look for them to shed it anytime soon.

They may well lose money on the rebates paid to FU, but they can always raise fees to the filling florists - and more incoming orders usually prevents florists from quitting a WS.
 
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CHR said:
They may well lose money on the rebates paid to FU, but they can always raise fees to the filling florists - and more incoming orders usually prevents florists from quitting a WS.
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Weird but true.

Also, Bloomnet has gone huge on selling all of the other things to their members such as websites, containers, and the like. FU , (God, that makes me chuckle) was exactly what BN needed to up their volume flowing to filler florists.

And don't forget, BN has started hosting shows and classes. They are completely emulating the other two, except that they also own a huge part of the manufacturing side of many of the add-on gifts they tout. Six months ago, I said they would be the first one to fail, now I'm not so sure.
 
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One thing still needs to be addressed..... Sameday fulfillment for ProFlowers used to run thru From You Flowers > Teleflora will that happen also with BMT / 1800 Flowers.
 
KERI LUSSIER said:
I have not seen an order from From You Flowers through Teleflora in a while. Also, beware of From You Flowers orders through bloomnet. They are undercutting prices on everything!
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yet they continue to have members "willingly" fill those orders......I MUST bang my head against the wall again!!:wallhead:
 
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You know Mikey I am starting to feel the same way...I went to a floral convention this weekend and listen to countless florists complain about the ogs and fu and tf.com and ftd.com...When I asked them if they were actively filling for them, and the answer was a profound yes..I asked why?...all I got were blank stares...then some would say because if I don't someone else will(this one I understand to a certain extent), other think they have to, others had no answer...

I don't get it..if you know they are shorting you, if you know they are not making you money, if you know they are a bigger hassle and more work because of complaint ratio, why in the heck fill them?? and if you don't know the answer to that, why complain...

I am really not too sure that many florists even realize that there is an option of not being a member..I do realize that some are tied to them due to pos...but I just wonder how many florists just think they have to be members and must fill everything that comes across their dove under any and all circumstances...
 
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KERI LUSSIER said:
I have not seen an order from From You Flowers through Teleflora in a while. Also, beware of From You Flowers orders through bloomnet. They are undercutting prices on everything!
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Some of those member florists are not paying attention and they just fill the order. But if we spread the word amongst ourselves, the more of us that stand up to them and call them on it and stop filling their orders, the quicker they will cut the crap. Theoretically speaking, anyway...
 
that is true, but in this changing economic climate, wire services and order gatherers are stealing alot of our local direct business. The days of the family florist are fading fast. Wire service memberdhip CAN be profitable IF it is done correctly. I keep kicking myself because I get bamboozled into taking part in some special on directory advertising and then I forget to cancel it and then my directory fees are eating into my check. Also, reciprocity charges are ridiculous although can be waived if you can prove that you send the majority of your wire orders through them. Not to mention, it is such a crock that they charge a reciprocity fee considdering how many orders they are taking directly and cutting us out of the middle through their own websites. Again, the name of the game is following recipes/ checking recipes to make sure they are in line with what you are paying for the flowers, checking your statement every month very carefully, and learning to say NO to the extra stuff that in the long run just costs you lots of money.
 
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