theredrosesociety Intro

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theredrosesociety

theredrosesociety

Member
May 18, 2008
49
14
8
Lowestoft
www.trrs.org
State / Prov
Suffolk
- How long have you been in business?

Since Valentines Day on 1999

- Do you have any formal floral education?

Nope :(


- What do you hope to gain from membership?

I hope to gain a insight into the US market

- What do you feel you can contribute to the community?

A good old british stiff upper lip!!!

- Do you operate from a commercial building or your residence?

We operate from our own florist and balloon shop with over 2000 sq ft of additional space!
 
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Hello!

I see that balloons are a part of your business. What proportion of your business is balloon sales? What is your favorite balloon event that you have designed? Has the price of helium been detrimental to your overall sales? So many questions...I don't know that many people who chase balloon business so I am very curious :balsmile:
 
Hello from The Red Rose Society

Hi America....

Hope you don't mind us subscribing to your forum, we like to keep upto date with all the goings on in the world of floristry and this forum seems to be the place to do just that, especially in the US!

We run a growing number of websites including interrose.co.uk, interballoon.com and interpetal.com with more arriving soon, we have been selling online since 2002, but have since 1999 been sending virtual roses via virtualroses.co.uk.

We today operate from our very own florist and balloon shop in Lowestoft, Suffolk! (The Most Easterly Town in the whole of the UK)

Thanks for reading and believe in a thing called Love :)
 
Hi Barb, You are my very first american i have spoken to. Thankyou so much for that, you will always hold a special place in my heart :)

As far as balloons go i highly recommend them, in our shop they really go down well, we have found all people really want is a three balloon bouquet and mayber the odd archway. All easy peasy.

Online however InterBalloon.com has been very good, although google ad words eat up most of the profit.

Hope this helps
 
Contribute to the community?

In my first introduction post I answered the following question rather flippently :-

What do you feel you can contribute to the community?

My answer was "A good old british stiff upper lip"

That is still true of course, but i wish to expand on what i feel are my qualifications for joining your forum.

Firstly I have a passion for roses that is second to none, i have made it my proffesion as well as my pastime.

I even worked for the royal national rose society http://www.rnrs.org for a time and have been selling roses online since 2002 with plenty of ups and quite a few downs along the way!

I am always thinking of new offerings including such things as www.name-a-rose.com.

I also have started from scratch my own florist shop (in my home town), boy was that a learning curve!!!

What else... Argggghhh I realize as a flower in a box operator (http://www.interrose.co.uk) you probably all hate me already. But if it was'nt me it would have been someone else, and i think whoever that would have been would not believe in a thing called love and a thing called floristry as much as me :)

Anyway fingers crossed you see beyond the flowers in a box operator that i have become and let in the rose loving florist i always wanted to be :)
 
I'm a wee bit confused. I read the other thread where you had substantially more information about you and your history. Are you still operating your shop in your home town or are you strictly an on-line presense sending flowers in boxes?

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

V
 
Hi V,

Sorry about this, i seem to have two introductory threads open at the same time... I am a typical :newbie

To answer your question i do run a florist shop in my home town, we started it 3 years ago!

It is in a run down down part of town and without the internet i am guessing but we wouldnt survive!

Thanks for your time!
 
I appreciate the reply. So please explain how you operate the internet side of the business.

V
 
My feelings on boxed based businesses and what they do to florists is well known Why should I vote for you. In American speak, just because you have a florist shop doesn't make it right ... it means you're a Deceptive Order Gatherer instead.

I like your copy style but at the moment that isn't enough to convince me you are right for a forum like this (or indeed floristsnews) How say you?

Carrie
 
Dear Victoria,

Its very simple really, the internet side of the business is operated and controlled totally in house, every order is processed and hand made by one of our florists before being packaged and despatched!

As we do it all ourselves (including the website design) we are able to offer a really bespoke service (offering unusual rose varieties ie blue roses and happy roses etc) that you won't find in any other internet flower delivery retailer.

Basically the internet site came first and the florist shop 2nd, I would like to say it was all part of the plan, but to be honest, when i first started out i didnt have one. I only new i wanted to sell roses.

And here i am some 9 years later doing just that and a lot more besides!!!! :spin

P.S i love these smilie icons!!!!
 
Carrington said:
My feelings on boxed based businesses and what they do to florists is well known Why should I vote for you. In American speak, just because you have a florist shop doesn't make it right ... it means you're a Deceptive Order Gatherer instead.

I like your copy style but at the moment that isn't enough to convince me you are right for a forum like this (or indeed floristsnews) How say you?

Carrie
Click to expand...

Dear Caroline,

Totally understand your feelings, however i do not feel like a flower in a box operator that is putting florists out of business up and down the land, i feel like a florist who just happens to have a bloody good website and is battling to survive in a very competitive market place!

On top of that The Red Rose Society has a few ideas of it's own that i feel florists both sides of the atlantic would benifit from hearing first!!!!

So please vote me in, here are some flowers for you....:bouquet2:
 
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So, if as a consumer, I need flowers sent to my Aunt in Birmingham, and I was directed by google or another search engine to your shop, which isn't anywhere near Birmingham, you would fill the order, put it in a box and then ship it out... is that the general idea?

Thanks for your response.

V
 
Dear Victoria,

Yep, thats pretty much it, we are not a member of any relay service so every order we receive is despatched direct from our little florist shop in the lovely seaside town of Lowestoft.

Please note we have only recently added flowers to our range, up until last 2007 we were only delivering roses (and mistletoe at christmas) throughout the UK.

Kindest Regards

Nick
 
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Hmmm

theredrosesociety said:
Dear Caroline,

Totally understand your feelings, however i do not feel like a flower in a box operator that is putting florists out of business up and down the land, i feel like a florist who just happens to have a bloody good website and is battling to survive in a very competitive market place!

On top of that The Red Rose Society has a few ideas of it's own that i feel florists both sides of the atlantic would benifit from hearing first!!!!

So please vote me in, here are some flowers for you....:bouquet2:
Click to expand...

You obviously have web skills but my dilemma is that the delivery you make to Birmingham (as said to Victoria) negates it going through a florist shop in Birmingham who is trying to cover rent rates et al and needs every order they can get as well.

It is competitive but surely you see where I am coming from. What would you feel like if no one ordered flowers from your shop because they could get a box of flowers delivered instead.

Carrie
 
Well... this is a conundrum, because to be honest I have a real issue with what you do.

I am completely against "boxed" flowers from Pro Flowers and the like over here... so why would I support what you do? That is the dilema.

When my friend's father died last year I worked with Zoe (a member here from the UK) to make sure a local florist received the order. That's how I work and how I prefer to work.

But the general consumer doesn't know what I know and will be tricked into thinking they are sending flowers from Birmingham to Birmingham... that's just not right to me.

V
 
I've had the night to think about this and I cannot support your way of doing business. So, I vote no.

V
 
Dear Caroline and Victoria,

Alas i can see my reputation is slipping :(!!!

I totally understand both your previous posts and feel sorry for the florist in birmingham, but that is the fault of the internet and the ever changing way people are ordering flowers and not mine. I should be applauded that out of all the choices the customer had they choose me, a real working florist, rather than a huge corporate flower in a box operator!

I am not asking you to support what i do, i realize first hand that local florists are struggling and "flowers in a box" operators are just one of the reasons why but i think you could give me and my ideas a chance and see what i have to say before banishing me to the wildeness forever!

Kindest Regards

Nick
 
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Yes Nick, it is a cut throat world and business. However, I choose to not be a part of that.

You may not be a "huge corporate flower in a box operator" but you are an operator and that's what concerns me. My vote remains the same.


V
 
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Hello and thank you for your application,

I have three questions:

What is the website url?

Do your customers know they are getting flowers in a box from what they read or see on your web page or are they unaware because of what they read or see, because all they see are beautiful flower arrangements?

Do your customers know the address where your business is located or is that hidden?
 
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