Flowers take up a big place in people’s lives. They help us convey our messages in the best way with their beauty and colors. We wish our sick friends and family members a speedy recovery, send congratulatory messages to a colleague who has been promoted, offer our condolences to a tearful family, and tell someone we love them. We celebrate or commemorate many events like these with flowers. In this article, altitudementor.com will discuss the 18 Ideas for opening a profitable flower shop.
In fact, there is no need for anything to happen anymore. Recent trends reveal that a majority of those who buy flowers buy the flowers for themselves. Customer tracking studies conducted by major organizations show that 67% of people buy flowers for themselves, while 33% buy them as gifts.
It’s not for nothing that floristry has become such a big business. Ornamental plant production and trade is developing rapidly in India. It is estimated that India’s ornamental plants transaction volume is around 600 million dollars, and 100-150 million dollars of this volume is imports. Exports are thought to be around 4-5 million dollars if cut flowers are excluded.
If you are skilled in floral design, have strong human relations, and have an entrepreneurial mind, opening a flower shop can be a great idea.
18 Ideas For Opening A Profitable Flower Shop
1. Loving flowers is not enough.
If you want to open a flower shop, we can assume that you love flowers. However, apart from loving flowers, it is also vital to be detail-oriented and creative. Considering that you will be designing the bouquets with your hands, it would not be bad to have some manual dexterity.
However, a florist has to take care of the customers as well as the flowers. Being comfortable and skilled in communicating with people is essential to ensuring customer satisfaction.
You race against time at events such as weddings, funerals, and Valentine’s Day. For this reason, you should use your practical intelligence and be able to work under stress.
2. You must gain experience in the flower business.
There are many courses and trainings on floristry. You can attend these courses or consider working for a florist to gain knowledge and experience.
Working in a flower shop can be a great idea to gain the skills needed for this job. Because you will learn first-hand how things work in a flower shop and the ways to communicate with customers. Also, such a thing would be less costly than going to flower courses. In the flower course, you are not taught how to communicate with customers or how to work under stress. You can only learn such things by experiencing them yourself. Someone working in the industry has much more experience than a trainer. Therefore, a person who owns a flower shop can teach you more.
3. Consider the pros and cons of opening a flower shop.
If you want to open a flower shop, remember that you need to be in the shop from early morning until late at night. So it is extremely likely that you will work at least 12 hours a day and at least 6 days a week. Keep in mind that you need to work extra to fulfill orders, especially before special days such as Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, the death of an important person, commemoration days, Teachers’ Day, weddings, and engagements.
4. Define your vision.
The better you know your mission and vision in your business, the more accurately you can do things such as marketing, design, and advertising. Mission is about what you do today, and vision is about what you can achieve in the future.
An example florist’s vision might be:
“ As Dört Mevsim Çiçek Evi, we will have the capacity to deliver to homes, workplaces, and corporate events on the European side of Istanbul within 1 hour. Our flower house, which will be open for 365 days, plans to instill a love of flowers in people by selling rare flowers in India at reasonable prices.”
At this stage, you should decide whether you will focus on the Internet or work on a store basis. Perhaps you will operate from two branches. It’s always good to have some perspective on these issues. Also, keep in mind that some florists focus only on events such as weddings and funerals. So instead of selling flowers one by one, you can sell 1000 flowers at a time. The 80-20 rule in business life applies here too. In other words, getting 80% of your earnings from 20% of your customers… The more specific you are, the more likely you are to achieve your goals.
5. Do market research.
Who are your target customers? When and how do these people buy flowers? Do they prefer online or buy directly from the store?
Before getting into the floristry business, you should identify and analyze your target customer base well. You should learn about the place of flowers in the lives of these people. So are these people who can bring flowers to a person on his deathbed? Is there potential for sending wreaths to weddings? Learning such information in advance can help you direct your business in a better direction. So, the bottom line is that you should try to learn the behavioral patterns of the people you are likely to deal with, specifically about flowers.
6. Know your competitors.
You need to know well the people who operate in this business, including flower shop owners, flower-selling websites, wholesalers, and flower producers. Recently, the internet has had a great advantage in flower sales. It would be beneficial for you to follow sellers operating on the internet to get prices or work together.
You can also obtain useful information by examining your competitors’ marketing and advertising methods. However, you can adopt new and different strategies by observing how your competitors respond to customer demands. For example, succulents, which we can define as small potted plants, have become very trendy lately. If the flower shops in your city do not sell succulents and you do not observe that people often chat about succulents, you can turn this into an opportunity and become the first flower shop in your city to sell succulents.
7. Pay attention to the design of the shop.
If, as a result of your market research, you see that most of the people in your city order flowers via the Internet, you do not have to open a large shop with high rent. So, if you are going to work online, you can supply flowers directly from the supplier to the customer and, in a sense, act as an intermediary.
But you probably still need to have a shop. Even if you work online, you have to do floral design. Additionally, it is relatively more difficult to attract customers online. When you have a shop that smells fresh, you will be more present in the minds of people passing by on the street. However, if you want to open a stylish flower shop in a busy district, you have to accept the rental fees. Don’t forget this detail too.
8. Have a heating and cooling system.
No matter where your shop is located, you must have heating and air conditioning systems. Flowers may dry or rot if the appropriate temperature is not maintained.
The most suitable temperature for preserving flowers is 1-2 degrees. Some flowers need to be kept at -1 degrees. Flowers love humid weather. Especially 85-95% humidity rate is ideal. Some tropical flowers like hot weather and should be kept at around 15 degrees.
9. Take out a loan if necessary.
When you start a business, you will have certain expenses. Shop rent, deposit, electricity-water subscription, equipment, advertising and marketing campaigns, insurance; things like vases, decoration materials, ribbons… In this respect, you can take out a loan from banks or get support from KOSGEB. KOSGEB also supports those who want to open a flower shop.
10. You can make deals with sites such as Çiçek Sepeti.
You can become a monthly member of major flower sites such as Çiçek Sepeti and receive orders through this site. You usually receive orders within the city where you operate, but you can also send flowers outside the city depending on the logistics situation. In other words, you can get a dealership from online flower sites.
11. Take care of the necessary legal matters.
To open a shop, you must get permission from the municipality and have a business and working license. To get information about this issue, you can get detailed information from the municipality of the district where you will open the shop.
12. Calculate the cost of opening a flower shop
There are many criteria that affect the cost, such as location selection, the size and design of your shop, the types of flowers you will keep, and the number of employees you will hire. For example, there is a difference between buying, taking over or renting a shop.
There are many expense items such as equipment, POS devices, employee salaries, and invoices. Now let’s examine these items item by item.
There are many criteria that affect the cost, such as location selection, the size and design of your shop, the types of flowers you will keep, and the number of employees you will hire. For example, there is a difference between buying, taking over, or renting a shop. There are many expense items such as equipment, POS devices, employee salaries, and invoices. Now let’s examine these items item by item.
13. Location of the shop
If you are going to make physical sales, the flower shops that sell the most are located in busy districts. Also, opening a flower shop in a high-income neighborhood is a much better idea than opening a flower shop in a slum.
Let’s say the rent of a shop on a busy street is 30,000 Rupees. Let’s say the rent of a shop in a side street a block away from this street is 15,000 Rupees. 15,000 Rupees may seem like a lot, but a florist on a busy street always does more business. If you choose the shop in the middle of the street, you will have to advertise more to announce your presence, and it is very likely that you will spend 15,000 Rupees on advertising. For this reason, it makes more sense to keep a shop on a busy street.
It would also be a very good strategy to open a florist close to places such as wedding halls, hospitals and nursing homes.
14. Necessary materials for the flower shop
The number of equipment you need to use in a flower shop is small. It is essential to have a refrigerator to keep the flowers in the appropriate temperature and humidity environment. It’s good to have a tool to distribute. In the beginning, you can distribute by motorcycle, but as the business grows, it would be better to have a large car to avoid damaging the flowers during distribution. When a car is involved, you also need to consider the cost of the car.
Shelves where you will display the flowers, knives, scissors, vases, decoration tools, ribbons, pots, ornamental stones, etc. that you will use to design bouquets and wreaths. You also need to allocate a budget for it. Of course, you only make this type of purchase once. However, if you visit wholesalers selling such equipment and get an all-inclusive price, you will encounter a more reasonable cost.
15. Payment method
In order to receive payment by credit card, you must purchase a POS device. Additionally, having a computer and internet connection in the shop makes your work easier. You use the computer primarily to take orders and respond to customer messages.
16. Flower
Of course, the most important element of the flower shop is the flowers. Flower auctions are held in every city, especially in the early morning hours, and wholesale flowers are sold by auction. You can follow such auctions. Or you can purchase flowers directly from the producer. The price of flowers varies depending on the type and season. You should not forget this detail.
17. Salaries
A flower shop usually employs a maximum of 3-4 people. Especially when you open a new shop, make sure you have enough savings to cover staff salaries for at least 6 months.
18. Promotion/Advertising
People buy flowers for other people. Therefore, your job is directly related to people. Therefore, the more people you reach, the more customer potential you will have. When promoting your flower shop, you must first get support from your family and friends. When they recommend you to others, your recognition increases in a chain manner.
You can also open accounts for your shop via social media. Facebook and Instagram are ideal for this job. If you open an Instagram account and follow people in the city and district you operate in, and regularly post about flowers and special occasions, you can be more on people’s minds.
Tips for Opening a Successful Florist
Floristry has now gone beyond selling flowers. To be successful in this business, you need to have all the elements such as knowledge, materials, and labor in the process of providing the service.
The basic element required in floristry is knowledge and skill in flower design. You should have at least a basic knowledge of flowers and plants. Having a comprehensive knowledge of soil types, plant nutrition, light and temperature control will be beneficial because clients will ask you questions and seek your advice. You should also know how to prune flowers and have creative and artistic talents to create innovative flower arrangements.
Getting formal training in flower growing will be of great benefit to you. If you cannot receive this training, try to gain experience by working in another flower shop before opening your own place. According to experts’ recommendations, you should have at least three years of practical experience before opening a flower shop.
As in any other business, in the floristry business, you need to understand business and economics. Floristry is more than selling flowers. You need to know how to run a business; such as purchases, sales, bookkeeping, earnings planning, administrative expenses, marketing, and customer engagement. You need to balance the creative side of floristry with the management side.
You should know how to treat customers. Floristry is a customer-focused business and you need to be face to face with customers all the time. You must be approachable. That’s why you have to build good relationships with customers.
When opening a florist, the things you need to think about are the shop or retail location, the cooling system, flowers, plants, floral supplies, and secondary products you will want to sell.
The location of your shop can make or break your business. You should position your shop so that your customers can easily reach it. The place you choose must be suitable for vehicle traffic and pedestrian traffic. Consider your budget and try to find the best place you can afford.
Costs aside, you should consider other factors when trying to find the best location for your shop, such as proximity to your customers, adequate parking, opportunities for future expansion, quality of the neighborhood, suitability for your personal goals, and more.
If you want to use your home as your workplace, your home should be on a busy street and near other businesses. Otherwise, you need to find different ways to reach your target audience. Maybe you can open a website or increase your marketing and advertising budget.
And of course, you need a workforce to run your business. In the beginning, it is possible to run your business from home. You can carry out the entire process such as design, sales, delivery, and ordering new materials.
Documents Required to Open a Florist
In the case of a sole proprietorship:
1. APPLICATION DECLARATION FORM
2. REGISTRATION NUMBER (No debt letter. Financial Services Directorate Revenue Bureau (Municipal))
3. TR ID ID CARD PHOTOCOPIES
4. DOCUMENT OF RESIDENCE (To be obtained from the E-Government Gateway Website)
5. PHOTOCOPIES OF TITLE DEED OR RENTAL CONTRACT
6. PHOTOCOPIES OF TAX STATEMENT
7. HEALTH REPORT (Family Physician or Public/Private Hospital)
8. SIGNATURE DECLARATION (Notarized Original Copy) – POWER OF ATTORNEY
9. 2 passport-size photographs
10. CHAMBER OF TRADESMEN REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE
11. FIRE EXTINGUISHER INVOICE
In the case of a limited or joint stock company:
1. APPLICATION DECLARATION FORM
2. REGISTRATION NUMBER (No debt letter. Financial Services Directorate Revenue Bureau (Municipal))
3. COMPANY’S FOUNDATION GAZETTE AND LATEST STATUS TRADE REGISTRY GAZETTE
4. PHOTOCOPIE OF TITLE DEED OR RENTAL CONTRACT ((The original will be returned after being seen) The Lease Contract will be arranged according to the TYPE OF BUSINESS.)
5. PHOTOCOPIES OF TAX STATEMENT
6. COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY CERTIFICATE (ITO)
7. SIGNATURE CIRCULAR (Notary Certified Copy) – COMPANY STAMP – POWER OF ATTORNEY
8. UETS (National Electronic Notification System) – Will be received from PTT Centers
9. FIRE EXTINGUISHER INVOICE
Footnote: Please note that there may be minor changes in these documents depending on the municipality you are affiliated with.
Is it profitable to open a flower shop?
Let’s get to the heart of the matter. Let’s say you have the cute flower shop of your dreams. So will you be able to make a profit?
When we think of it as a sector, we can easily say that the profit margin is quite high compared to other sectors.
Most people believe that when they open the flower shop they envision, customers will flock in and the business will start making money. However, the realities are very different, as in every entrepreneurial adventure. To be successful, you also need to wash the dishes if necessary.
Once you think about pricing, understand the value of reducing your costs and finding good suppliers, learn marketing, and discover ways to multiply sales, opening a flower shop will be an extremely profitable venture for you.
Income from a flower business will vary depending on needs, competition, skills, and often location. Keep in mind that people’s purchasing habits have changed significantly with the pandemic. For these reasons, it would be beneficial for you to pay special attention to online orders.
