A Dinner Guest's Lesson - July 2008

Last weekend my good friend Joe and his wife came to dinner. It was the best of both worlds: my house—so I did not have to drive—and Joe’s cooking. Joe and his wife brought along another couple that we hadn’t met before. Betty is a busy dermatologist and her husband, Bill, is a fine art photographer.

We have a small Koi pond in the entryway. Betty and Bill also have some Koi that are new to them. Betty spotted the fish food and asked where she could buy the product online. My wife said it was available at all the big chain pet places in town. That would not do, as Betty did not have time to go to stores. In fact, going to a store was not an option that Betty would consider.

This seemed kind of extreme to me, but with a busy medical practice and two young daughters, money was not a limiting factor but time was. More people fall into this category every day. The people who can most afford to purchase our floral products have the least time to shop for them. What can we do for these people?

Floral products have a different set of delivery issues than books or fish food. Shipping for most high value products is a relatively small part of the cost of the final delivered product. (Though, if we want something delivered as a gift, we’re often happy to pay a premium for the service and a big premium for a solid guarantee of a perfect gift. Why else would we pay so much for pears from Harry & David that someone else is going to eat?) For self-consumption, most of us don’t like to pay a huge delivery premium. Conveniently, so many of the things we used to go to the store for are now just a few clicks away. I asked Virginia what she buys online. She said shoes, contact lenses, event tickets and photographs, for starters. The last one she had to explain to me: She uploads the digital pictures to one of several services, selects what she wants printed and how, and then chooses whether to pick them up locally or have them mailed. This all saves her a lot of time.

Are fast flowers the answer? I used to wonder why grocery stores are laid out the way they are until I was told by our retired vice president of sales, Ted Campbell, that the design assured that most customers would have to go through the entire store in order to buy all of the products they usually came to buy. I thought it would be a great idea to have lunches right at the front of the store next to the express checkout for people like me to pop in, grab and go. I don’t want to walk to the back of the store or wait for something to be made to order. If I don’t bring lunch to work, I don’t have lunch. Even though I pass plenty of places where I could buy stuff to bring in, I won’t take the time necessary to stop and wait.

I’m not a doctor getting paid by visit, procedure or fee for service, and still I resent the time it takes to get a sandwich. So how does the doctor feel? Like Betty said, shopping isn’t an option. This must represent a huge opportunity of which someone could take advantage.

Maybe some of the floral section should be placed near the ready-to-eat meals. Maybe garden centers should advertise flowers and plants in a hurry, if that’s what the customer wants. Maybe we should offer the choice of fast flowers or slow flowers. Come on in and have a chat or grab and go; it’s your choice.

Sound silly? Well, I’m struggling here trying to figure out how to serve these high-income customers who have no time. If all their discretionary spending is being done on the Internet, I’m pretty sure little of my stuff is in their homes.

How about flowers and plants delivered on a regular schedule to their homes? Yeah, I know nobody wants to take that on. Maybe make a deal with the local florist that’s used to delivering locally. Maybe the stuff can be set aside for quick pickup by the customer. Have their credit card on file so there is no need to stop and pay.

Time is precious to this group and they guard it well. We must find new and different ways to give them products they want without taking away time. The companies that figure out how to do this are going to take market share.