Arena Flowers' Valentine's display wins hearts, not profits
20.05.12
“You can still end up with a whole load of stock you’ve overpaid for and can’t
make any money from the next day,” he says. “Everyone thinks florists make a
fortune on Valentine’s Day. You don’t, the growers do. It’s an exhilarating
time but it will also blow up your business if you get it wrong.”
Instead, February 14 is an opportunity to win new customers and provide
evidence that Arena Flowers has the systems in place of a much larger
business. The company made around £2m in the past week. Its projection for
this year as a whole is £8m.
“We’ve got to build a business with a £50m turnover run rate in a week. For
the rest of the year, you’re running a relaxed small business. It’s weird.”
Wynne and his team have spent the past three days preparing 45,000 orders for
dispatch, when an average day would be closer to 500. An extra warehouse and
180 temporary staff were hired, split between the company’s Dutch production
facility and “fulfilment” of orders in London. The average Valentine’s
transaction is more expensive than for Mother’s Day, the company’s other
peak period, Wynne says. Evidence of a romantic streak among the firm’s
customers? “People pay more for sex than they do telling their mum that they
like her,” he replies.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk