This is not a wire service bashing post. Wire services still provide a service and will continue to provide a service for some in the floral industry. With that said, let's talk about some truths. FTD used to be owned by its members and now it is owned by shareholders. Shareholders interests are in profit only.And even though Teleflora is privately owned, they are slowly taking certain tactics that FTD has used. For example, servicing online florists who are not retail florists, raising prices , etc..

The golden days of when FTD was 100% behind the retail florist are long gone. There is a new type of florist on the scene and it's the online florist.  The online florist can be a retail florist or it can not. The online florist that is not a retail florist is often called an OG (order gatherer). The OG offers a service and that is all. This OG gathers an order, sends it to FTD or TF, for example, and then is passed to a retail shop to fill.

For a decade now, there have been efforts to stop OGs and hurt WS, but none have been successful. Some florists have quit the WS in hopes to hurt the WS, but there is always a florist in that same town eagerly waiting to make money. In the USA, where capitalism reins and bills need to be paid, there will always be a florist who will fill any type of order.

Educating customers is also an idea that has failed to stop OGs and WS filling their orders. I have studied this for almost a decade now and please listen to my words: For every floral customer you educate about OGs, 100 are lined up ready to place an order with them. It has been proven time and time again, online sales are about convenience. You also have to compete with the fact that people think that FTD is a florist and know this, ftd.com is the biggest OG out there. FTD's brand is golden. It was made golden on the back of hard working retail florists in the trenches for 100 years. WSs are transforming into the largest OGs on the internet.

On the other side of the coin, TF's argument, for example is, if we don't gather those, then FTD will and pass them on to their customers. That is a pretty dang good argument. And to continue.... if we don't fill for the biggest OGs like fromyouflowers.com then FTD will. TF and FTD's argument is valid. Capitalism is awesome and this is an example of capitalism in action. I don't like what is happening, but this is rule number 1: profits.

There are very few people out there who dislike the WS and OGs as much as I do. And I doubt there is anyone in the world who has thought about and been as passionate as I to weaken their efforts to take from the retail florist.  There isn't a day that goes by that I am not thinking of the brick and mortar shop and how they can control the internet. But first and foremost florists need to come to the understanding that an online florist and a brick and mortar florist are not the same.  The online florist gathers orders and sends them to your retail shop. Now weather you control that online florist or weather a WS does or the order was generated from an OG, is up to you.

So how can retail florists become online florists?
1. Get an independent website. I don't care if it's though epicflowers, media99, Strider, etc.. it's the first step to freedom. Your Teleflora or FTD website is gathering orders for your WS, which then sends to you. If you are not interested in being an online florist and continue to gather orders for the WS, it is your choice to do so. - To me, Media99 and Strider are my allies. The better they do, the better I do, they better the retail florists do.