they do have is engaged. As for government recognition that’s not true either. Because I did some enquiries on behalf of F&PA to see if it could get the same standing and discovered that NO trade association is recognised by government. I also struggle with what BFA
are trying to be. Because whilst I fully supported the association when they were focussed with the business side, their takeover of the SOF means they have increasingly moved into the ’safe’ world of academia, competitions and training, which, whilst laudable, doesn’t actually address many of the issues facing real florists at the moment. Training and education is all very well but if there are no shops left there will be nowhere for these youngsters to work. Competitions are great but by definition can only really appeal to a small minority (200 people max) and, having monitored the press coverage, do diddly squat for PR. And whilst I know they bang on a lot about their discounts truth is there are many groups you can join with even better ones… heck we could offer them as a magazine. What’s more worrying is the
fact that they have stood in the way of allowing anyone else to do or offer something else. Because what isn’t well known is the fact that F&PA spent nearly two years trying to achieve a merger with BFA to become one large unit that would and could address all the areas that mattered. BFA resolutely refused and even though third party mediators were brought in, BFA refused to move the talks on and so they ceased for absolutely no good reason – trust me I have read and re-read the paper trail to see why it failed. However instead of seizing the
‘gap’ F&PA left as they downsized, BFA have pottered on in the same old same old and to me look even more sad than they did yet
6 F&wb Spring 2013
have still managed to spend circa £140k* in the process. And that to me is shameful. Industry needs and deserves a strong mouthpiece to stand up for it and shout about the good bits and openly criticise the bad. If BFA can’t or won’t then they should allow other people who can and will without standing in their way or being awkward about it.
With that in mind I can formally announce that I will not set up a relay. Although lots of you said ‘yes please’, having watched industry from a slight remove and seen the fall out over the peaks I am extremely uncomfortable with the whole concept of middleman sales. Don’t mind the membership/
subscription fee element; no-one can provide a half decent service for nothing but the additional cuts/discounts stick in my throat as being too greedy. Because truth is that the 25-30% taken by a central order gatherer is actually more likely to come out of the consumer’s pocket by dint of having something smaller for their money than if they went to a flower shop directly. And that just doesn’t work
for me. Middleman discount is a thing of the past and the only reason floral gifting has got away with it for so long is partly because the big players have made sure they’ve got it sewn up and partly because no-one is prepared to go public big time and explain in words of one syllable why consumers should go direct to a florist shop. Which is why I wonder if I
wouldn’t be better formulating a national PR campaign on the basis it could/would still generate orders as well as provide a full PR and marketing service for the industry but I wouldn’t have to be involved in taking a cut of an order. It’s a hard one to sell as there
will never be a tracking system to show how much business it generated and you can bet
your bottom dollar there will be naysayers who say it’s impossible… either because they are just too darned negative or because it doesn’t suit their own business plans to have an uprising or consumers made aware. But truth is an awful lot of shops have ditched the relay and are doing OK never mind the fact more and more consumers are getting savvier about shopping online… as evidenced by the huge rise in direct orders at both Valentine’s and Mother’s Day. In some ways it could be
argued that this is exactly why I set up the idea of Master Florist in the first place and given that failed why should anything I say be taken seriously? Well the only reason MF failed
was because I gave into heavy duty pressure from Interflora… not because it was a bad concept. In fact, as I understand it the only reason Interflora made such a song and dance about it was because they knew it could work and didn’t want me queering their pitch! These days not only am I a lot
braver but Interflora said in their Office of Fair Trading submission last year when they were buying Flowers Direct that Master Florist not only exists but is successful! Maybe it’s a sign that I should resurrect the idea again and turn the whole thing into a fully transparent industry body. I’ve put our proposed strategy on
theflorist.co.uk. I would love to get your feedback.
On my web-blog:
What I learned from Mum’s funeral The perils of Facebook
Why 6” really matters *As of accounts to 31/1/12
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