In today’s digital age, e-commerce is not just a good idea, it’s a vital component to increasing your business. At Rio Roses, for example, our Equiconnect online purchasing system enables our customers to purchase Rio products when it’s convenient for them, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

While it may be a bit daunting to think about launching a website if you haven’t done so, it’s a long-term investment that can truly take your sales to a whole new level. Face-to-face customer interactions and building relationships will always be a cornerstone of any floral business, however there are many advantages to giving your customers access to an online website:

1. You can sell more, by offering everything you sell online. This lets your customers browse through different categories of items, such as wedding arrangements, party flowers, add-ons, and more. Who knows? They might come across something they would never have considered purchasing before!
2. You are available to your customers 24/7 when you have an e-commerce site! Customers can order at their convenience, in their robe drinking their morning coffee or in the evening when they have some downtime to relax and surf, surf, surf your site. You can see a dramatic increase in sales this way.
3. By freeing up your sales associates who may have been answering questions that your site can answer, they are now able to focus on building relationships, researching floral design trends, and looking for new accounts! This is vital, because you can’t solely rely on your website to bring in customers; your salesperson is your best ambassador, and the one who can make your customers feel special and cared for.
4. Your digital marketing possibilities expand greatly: Send out an email with a direct link to a promotional item on your website, or post on your social media feeds at night and let your followers be the first to place an order before the start of business the next day. The possibilities are infinite!
5. By reviewing what sells best online, you can then target customers more effectively. For example, say you begin to see a certain flower or arrangement selling way above anything else, or a specific novelty item selling to a certain customer base. Now you can create a marketing campaign around these items, to a customer you KNOW will buy them!

Think of your website as another part of your sales team, an investment in the future that can reap huge rewards!