Florist News

Hi,
I have never posted before but I have been on here lots of times and I really admire what you all do and seeing as how you are all experts I would really appreciate some help if anyone could spare the time and thier knowledge.
I have to do an assignment listing six or more selling techniques which I am fairly ok with but I know there are probably way more then I can think of.
The real problem is with the assignment on stock control. I have to describe a stock control system for a floristry business, one for cut flowers and foliage and one for dry stock like foam, containers etc... Seeing as how I only go to collecge one night a week for 3 hours and I dont have a job in a florists I am really stuck with this. Any help or advice anyone could give would be really appreciated. Thank you.

Well a good place to start is with the 'stock taking' process. Different shops have different methods for this...

One thing to think about is supermarkets...everything that goes through the till is logged, when a certain amount of one item is sold the till, which is linked to a main computer, sends a message to order more of that particular item from the main warehouse. Although supermarkets are a touchy subject on here I'm pretty sure that's how they control their flower stocks...

Although my shop doesn't use this method I am sure someone must have a system siilar to this...

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FAUN TO BE WILD...!!!

They are probably also referring to stock rotation. I have info on this which I can post tomorrow, unless some kind soul puts it on here before me!

Better go to bed, it's getting late!

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For fresh stock you want to be operating the FIFO system, first in first out. Eg, in our cold room the oldest stock is always on the left, as new stock comes in, it's put on the right, so everyone knows which buckets they should be using first.

ooh i remember this one

What they want is 2 different systems one for fresh and one for dry/sundries.

Fresh - for example, you have 'standard' stock that you maintain for day to day business. At the end of each period, be that every day, twice a week, whatever, you need to do a stock take. you then know what you have and what you need so you know what to buy. you also need to take into account future orders and order for them. and a 'special' orders such as weddings etc and how you are going to stock for them. What the C&G want is the 'how'. ie, index cards, ledger, lists, 'in your head'. You also need to mention wastage with fresh products and lead time on purchasing (how long it takes to get)
An example of a system would be a diary and a standard list. Do a count, check the diary - add any pre-orders, make an order list. order flowers. receive flowers, check against delivery note, put aside 'specials'.

Sundries - similar sort of thing only doesn't need to be as frequent - ie, ribbons - you might have one of every colour in the shop and one spare in the back, if you replace the one in the shop then you add it to the next sundry order list. Stock taking would be less frequent but just as necessary due to human error (forgetting to write it down) or theft etc. System again could be anything from that, to 'remembering' to an automated stock system. They just want an example that would work.

Obviously you need it padded out, mentioning different sorts of suppliers etc, the pro's and con's to your systems (time consuming? IT literate? Human Error? Ease of reporting) and example's of order lists etc.

Hope this helps and doesn't send you heading for the vodka bottle (english is my second language after gobbledegook)

Good Luck!

Hi Thanks for all the help so far its been really useful and I really appreciate it.

Hey Susie wish I had had someone in class to teach that section so concisely - well done you! Going to print that out for my Saturday girl! (with your permission of course!)

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If we had been meant to eat all our greens all our teeth would have been in the front

lol of course
Some of the C&G questions are vague, others misleading. I found the hardest part of the entire course trying to work out exactly what they were asking!!

I was about to say that is a rather pointless question/assignment because quite frankly there is no system that will work for everyone/anyone all of the time. There are just too many variables and allowances to make when dealing with flowers. But i won't say that...even though i just did. I tend to think that the exercise is to get you to think about all the considerations you need to make (every day) when thinking about what to buy, how much to buy, when to buy it, how much to pay, etc. That in itself would run to hundreds of pages.
Just an example...you can buy lilies one day that are quite green and tight. 3 days later you buy some more that are opening. Which do you sell first?
or...Summer is just about here...you've been selling Tulips like crazy...all of a sudden you can buy them for half the price. Do you splash out and buy bucket loads?

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You wasted precious beer drinking time typing that fly