The Story of Selling Fresh Flowers Online - Episode 115

INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTINA STEMBEL OF FARMGIRL FLOWERS

 

DESCRIPTION

Today we are joined by Christina Stembel, the founder and CEO of Farmgirl Flowers. Christina launched her company in 2010, to provide the best flowers and customer experience every single time. They carry only a select number of daily curated arrangements, rather than offering a large variety of bouquet options, so this means that their customers get to choose an arrangement style, rather than specific flowers. Listen in to find out how this direct-to-consumer bootstrap business is shaking up the online flower industry.

The floral industry is not one that most people tend to associate with e-commerce. Although the exact percentage of floral sales currently done via the internet is not known, information gathered in 2010 showed that the industry was worth three billion dollars at the time. Today, it's speculated to be around seven to eight billion dollars overall, which is about 40% of the entire industry.

In today's episode, Christina talks to us about her business. She discusses the challenges she's had to face, the difficulties that go with selling perishable items, and what differentiates her company, both positively and negatively, from other online direct-to-consumer companies. Tune in today, for more!

“Every company is trying to go for the same consumer and that’s our consumer as well, which makes it very expensive to operate as a bootstrap company in the same marketing channels.”
— Christina Stembel

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Christina talks about what floral has, as a category, that is common with and different from other online categories. 

  • Demographically, the floral industry matches up perfectly with what all the big retailers are trying to get, down to the new direct-to-consumer companies.

  • It is very difficult to operate as a bootstrap company in the same marketing channels as big retailers.

  • When Christina first started Farmgirl Flowers, she was only aware of the benefits of selling perishables, even though there is also a myriad of disadvantages.

  • Selling perishables involves a lot of projections, and they need to be spot-on.

  • Christina explains what differentiates her company, both positively and negatively, from any other company in the industry. 

  • Farmgirl Flowers has a very limited number of SKUs. This also makes them unique in the industry.

  • Perishability adds a lot of complexity.

  • Christina has discovered a great way for her business to cope with perishables and this differentiates them from all the others in the same industry.

  • Farmgirl Flowers budgets for 2% waste even though they have only once ever come in over 1%.

  • Christina shares some of the logistical challenges that she has had to face.

  • Shipping is way more expensive than one would think, especially when compared with what Amazon is offering.

  • Christina started her business with no budget for advertising. She discusses what she did to create a raving fan base in a category that has within it some much larger and more powerful players than Farmgirl Flowers.

  • Christina's marketing is all done in-house.

  • Every available dollar is put into marketing because Christina knows that's the best way to grow her business.

  • Taking great photos and videos of her flowers is very important to Christina.


MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

  • Win a copy of Kiri's book, Amazon for CMOs! All you need to do is write a review of this podcast in iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to this podcast, take a screenshot of the review that you wrote, and email it to Kiri at kiri@bobsledmarketing.com or send it to her on LinkedIn.

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