Should your florist shop offer subscriptions?

Floral subscription boxes are blooming (pun intended) and only getting more popular. Consumers love getting fresh arrangements delivered to their doorstep on a recurring basis and giving subscriptions to their friends and family. But is service right for your florist shop?

In this post, we’ll share the benefits of offering a flower subscription service, potential challenges like fulfillment logistics, and how Clover can help you manage this new revenue stream. 

How do flower subscription services work?

Flower subscription services bring the convenience of fresh flowers directly to a customer’s doorstep, but certain elements must be in place for this offering to work. Here are some key details to consider as you set up a flower box subscription. 

• How frequently will you deliver your boxes? Subscription services offer delivery cadences to suit your needs. Weekly deliveries ensure a constant supply of fresh blooms, while bi-weekly or monthly plans are ideal for customers who prefer a less frequent refresh. 
• What styles will you offer? Some floral subscription services allow customers to tailor their arrangements by size, color palette, or flower type. Others curate surprise seasonal bouquets, offering a delightful element of discovery for each delivery.
• How will you protect your deliveries? Freshly cut flowers must be carefully arranged, packaged, and delivered on time, which can present a logistical challenge. You may also want to provide care tips and instructions to help customers extend the life of their blooms.
• What will you charge for your subscription service? You may already charge for flower delivery which you can use as a baseline for your subscription costs. In addition, you’ll have regular costs for packaging, the stems themselves, and labor. Cratejoy, a subscription box platform, recommends building in a 40% profit margin to make your flower subscription box profitable.

Answering these questions may seem daunting at first – but the benefits of offering a flower subscription box can make the initial time and effort to launch your subscription worthwhile. 

Key considerations before offering a floral subscription box

A subscription option for your floral shop can be a great way to make your revenue more predictable, smooth out seasonal sales fluctuations, and delight your most loyal customers. 

One of the biggest benefits of offering a subscription box is the possibility of recurring revenue. Subscriptions allow your floral shop to generate revenue even before it opens its doors, helping enable better financial planning and smoothing out seasonal demand. Likewise, subscriptions can help with better inventory management: you know ahead of time how many orders you need to fill and can always add overstock to your subscription boxes, avoiding waste. 

A flower subscription service also opens the door to new revenue streams. Subscriptions can appeal to new audience segments—hotels, boutiques, and restaurants may sign up for a subscription to receive regularly refreshed arrangements on auto-pilot. New customers may also be drawn to the “set-it-and-forget-it” annual order for Mother’s Day, a wedding anniversary, or a birthday. 

Flower subscription boxes can also boost your loyalty program. Tailoring your floral subscription box gives you a way to nurture loyalty that goes beyond the immediate transaction. Research by the Wharton School of Business indicates that customers who opt into subscription services spend more on things such as additional purchases, buying subscriptions as gifts for others, or add-on services (such as same-day shipping). 

When it comes to subscription services, customer expectations are high. And, with rising costs pulling at wallets, customers can become fatigued with subscriptions. That means your concept and execution have to be spot-on, delivering great value and a superior experience. You may want to put together a sample box before you launch the subscription to get feedback on the look and feel of your flower subscription box.

How to market your flower subscription service

Floral arrangements are a perfect fit for providing a curated subscription experience. As you consider how to market your flower subscription service, start by analyzing your customer data. Identify the blooms or arrangements that customers will want to get on a regular, seasonal basis—monthly or quarterly. Dig into the data from your loyalty program to generate some ideas on what your best customers buy again and again. 

Then, use a sample box to get feedback on your floral subscription box. Take plenty of photos, and get ready to start sharing them online, by email, in your store, and on social media.  Don’t limit your outreach. Successful subscription services will appeal not just to the people who already shop with you regularly, but will also help offer a way to convert occasional shoppers into loyal customers. And, consider offering a free trial to help boost your customer acquisition rate.

Launch a flower subscription service with Clover

We love plants—it’s in our name. Clover’s POS system is packed with features that can help you grow your flower subscription service successfully. Track inventory across multiple locations or set-up online ordering  to help you streamline order fulfillment and make it easy to offer a subscription service. Plus, Clover has the ability to set up automated billing plans for customers who sign up for your subscription box. 

Learn more about Clover’s powerful tools for florist shops. Contact sales to see how Clover’s payment processing can work for you. 

Editorial Team

Marketing, Retail, Run your business, Strategy

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