A paired down menu flush with premium designs nudges up the average price point during holidays at Rose of Sharon Florist in Santa Maria, California. Owner Ron Rose disguises the fact that customers have limited choices by switching out containers, adding a liner or inserting a stem of greenery. Here, he shows how easy it is to change the presentation of a single design.
Holidays have a tendency to bring out infrequent flower buyers who gravitate to the least expensive option on your website.
That’s not an issue at Rose of Sharon Florist in Santa Maria, California, where owner Ron Rose has implemented a tactic that effortlessly leads customers to higher price points.
For five years, Rose has created a special catalog for each holiday, with designs starting around $60. Offering curated designs boosts the shop’s bottom line for several reasons:
- Rose sells most, if not all, of what he buys for the holiday.
- The streamlined selection increases efficiency for both his sales people and designers, allowing the shop to serve a maximum number of customers.
- The price of his average sale goes up significantly.
The trick to limiting choices without making it obvious (which Rose fears would deter customers) is to have a selection of containers in various sizes that work with several arrangements. “This instantly changes the presentation and the value, without requiring you to come up with new designs,” he said. “Each arrangement ends up having about nine variations.”
After photographing, uploading and naming designs, Rose programs his catalogue to display the products in a random order, rather than grouping similar styles. “This makes the consumer perceive a lot more choice than there really is,” he said. “Further, we find that consumers will generally order from whatever is in rotation on our home page, followed by whatever is ‘above the fold’ on any category page.”
Another tip: use the “recommended” banner!
“We’ve put the original and upgraded designs side by side before, and customers will almost always go for the recommended one,” he said. “Consumers are pretty predictable and we have a great deal of control over what sells.”
