25% off for Mother’s Day: Should You Discount, or Not?

Happy May 1 - the beginning to one of the largest holiday months of the entire year! Sales in the first 10 days of May are almost the same as all sales in the entire month of December, so we’ve got a busy few weeks ahead!

That means it’s also time for the age-old debate of holiday discounting and why to do it. I have shop owners ask me all the time, “Why should I discount so early or even discount at all?"

The answer is simple; it’s to ensure that your customers remain your customers. 

What does offering a discount have to do with customer retention? Let me explain. Flowers can be purchased almost anywhere these days. We’re no longer just competing with the other shops in town; we’re competing against grocery stores and online retailers with massive marketing budgets. And they’re not just competing against us; they’re also competing with each other.

Below is a Mother’s Day email I received from Teleflora. One of the first things you notice in the email is the big purple banner on top that says, “Save 25% sitewide.” It’s there because it works!

Everyone likes saving money, so when we see an offer such as 25% off an item we’re planning on purchasing anyway, we take notice. For most people, including your customers, seeing savings that big can easily justify trying something new.

My reaction to this has always been to fight fire with fire. For years, I have recommended offering a 20% discount, and many thought it was too much, while others didn't. Some shops wanted to meet somewhere in the middle and offer something like a $5 discount off every bouquet. That’s a nice little incentive, but how well will it work?

Imagine you send out an email offering your customers a discount of $5, while your customers also receive Teleflora’s ad and compare them side by side. Their deal certainly looks better at 25%, but your customers may wish to remain loyal to you. An offer from you of 20% should be close enough for your customer to remain loyal, but customers comparing $5 to 25% could likely mean you may have lost a transaction that could lead to much more down the road. Why allow this to happen?

Now, before you jump up and down asking WHY Teleflora does this to us, you must realize that Teleflora is out there fighting to get orders back and away from 1-800 Flowers and FTD.com, who are also out there offering too-good-to-be-true deals. I understand your frustration, but I also know that it’s a necessary strategy by Teleflora to stay competitive. We all know that Teleflora needs florists (as we all do) to make the circle complete in our industry. 

We need to get back in the saddle and drive customers to our shops with more value and an emphasis on service. It’s so important to remember that pretty flowers can be purchased almost anywhere these days, so our focus needs to be on our strengths – namely the design, and most importantly, timely service.

The more visible we are, and the more service driven, the easier it will be to do business with us locally!

If you decide to discount ahead of Mother's Day - or any other time for that matter - be sure to utilize coupon codes and make sure everyone at your shop understands what the codes mean. This may seem like an insignificant detail, but it could potentially protect you from customers trying to used expired couponcs over the phone.

Coupon codes should contain the month, date and year that the coupon expires. That way when customers call and attempt to use the coupon that you aren't able to visibly verify, whoever is taking the order can still quickly confirm that it is valid and hasn't expired. If you do this with all your coupons, you'll never have to honor expired coupons.

Mark your calendar for Thursday, May 3 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, and join us for a special Mother's Day conference call where we will be discussing tips and advice for the upcoming holiday. You won't want to miss this free opportunity to chat openly with some of the leaders of the industry. The call is free, click here for more information and I hope to talk with you on Thursday.

-Art