Periwinkle Flowers
A colorful upscale florist that uses FloristWare to provide a superior customer service experience alongside their creative arrangements.
Periwinkle Flowers is a colorful upscale shop that focuses on fresh romantic designs with a young modern twist. They serve a variety of clients from the private and corporate sector of Toronto, providing all with a superior customer service experience and creative arrangements.
This relatively new shop has thrived in one of the most competitive areas of the city for retail florists - there is one on almost every block! The success of Periwinkle is due to the owners, who are somewhat unusual in that they take the business aspect of the shop every bit as seriously as they do the floral design. They are absolutely committed to not only the most attractive and interesting designs and freshest possible product, but also the best customer service and an aggressive, well thought-out marketing plan.
Once they realized that a POS system would be an important part of future growth they began their research into various systems. It wasn't pleasant. They experienced a lot of high pressure tactics like “one day only” price quotes and, at the same time, were given little real chance to see the product to which they were supposed to commit. With FloristWare they were able to test the system at their leisure and with no pressure. They liked what they saw and have now been using it since early 2006.
Periwinkle’s owners cite FloristWare’s client history – name, address, and order history – as being a valuable tool for increasing sales. For example, during a recent holiday a customer came in to place multiple orders for friends and family. By reviewing the customer’s recipient list and order history, the Periwinkle staff member was able to point out that the customer had forgotten to include someone they had given to in the past. FloristWare gave the store an additional sale and impressed the customer, who was saved from a potentially embarrassing situation. They wouldn't get that kind of service from a big-box retailer!
Jess McEwan, Owner | Periwinkle FlowersDuring a recent Jewish holiday a customer was placing multiple orders – by viewing their recipient list and previous orders we were able to remind them of someone they usually include, giving us the additional sale and saving our client from an embarrassing situation.
FloristWare also makes it easy for them to put their marketing plans into action - they can quickly and easily generate lists of customers that meet certain criteria and then generate mailing labels or postcards. If they want to send e-mail they can either do so from within FloristWare or export their list of e-mail addresses for use with a service like Constant Contact. And since Periwinkle is located in an area with a large Jewish population they appreciate the fact that FloristWare makes it easy to tailor specialized marketing campaigns to their Jewish clientele. For example, it is easy to send one set of postcards or e-mail to of customers that are interested in Christmas, Easter, etc., and another that is targeted towards Jewish holidays. This a welcome courtesy that is well received by their customers.
Another plus has been the ability to streamline paperwork, whether through the ability to email/fax receipts and invoices, or eliminating the need to keep old orders on file for reference. E-mailing/faxing receipts/invoices is particularly helpful as it saves the time and money that would normally be associated with sending them by mail.
To become the preferred destination for the kind of upscale consumers that every florist wants in such a competitive location takes something special. We are grateful that FloristWare has been able to play a small part in giving Periwinkle a distinct advantage over other shops in the area.
