68 



The Florists^ Review 



JUNB 17, 1020. 



RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOING 



OATESING TO COIOCBNCEMENTS. 



Adds to June Business. 



Despite the edicts of boards of edu- 

 cation in some towns forbidding flowers 

 at commencements, there are year after 

 year big orders for florists at the time 

 of graduation exercises. For ho matter 

 what rules are enforced at public 

 schools, commencement time at private 

 schools and at colleges and universities 

 is accompanied by many gifts of flowers 

 to the sweet girl graduates. Perhaps 

 this year the public school edicts will 

 not be so rigid in their exclusion of 

 flowers, for the old reason for these 

 promulgations — that the bricklayer's er 

 the plumber's daughter would be em- 

 barrassed by the bountiful floral gifts 

 received by the lawyer's or doctor's 

 daughter — seems to be lacking at pres- 

 ent; indeed, the shoe appears to be on 

 the other foot. 



Moreover, the abundance and low 

 prices of flowers at this time stimulate 

 the retailer to increased endeavors for 

 business. At the prices at which he is 

 able to make purchases at the present 

 time the retailer finds much encourage- 

 ment for undertaking to move larger 

 quantities of stock. To this end the 

 graduating days which are beginning 



!\ir:i- 



on her 



Graduation 

 Day 



■ ■frzf? 



■^^-^wisaiAi 



Come now, — think a bit I 

 Surely ydu are proud of her. for it's the 

 big day of her hfe it's the event that 

 signifies the end of preparatory work and 

 the beginning of all that the future holds 

 in store — 



It's the day when there are smiles and 

 "joy tears" — when the sunshine of the 

 future radiates from every twinkle cf the 

 eye — on cuch an event make doubly sure 

 YOUR daughter is happy, 



—"5ay i7 With Flowers'*'^' 



Your florist will gladly assist you in de- 

 veloping your ideas of ar> appropriate 

 bouquet of cut flowrrs. 



iiiii ■ ■ I tt^ 



Wc cuffwt • 

 bouquet of 

 ^coniei. 



vrry pirritiful 



Ai^ yu>',it 



AaBociatcd Florists 

 of Baltimore. 



(or Infor niBtlttit ivbrrtniaf 

 Fswrwt *fi« rU9ta, rail Iht 

 FiMiiii* (Mrtic» B«rc«u. Hi. 



this week and will continue during the 

 remainder of the month offer ready and 

 ample occasion. 



As a means of increasing commence- 

 ment business, the florist puts his chief 

 reliance on advertising. He should, of 

 course, make use of that ever-present 

 selling aid, the show window, and he 

 may, if he deems it a profitable method 

 in his particular case, distribute fold- 

 ers, but the local newspaper, after all, 

 is the prime agent in stimulating pur- 

 chases of floral gifts for the girl gpradu- 

 ates. 



Efforts Increase Volume. 



The apparent freedom with which 

 the public has disbursed the funds from 

 its pocketbook during the last winter 

 and spring, which, despite reports, gives 

 little sign of abating, makes the chances 

 of good commencement business so fa- 

 vorable that a larger number of florists 

 are making efforts to that end than have 

 done so in years past. The necessity 

 of maintaining a greater volume of sales 

 to meet the hea'vy overhead which ad- 

 vanced costs have caused prompts re- 

 tailers, also, to take advantage of what- 

 ever occasion presents itself for push* 

 ing flowers. This has already been seen 

 in the manner in which the various trade 

 days have been promoted in the past 

 season, the results of which have been 

 most striking. 



In addition to the efforts of individu- 

 al retailers to promote the use of 

 flowers for commencements, some of the 

 cities in which there are cooperative 

 advertising campaigns are doing good 

 work by means of liberal advertising 

 space in their local papers. Two of 

 their advertisements are reproduced on 

 this page, one of the Baltimore and one 

 of the Chicago florists. These appeared 

 in the first half of the month, to give 

 time for the suggestion to sink in. This 

 week and next are the big ones of the 

 month, when florists will do the greater 

 part of their graduating day business. 

 Altogether it appears to be a quite re- 

 spectable total, especially where flo- 

 rists have devoted energy and some 

 money to obtain it. 



Baltimore's Commencemeat Ad. 



MEASUBING SALES EFFOBTS. 



Apropos of profit-sharing and bonus 

 plans, one might make mention of a 

 device in the Delaware avenue store 

 of W. J. Palmer & Son, at Buffalo, 

 for the purpose of stimulating the in- 

 terest of the salesmen in the store. A 

 chart on the wall of the oflSce indicates 

 the progress of sales. There is a red 

 line for each salesman, which advances 

 a space for a certain amount of sales. 

 The comparative length of the parallel 

 red lines indicates who is leading and 

 how close the other salesmen are on his 

 heels. The surprising fact is that they 

 are all so close to one another that there 

 is always possibility of one passing an- 

 other; no one is outdistanced. Bonuses 

 in proportion to the size of the individu- 



al sales are awarded and they are gen* 

 erous enough to make competition keen. 

 At the same time the rules of the con- 

 test are liberal enough to encourage 

 cooperation among the salesmen, so that 

 this important factor does not suffer in 

 the race. 



The mechanical bar chart which W. 

 J. Palmer & Son use is about two feet 

 long and five or six inches high, so that 

 it can hang in an accessible jilace on 

 the office wall. Though not originally 

 designed just for this purpose, its 

 method of spacing and other arrange- 

 ment make it easily adapted for such 

 use. 



ADVESTISINO TO AD MEN. 



When Vincent J. Gorly goes to an ad- 

 vertising men's convention he is still a 

 florist, and when he advertises, he ad- 

 vertises flowers. Not all of his adver- 

 tising is in the St. Louis newspapers 

 in behalf of the firm of Grimm & Gorly 

 — he is busy advertising flowers in 

 general for the benefit of all florists. 



He was busy at Indianapolis last 

 week, when he attended the convention 

 of the Associated Advertising Clubs of 

 the World. He presented to tjio adver- 

 tising men in session there a resolution 

 adopting the cape jasmine as the official 

 convention flower of the association. 

 Since the advertising men's convention 

 falls in the first part of June, this flower 



To the Graduate 



THIS is her day of pride — of 

 joy in ambitions realized. 

 Your recognition of her 

 achievement may best be expres- 

 sed by flowers which alone carry 

 your heart's own message of 

 congratulation, and make this 

 gala day one of the ne'er to t)c 

 forgotten event?, m her life. 



You can say ft gractousJy for 



Flowers Are Plentiful and Reasonable 



Chicago's Graduating Day Reminder. 



