July 7, 1921 



The Florists' Review 



15 



THE RETAIL STORE 



A PAGE OF HINTS AND HELPS 

 FOR THE RETAIL FLORIST 



SUMMER SUGGESTIONS. 



Building Up Telegraph Business. 



Wouldn't it be great if we could get 

 up from the dinner table after partak- 

 ing of an especially invigorating meal, 

 walk out to the hangar, dust out our 

 little Ford aeroplane and, within a few 

 hours, be sitting and talking to a dear 

 friend in a distant city? Although it 

 may be possible to do this at some dis- 

 tant time, it can't be done at present. 

 The best thing we can do now is to 

 walk into the nearest florist's store, 

 tell the man what we want, and in a 

 few hours our little token of remem- 

 brance is delivered to our dear and dis- 

 tant friend. That is the weapon which 

 we florists have to help us battle with 

 the dull summer period. For these 

 friends are friends year in and year out, 

 summer or winter. So let's make the 

 greatest possible use of this telegraph 

 delivery service. 



This summer is here, and with it has 

 come the summer dullness which flo- 

 rists are accustomed to accept as inevit- 

 able. Why not build up the summer 

 trade f Let's advertise as heavily dur- ' 

 ing the summer, when we need more 

 business, as we do in the winter, when 

 conditions make business for us regard- 

 less of our advertising. 



Example of Experience. 



We have the experiences and asser- 

 tions of many florists who do advertise 

 during the whole year to prove that it 

 pays. Among them is H. W. Allersma, 

 of Grand Eapids, Mich. He advertises 

 during the summer, and he advertises 

 the telegraph delivery service during 

 the hot, dull times. The cut which he 

 uses to advertise this service is strik- 

 ing enough to be reproduced on this 

 page. His policy is " to keep his name 

 in the public eye every day, from the 

 first day of January to the last day of 

 December." His advice is to give cus- 

 tomers the goods and a little bit more. 

 They'll give you credit for it. His two 

 strong points are advertising and serv- 

 ice. When asked if it pays, he points 

 to the time when he took care of his 

 trade via wheelbarrow delivery. Now 

 he has a horse and wagon and two auto- 

 mobile trucks. He says that his policy 

 of advertising and giving the service 

 which he advertises has been responsible 

 for more than doubling his business in a 

 short time. He places an advertise- 

 ment, such as that shown, in the local 

 papers every eight days. He keeps in 

 the eyes of the buying trade. Mr. Al- 

 lersma is only one of many florists who 

 have come to the conclusion that sum- 

 mer advertising pays. 



Window Displays Great Ads. 



But newspaper advertising is only 

 part of the advertising scheme. It has 

 been conservatively estimated by ex- 

 perts that as much as from thirty to 

 fifty per cent of the business of a retail 



store comes from the window display. 

 And during the summer time tlie best 

 thing to advertise, probably, is the tele- 

 graph delivery service. There are many 

 ways to advertise this attractively in 

 window displays. The most used method 

 is the use of telegraph instruments and 

 a miniature railroad with telegraph poles 

 lining the tracks. Cards and various 

 devices are put in the windows to tell 

 the different uses of flowers. For in- 

 stance, one window had a string of 

 miniature telegraph poles and a stork, 

 with a card telling that the way to 

 greet newly born babes in distant cities 

 was the sending of flowers by telegraph. 

 Another window had a miniature train 

 and tracks, with poles along the way, 

 and a card alongside bearing a calendar 

 and the words, "Whose birthday is it 

 today?" And then came the sugges- 

 tion that the birthdays of friends in 

 distant towns could be best remembered 

 by telegraphing flowers. 



Little Trouble. 



Another feature of the telegraph de- 

 livery service that may be emphasized 

 is the fact that there is so little trouble 

 connected with a transaction of this 

 kind. That is, so little trouble for the 

 customer. He can be told that all he 

 has to do when the thought of remember- 

 ing someone comes to him is to pick 

 up his telephone and tell ♦is florist what 

 he wants. He does not even have to 



get up out of his seat; yet his remem- 

 brance is appreciated at the other end 

 as much as if he had busied himself for 

 hours looking for a present. A slogan 

 might be printed something like this, 

 ' ' Pick up your phone, we '11 do the rest. ' ' 



The majority of the buying public 

 need to have the comparative easiness 

 of sending flowers by wire explained. 

 They don't understand that all they 

 have to do is to go into the store and 

 order what they want and to pay for it, 

 just as though they were buying the 

 flowers and taking them home them- 

 selves. There are all kinds of erro- 

 neous ideas of the workings of the tele- 

 graph flower delivery.' One man came 

 into the store to ask about it. He 

 thought that he himself had to do the 

 wiring and send a check to the florist 

 in the city where he wanted the flowers 

 delivered. 



Many florists have had innumerable 

 queries about the method. That is an- 

 other point about advertising it in the 

 summer time. There is more time to 

 explain thoroughly the inside work- 

 ings of the idea than there is in the 

 winter rush periods. Take an example 

 of a florist advertising the telegraph 

 delivery in the summer time and before 

 Mothers' day. He, of course, will have 

 to explain to many customers how it is 

 (lone. If he does this in summer, when 

 he has plenty of time, he will not have 

 so much of it to do at the holiday time. 



Newspaper Readers Can't Overlook the Message of this Cut. 



