5 Subscription Ideas for Florists

Author: Kelsey Thompson

5 Subscription Ideas for Florists

Whether you're a home-based florist, event studio or brick and mortar, subscriptions can be a great way to retain customers and cash flow. These 5 ideas are all subscriptions I’ve used in my own retail shop - use them to inspire your own creative subscription!

1. Single Variety

This is labor and cost effective. Offer a single variety “flower of the month” club. This really reduces costs because you are simply processing the bunch and wrapping it or popping it in a vase. You can easily offer 3 price points (single bunch, double bunch, triple bunch) and there’s hardly any labor involved.

Focus on seasonal stems or varieties that you can get box pricing on. I plan out an entire year of what types of flowers I’ll be offering (for example, January may be alstroemeria, February is carnations, March is iris, etc) and average out the cost so it’s the same every month.

When customers join this subscription service, they receive a complimentary vase. I keep a sample of this standard vase at the shop so I can trim my incoming bunches to close to the length they’ll need for their own vase. I like a skinny rectangle or a pyramid shaped vase for this - something with a small diameter opening so my customers can just drop the flowers in and they’ll look good.

I also offer an upgraded version that includes a designer arranging the stems with some greenery and bear grass. Then when the customer picks up or we deliver, we pick up the previous month's vase.

2. Mixed Florals

Our most popular subscription, this can be sold as a wrapped bunch or upgraded to include a vase or design. Again, focus on seasonal blooms and profitable quantities. If your wholesaler offers pre-wrapped mixed bouquets at a good price, this is a no brainer. I usually upgrade their wrapping to fit my store branding, but the labor of assembling the wrapped bouquets is done. A fun way to advertise this would be to partner with a local radio station that does “birthday announcements” and have them choose 1 winner a month for this bouquet.

The designed upgrade is the most popular option at my shop. Recipients get a unique design featuring some of our monthly stems. We allow our customers to choose the dates on this one. So they can choose birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. This allows them to pre-book their whole year of gift giving. We call a few days ahead to confirm the delivery and double check the card message. We’ve made a lot of happy spouses repeat customers with this one! I usually run a special at Christmas or the first of the year for people that book and pay for the whole year ahead.

3. Plant Subscription

This is valuable for both new plant parents and die-hard plant fanatics. We decide the entire package value ahead of time, then average out the cost so the monthly subscription price is the same. So the retail value is different every month but the total yearly value is around $600 in my store - which is an easy $49.95 per month averaged out. Subscribers are rotated between 4”, 6” and 8” green and blooming plants.

A few months are accessories like a new pot, pruning shears or fertilizer. We include care tips each time, and offer one complimentary re-potting to our yearly subscribers. This is a very popular gift as well, and I have a few options for it on my website. Recipients get a full sized greeting card explaining the subscription and a link to a survey where we can learn more about their home environment and level of plant expertise.

4. Gift Subscriptions

Fun to give, fun to give to oneself offer a “gift subscription” at different price levels. One month may be a bouquet, one month a plant, one month a candle, another a self care box, etc. This is an awesome way to highlight the best your shop has to offer across the board. You could also partner with other local businesses on this - a “taste of your town” gift subscription that features a few different types of small businesses. Then you can all share in packaging cost, advertising - and the rewards of new customers and email addresses.

With any of these 4 types of subscriptions, be clear on the value and the fulfillment process. Is this pick up only or will you offer/charge for delivery? Can people choose their dates or is it at your discretion? Will you take requests or is it the designers' choice? How much notice do you need for cancellation?... Educate your subscribers on what to expect up front - and throw in a surprise once in a while to keep them smiling and re-subscribing. For example, we find out our subscribers birthday and during their birthday month we include a sweet treat and a note from our staff.

5. Memorial Service Subscription

This can be very profitable, especially once you have established subscribers and can place product orders with these customers in mind. If you have a local funeral home that you work with, ask them to include a small card or brochure with their information packet they give the families. This subscription is part product and part service - you are offering peace of mind for grieving families to know that their loved ones' graves are being cared for. An email blast to your list in May is a good chance to let people you offer this service, or record a video of you making some memorial pieces and talk about what you’re providing - peace of mind and comfort.

At our shop, we have a standard Memorial subscription that covers 3 deliveries a year - spring, autumn and winter. Some shops prefer quarterly or just Memorial Day, it all depends on your market and the weather in your area. This service can also be customized for deliveries made on certain days, like birthdays or anniversaries. Subscription options could be things like cemetery cans/cone, a headstone spray, wreath or a garden stake. I have a few customers that like to do a mix of all of those items throughout the year. Premake anything artificial during slower months. Usually I can get two or three years out of a silk piece with some good maintenance.

Work the cost of the time spent finding the grave into your delivery charge. My super awesome husband went with me one year and pinned the GPS coordinates for each grave. So now if I can’t deliver, my staff can pull up the Excel sheet and find their way there. Also decide - will you offer pick up, photos and storage? We are blessed with lots of space and offer storage for a yearly fee, and I’m always surprised at the number of people, both out of town and locals, that take advantage of it.

Subscriptions are dependable income.

If you don’t currently offer a subscription at your shop, I’d highly recommend it! Knowing that each month you’ll have those guaranteed sales not only helps the bottom line - it can also help steer your buying decisions. If I know that I have 18 subscribers in our Plant Club, I can order in case quantities and get a much better price on plants, containers, etc. Same with gift items. Planning (and pre-selling) your year ahead means that when you go to market you can confidently order your subscription items and get a possible price break.

Do you have a subscription service at your shop? Or do you have other tips for florists to share about subscription services? I’d love to hear your tips in the comments.

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