The founder of a floral design studio on why you need to sell bouquets in a tech-savvy way in 2020

Nikita Fedoseev is the creator of the capital’s floristry studio FTD (Flowers. Technology. Digital). Journalist Dilara Aronova spoke with him about the flower business, existing technologies, and, unexpectedly, online banking.

— Where does such an abbreviation come from? How can flowers and digital be related?— Technologies make business more convenient. It’s just that the floristry market is still in its infancy, which still causes surprise. In fact, it is very similar to the restaurant business. Both have production.Specialists prepare the final product from initial components. In a restaurant, these are dishes made from ingredients, while in floristry, they are bouquets made from flowers. Even the smallest coffee shop has an accounting program installed on a laptop. Floristry also requires a similar business management model. Loyalty programs should be integrated into the CRM, the electronic warehouse should show the real picture of what is happening in the warehouse, and orders can be tracked at all stages — “received,” “in progress,” “completed.”

There are already systems on the market developed specifically for the floristry industry, but they are imperfect. Plus, we plan to launch a franchise and our own ecosystem. Hence, the abbreviation — it contains our entire concept. Therefore, using third-party software will be problematic.— And what do you use now?— Google Sheets, which I managed to automate so that every one of our clients ends up in the system. This way, you can calculate cashback. Ideally, a loyalty program should analyze: what the client buys most often, where they deliver, when their mom, wife, and daughter have birthdays. Then we can send them notifications that delivery in their micro-district is free today, or that they shouldn’t forget to order a bouquet for their wife in advance. This is currently under development.The main thing we have managed to implement so far is electronic warehouse accounting. In the flower business, it is very important to track how long a flower has been in the warehouse since purchase. The longer it stays, the lower its value. Tracking storage times is necessary at least to avoid bad reviews. What if the client bought a normal flower, but it lasted two days instead of seven? Because it was delivered a long time ago, and we didn’t track it.Now, all warehouse contents are marked in the table with yellow, blue, and red colors. Red items are automatically written off. We dry these flowers and make bouquets from dried flowers. A very popular interior option. Thanks to this system, we have already managed to reduce write-offs to one and a half percent per month. I know that among our colleagues, this indicator reaches 10%.The human factor often let us down during holidays when order volumes were high. Without automation, you can be sure that someone will definitely make a mistake — forget to include a card, deliver to the wrong place, or deliver the wrong item. When orders started being processed in the system, life became easier.— By the way, about delivery. What is the problem with companies that accept delivery orders through an app or website but still call back by phone? Consumers often just want to press a button and don’t want to talk to anyone.— To avoid calling back, the company must receive payment. And for that, its website must have an internet acquiring system set up. Such systems from our banks are only just starting to work correctly and without failures. Five or six years ago, I suffered a lot because of their absence when I opened a delivery service called “Kangaroo” in Kostanay. Mobile transfers were not widespread then, acquiring worked only at the single bank in the country, and even then with interruptions.Now we are developing a new website and will definitely connect internet acquiring to maximize the speed and accuracy of processing applications. Since no one really likes phone calls now, we work in messengers. We respond to messages very promptly and conduct dialogues with buyers.— What other technologies do you plan to implement?— We are developing a system for automatic water change and vase cleaning. We thought long and hard about how to do this and concluded that the aquarium method is the best fit.The problem for all florists is back pain, because each vase needs to be washed manually and water needs to be changed regularly, monitoring the correct dosage of KrisalI studied global experience and the only thing I found was water circulation in vases. When water can be passed through a filter. This reduces the possibility of contamination, but does not solve the problem of regular replacement, cleaning of vessels, and correct dosage of solutions. I did not find such a technology that would regulate all this automatically. And since it doesn’t exist, we have to invent it. Everything is ready at the blueprint level. I am consulting with specialists, making changes to the project, and I think it should be launched in the coming year.— What do you mean by ecosystem?— We want to create a system similar to “Dodo Pizza.” A single database of restaurants, orders; an app and a call center. An ecosystem is when the central office manages the entire network. Franchise owners are owners of their own business, but they are obliged to comply with common requirements for product quality and service. All indicators have long been invented — sales, revenue, customer reviews. We make a great product. When you type “Flowers Nur-Sultan” into the 2GIS app, the first line is us.The creative part — composing bouquets — is handled by my wife. In three years, she gained so much experience that she opened a Floristry Academy, and florists from all over Kazakhstan come to study with her. Many have been on the market for more than ten years, but cannot compose organic and modern bouquets.Our franchise will consist of a unique method of composing bouquets, business management, and its technical support. And this is not a dream. This is a goal that separates us by just a few steps.

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