Starting an Online Flowers Shop
There are only few things in this world which are more used in our daily life than flowers. Even in modern ways, when technology has skyrocketed, people have a great interest in flowers. People use flowers for special occasions, events and offer as gifts to family members or friends. Selling flower is a booming business as everyone seems to like flowers. Selling flowers online is even a better choice and a possible success.
Setting up an online website for flowers
The first step towards starting your business is to start an online flower gift shop. Register a new domain, develop a shopping cart and write information pages like about us, contact us, privacy policy and refund policy. Describe about your business briefly to gain trust of new visitor/customer. Offer 100% refund guarantee if any mishap occurs. Write a video tutorial on how to place an order on your website. Remember, not everyone is "Mr Keyboard" type of personality, some of your new customers may be ordering for the very first time, or even never used a computer before.
Research about quality suppliers
Do research on Google and find list of flower suppliers in those cities, where you want to offer services. Please remember, its better that you offer flower delivery services in your own city in the beginning. You can increase the number of cities with time as your business grows. The Small domain/area will enable you to offer quality service and convert each new customer into a lifelong customer. So instead of being a hasty, you should be a smart thinker. Get contacts of possible flower suppliers, talk with them on the phone and set up a meeting. Go to their farms or warehouses and check the flowers yourself, see if they can provide you with the quality flowers. Get rates of flowers and negotiate the price with them, remember less buying price means more profit for you.
Add Products
After successful negotiations, get the services of a really good photographer. Take photos of each product and upload it on your website. Write briefly about each product and add buy-now button on each product description page. Users should be allowed to create a new account on your website so that they could manage order history.
Credit Card processing
When you offer an online service, you should be able to charge customer's credit card. Different online companies provide this service such as PayPal, Scrill, 2checkout.com etc.
Delivery Choices
As a small businessperson, you can deliver flowers to recipient by yourself. But, if you do not have time because you are doing a job, you can hire part-time delivery guys who will deliver your orders. At the start, just one-man is more than enough.
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Till to this point, you have an online flower shop. You have added products, and new customers can visit your website and place order online. Their credit cards will be charged for services you offer. But, you forgot something, you are a newcomer in the flower delivery business, no one knows you. So, you need to advertise your business, tell customers that you offer flower delivery services as well. You can do this by advertising online, rent a banner on the famous website of your city or you can use Google AdWords to promote your business online. You can do offline advertising as well, like paper advertising etc.
This is not just an article but my personal experience, this is how i started online flower delivery services in Pakistan. If you want to Send Flowers to Pakistan to your friend or family member, please visit http://www.flowersentiments.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Muhammad_Imran_Zafar
