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I love the flower shop business model, at least that is what I call it.

The basic idea is that one central firm, basically a marketing and order-taking center, takes orders (and the payment) for a fairly uniform set of products - such as flowers - from all over the country. That firm then buys the product (e.g., flowers) at a local retailer and has them deliver the product to the customer.

The customer could have gone to the flower shop himself, or called, but it was more convenient to call the number he knew off the top of his head and be done with it. Thus, the central marketing order-taking company was paid for convenience. He also did not have to go anywhere, stand in line, carry flowers around, etc.

The flower shop business model can be applied to many other businesses as well. The main thing that makes the model difficult to apply is product uniformity from region to region. A rose is a rose (sort of) and the very nature of them creates a transaction where customers (and the receiver is often not the actual customer) smiles and happily accepts them without complaint. Flowers almost sounds like a dream product from that standpoint but they have their issues such as perishability, which is why the flower shop model came about. The flower shop model is also great for large items that cost a lot to ship, too.

Where else can this model be applied? It can be applied to many many places. Look for uniform products around you that cannot be shipped a long way because of weight or perishability. Carpet, for instance, is pretty uniform, universally needed, and expensive to ship a long distance. You can teach people about it via a website, sell it based on specs, too, and there are retailers nationwide.

Technology allows us a certain degree of customization in the product offerings. Imagine a company that sells products nationally and supplies them out of regional stores. A visitor to the website would enter his zip code and be taken to the products (e.g., carpet) offered in his region. He buys, the money is accepted at the central company, and the materials are bought and shipped from the local retailer.

Off the top of my head, here are some products that could be sold using the flower shop business model:

Carpet
Tile & Wood Flooring
Hamburgers (food)
Dog Food
Animal/Farm Supplies
Sheds

You will definitely see me write more about the flower shop model.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Business, Business Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.