Flowers2Go Mobile Business Plan

Flowers2Go: Mobile Plan

Melissa Bird-Vogel

UW Com 597

Company: Flowers 2 Go

Current Market State:

Women used to buy flowers regularly to brighten up the home. But when the economy started to slump in 2008, business went down and flowers went the way of luxury items – a “nice-to-have,” but not a “need-to-have” for consumers. Flowers became a special occasion luxury versus standard procedure – for both men and women. Thus, business has been hurting and we’re looking to improve sales.

Target Audience:

Women are not the ones we need to get to buy more flowers. They rarely have someone to buy for who will sincerely appreciate the flowers. There’s no motive. Men, on the other hand, are the target consumers. Women appreciate receiving flowers as giving flowers is associated with love and romance. It shows the woman she’s valuable, appreciated, and thought of.

Company Problem concerning Target Audience:

Most men typically reserve flowers for “special occasions” especially with the current economic situation, as outlined in ‘Current Market State.’ Think back to the last time you either received flowers (female) or bought flowers for your significant other (male). Was it just a random Tuesday? Or, was it when an apology was needed or it was Valentine’s Day or a birthday? More than likely, the latter is your answer: it was a “special occasion” whether that’s an illness, an anniversary, a holiday, a death, or other markedly important event.

Target Audience Problems:

a. Men forget which days are important to send flowers. (Women are obviously capable of forgetting important dates too, but remember – our target here is the male audience.) The dates men think to send flowers are not the only important days to a woman. TODAY is an important day to the woman. So is the anniversary of your first date. Or child’s birth. Or a parent’s death. Showing her you care may be important to you but remembering those dates as they come up can be troublesome. We can help our consumer remember those dates and be known as the partner who always remembers to send flowers – what a thoughtful guy!

b. When romance dies, a lack of intimacy can ensue. Single men get this ‘issue’ solved with tips for single guys on how to score with the ladies. But committed men often wonder how to bring back intimacy – and women want romance. How is this solved? One way is to surprise her with romantic gestures that show he’s thinking of her often and cares about making her happy, showing her she’s loved and appreciated.  We can obviously help with this since we’re a florist and our owner is a woman tuned into romantic gestures.

Solution:

Mobile Application: “The Real Man’s Guide to Lasting Romance”

By Creating a Mobile App for men in committed relationships, we can solve the consumers’ problems – and in turn, help solve our company problem of selling more flowers & floral delivery services.

Application Contents:

“The Real Man’s Guide to Lasting Romance”

(Hint: Ladies, You can sign your man up for the service)

•Quick link to purchase flowers by price or occasion

•Tips for a lasting romance – Tip of the day available on application & option for SMS subscription for daily or weekly tips sent to your mobile.

•SMS reminders for important dates

Important to her – not necessarily to you. Don’t know? Have her BFF help you fill in the calendar. You’ll score bonus points by asking for help and showing her friend that you really care.

•Links to the message you’re trying to get across:

1. “I forgot our anniversary until the day of”
2. “I forgot our anniversary until the day after”
3. “I remembered our anniversary so I want the flowers delivered promptly the morning of”

•Store Locator

Vital to include in all mobile efforts – often the key info consumer needs

•Personalize-able calendar to synch with your mobile calendar

So even if you don’t send flowers, you can remember to at least send a text

•“When you accidentally imply she’s fat – send chocolates instead”

Links to other products if flowers aren’t the perfect gesture

•Forgot to get a card? We have those too.

Feel free to email/fax a signature or come into the store to keep it on file with us. Or we’ll handwrite a romantic note for you.

•Answers to difficult questions – like “why are you so thoughtful?”

Because you’ll need them once you employ our tips!

•Flower meanings – so you can sound really, really smart when you the exact bouquet that expresses a sentiment without words. Don’t know how? Don’t worry, we do.

Why Mobile?

a. Mobile is a way to connect with consumers in a personal, 1:1 communication. It’s the perfect means to send direct messages that no one else is likely to see. The intimacy of communication with mobile applications and SMS will be a great way to talk to our target and help remind him of important dates while providing a fun, interactive application to make romance and buying flowers fun.

b. Mobile is becoming ubiquitous, as we all know. Consumers now expect to be able to perform tasks on the go – without sitting down at the computer to fulfill to-do’s which includes buying flowers. If we’re not ready in the mobile environment, we’ll miss out on impromptu sales. If we are ready, we can capture a lot of the local audience as other local florists do not have mobile-optimized sites. Nor do they have mobile-optimized search results telling consumers “we’re here with a mobile site – come click & buy now.”

Components:

1. a. Mobile Website
2. b. Mobile Application
3. c. SMS
4. d. Mobile Advertising + On- & Offline Advertising

Strategy & Ecosystem: Mobile Website

First main component in fleshing out mobile strategy – the mobile website.

A mobile-optimized site is vital for on-the-go consumers.

Include:

Store Locator; Click-to-Call; WAP and M dot versions; device recognition/optimization; Option to receive MMS photo previews to customers of the perfect bouquet for the occasion & budget; Easy navigation & big buttons to choose by price or occasion; Credit Card OR PayPal OR Google Checkout for mobile-commerce comfort (save info with login available too); Promotion of Mobile App (Android; BlackBerry; iPhone/iPod touch/iPad – once those are created).

Work on:

Facebook connect; Twitter integration; email a floral arrangement; MMS a floral arrangement; SMS the site info

Content Owner: Our Company:

1. Create brand message

2. Create Essentials for Mobile Site borne out of online site (store locator;

3. Prioritize necessities/wants for site capabilities

4. RFP for lowest price on experienced site developer, leveraging in-house capabilities and interns from local University

Site Developer:

1. Find Site Developers & RFP for lowest price

2. Work with site dev to test across devices

3. Integrate calendar synching and phone # upload for easy communication

Consumer:

1. Discover via website, blog, mobile site, mobile search, App store, in-store promos, etc. –> PURCHASE! Have great experience and:

2. Receive text confirming flowers delivered, promoting mobile app/share experience with friends

3. Share app via Social Share buttons (FB; Twitter; email, SMS)

Strategy & Ecosystem: Mobile Application

Content Owner: Our Company:

1. Look for in-house resources or student interns who can help create basics for low or zero cost.

2. Create brand message

3. Create Essentials for App

4. RFP for App Developers to create iPhone; BlackBerry; Android

App Developer:

1. Create Application for iPhone; Port to BB; Android

Leverage developer resources online:

• iPhone: (http://developer.apple.com/iPhone/program)
• Android Phones: (http://developer.android.com)
• BlackBerry: (http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers)

2. Work with our company to test app

-Consider certification for reliability on behalf on consumer (True North or other)

3. Submit to App Stores in conjunction with our company; together, make any necessary revisions

OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers):

1. BlackBerry; Google; Apple for application hosting and “billing” even though we will offer free app
2. Try to work with OEMs to integrate floral delivery billing to cell phone account

Content Exposure:

Create discoverability via advertising (blogs; magazines; product placements; mobile site; online and mobile search) and within application stores

Consumer:

1. Discover application from above means + WOM

2. Share app via Social Share buttons (FB, Twitter, email, SMS)

SMS

To support Mobile Application; must be opt-in; must include “STOP”/”HELP”/data & msging rates may apply verbiage as well for MMA compliance

Steps:

1. Work with Shortcode Company such as Neustar (or other cheaper options)
2. Set up SMS delivery for opt-in Romance Tips
3. Set up Notifications on specific dates for consumers

Set up MMS capabilities and build database of arrangements that are easily duplicated to send to consumers – make photos small enough K-weight to easily send via mobile but high-res enough to display beauty of arrangements.

Advertising

Word of Mouth is not enough.

We must work with existing offline capabilities such as in-store (both our store locations and other brands such as Chocolatiers whose products will we also offer via Application) and product placements, like on the floral delivery business cards inserted in deliveries.

Online:

Use website to cross-promote mobile efforts.

Twitter Account: find romance tip providers and advice-givers on Twitter; find other entrepreneur strategies and leverage learnings

Facebook Page: use to promote; create replica of application on Facebook page and give links for different device-specific application downloads.

Contest – promote on Facebook and Twitter to get submissions (build database for promotions) – “Best Romance Tip” and get free bouquet of dozen roses delivered.

Facebook advertising: keywords and targeting to leverage minimal advertising budget; offer discount coupon to increase profile fanning

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): get a mobile information page link onto our main website; choose SEO words carefully

Paid Search: CPC vs. CPM – use zipcode or location-based services to decrease costs (google; Bing)

Local Papers: The Stranger etc; look into advertising on the Stranger’s mobile application.

Mobile:

Mobile search – use GPS in phone to provide relevant search results (and minimize costs) –  paid search: CPC vs. CPM; work with Bing/Google representatives to check into paid mobile results vs. any search; search result includes “Mobile site” so users know they’re getting a good mobile experience

Mobile advertising: look into AdMob etc to find affordable geo-targeted advertising opportunities

Choose good keywords (and optimize based on search queries/downloads for searches in App Marketplaces such as iTunes Store and Android marketplace.

FourSquare – look into creating a link to FourSquare so any purchase or delivered flower counts as a “virtual-check-in”; create “Casanova” badge on Fourquare for users who sign up for SMS tips delivered daily

PR:

Send flowers and synopsis of application to local and national bloggers; magazine editors and column writers; newspaper advice columnists; etc.

Associated Costs/Fees:

-All the above will cost us, except for Facebook and Twitter accounts.

SMS:

Shortcode: ~$250/mo

MMS/SMS Delivery: ~$250/mo

We may need to nix SMS if we don’t get many signups and utilize MMS/SMS on a one-to-one basis.

Mobile App:

~5-10K

Mobile Site:

~5-10K

OR, leverage: http://campaignmobile.com/index.html to create our own low-budget site.

(Which is why we must leverage in-house resources for the site & application development. Contact University of Washington, MCDM to email students for internship/résumé-building opportunity)

PR efforts: the cost of flowers + delivery; owner will write up synopsis of application and catchy pitch to promote app.

Advertising is a high cost as well and we may scale back to rely heavily on social media if funds are tight. Mobile search results would be where we’d focus the dollars.

Challenges:

*Cost – this is our greatest challenge. Look to VC funding for assistance.

-How do we stand out in the marketplace?

-Will users find and use our application?

-Collecting a substantial SMS Userbase to justify cost of Shortcode and SMS service fees

-Media exposure – again, how to advertise without great costs to company

-Competitors – other florists will look into mobile soon too

-Content Selection –“Content is King” – need to be “catchy” and “fun” without being offensive; need to provide useful information but also entertain

-Measurement – how do we know it’s working?

Justification for costs:

-Void in marketplace: no other applications like this; no other local florists with mobile-optimized site.

-Necessary to be in mobile space; just like a website was expensive, but increasingly necessary (and now it’s a definite necessity for any successful business), mobile site/app is increasingly vital for companies to succeed.

Measurement:

Measure success by number of mobile coupon codes redeemed (sent with the tip of the day/week SMS).

Measure number of application downloads and subsequent “opens” per unique user. We would consider success if majority of downloads opened app once a month or more.

Orders from mobile site: consider using alternate phone number/routing from mobile site to track which phone orders stemmed from web vs. mobile. Ask users when they call from this alternate number if they know about our mobile application or if they want to save a login for easy mobile ordering.

Questions?

Contact me here or at: mbbv@u.washington.edu

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