Trouble for florists

In my working as a retail florist for so many years, I have come across request from customers (mostly young males) for flowers delivery to girls (who they think they love like anything). And mostly they want us to send flowers anonymously (with out revealing their name). The florist anticipate trouble in such orders but do not refuse such customers. They do not want to loose business. Although I know of many florists who refuse such orders.
I remember an incident when I took such order and sent my most experienced delivery boy to the house. That house turned out to be that of a retired army person who tied up my boy and threatened him with dire consequences. He asked various question like from which shop these flowers were sent, what was the description of customer who ordered and so on.
The delivery boy called me up and I spoke to that gentleman. With great persuasion he let my delivery man come back. That was the last day when I took such order. Now I never take an anonymous order and always have details (phone number) of customer with me.

Daman Anand

Branding in Flowers

I have not seen any branding for flowers or flower shops in India yet. The only company which comes to my mind is Ferns and Petals which have a noticeable presence in India. Other than that, each florist is unique with their special arrangement and unique service.

Daman Anand

Technology-Do the florist in India make use of it?

I have know Indian flowers industry closely for the past 16 years. I have noticed that there has not been much advancement as far as technology is concerned. Over 90% of florist in India do not have their own website. Whats more over 50% do not have an email ID. In this scenario, I can not even think of florist using an accounting package/Point of sale in India. Compared to this, florist in United States and Canada are more technology savvy. Majority of them are tied up with wire service (and use of technology comes mandatory). Many of them use accounting package and Point of sale(either provided by wire service or independently). Technology makes the work easier so that a florist can (and should) focus on other areas like customer service and sales.

Designers at flower shops

The designers (who make flower arrangements and bouquets) you see at flower shops in India are mostly from West Bengal. And 90 % of these come from Midnapore district of West Bengal. These designers, also sometimes called Karigars (sometimes as Mali's) do not have any formal training in flower designing. They just learn the things while at work/job. The person with no experience joins at a low salary but gradually upgrades to higher level with higher salary. Some designers are enterprising and they started their own shops.I am aware of few lucky ones who got job as designers at flower shops in Dubai and other countries.
Florist on the whole have contributed a lot for financial security of these families.