The FINANCIAL — More investors are coming to Georgia all the time, which means that more conferences and public meetings are being held by the new companies. As a result local florists are being referred to more frequently in order to decorate corporate and promotional events.
A good reason for cooperation with florists is that flowers and floral arrangements in offices help companies to create the best possible office environment for their employees as well as visiting customers. Flowers in an office or reception areas can create a statement as well as a relaxing office environment. Companies that introduce flowers and floral arrangements into their office environments have been shown to actually increase employee productivity and mood.
Although flowers as romantic gifts remain the priority focus of florists, as people of all ages, social class, nationality or race – basically the whole society sees these wonderful plants as the best means for decorating their personal lives and showing affection to a loved one.
“When we decided to start a flower business, our main purpose and motivation was first of all to offer high quality flowers to the local market, to provide people with prompt service and launch online orders from abroad,” Natalia Chkonia, founder and owner of Flowers.ge told The FINANCIAL.
As she noted, one of their main directions is corporative service. In the case of the conclusion of a corporative service contract, they offer a discount between 10-30%. Their corporative customers are Center Point Group, Bank of Georgia, Club 24, Joint Stock Company Madneuli, TBC Bank and Magti GSM.
The minimum price for event decoration is from GEL 400 at Flowers.ge. It depends on the scope and scale of the event.
“Taking into account today’s busy life rhythm people simply do not have time to come to the shop and choose a bunch of flowers. Therefore we created an internet service – online purchase of flowers and delivery to a location. Online service is very convenient as orders can be placed via the internet (plastic card) as well as by telephone,” claimed Chkonia.
Online spending in the UK hit GBP 4.5 billion in May, an increase of 1.6 percent from April, according to the latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index.
Online shopping has started to be the best and the easiest way to buy things in Georgia. Flowers.ge is so far the only shop in the country offering online shopping.
“The customer can choose the desired flower arrangement from a range of photos on the internet and place an order. We offer various options of payment: plastic card payment, a bank transfer, payment in cash to the courier and direct payment at the shop,” Chkonia noted.
According to Chkonia, to buy a bunch of flowers via the internet, you need to have a visa or master plastic card except not an electron plastic card. Payment in cash to the courier means that after placement of the order, the courier goes to the customer’s residence and receives payment in exchange for the order.
Their partner is Cartu Bank as only this bank provides electronic commerce in Georgia now. Payment by credit card is saved by the universal multi-banking system of Cartu Bank.
The flower business has various types of service: bunches of flowers, corporative service, decoration of celebrations and wedding parties. In today’s world it is hard to imagine any parties, presentations or activities without flowers.
“Nowadays, like in Europe, it has become popular in Tbilisi to decorate office interiors and commercial organizations with compositions of flowers and plants. These services make the whole year commercially profitable for us,” said Chkonia.
The income of Flowers.ge made GEL 30,000 in 2007 and was GEL 35,000 until June 2008, out of which 60% was from internet orders.
For internet orders 40% is from Georgia and the other 60% is shared between Europe and the USA, which means that online purchases are very popular in Georgia.
“We essentially have bunches of roses, lilies and chrysanthemums on the internet. We will add tropical flowers, plants and also presents like chocolates, cakes and champagne,” claimed Chkonia.
“Like all over the world the main demand is for roses in our country. In Georgia the main supplier is Holland because of the good quality of the flowers. A large amount of roses we receive are from Ecuador as well,” she added.
According to Chkonia, the most expensive flower is phalaenophsis. One phalaenophsis costs between GEL 60-150. They sell 10 to 15 of those a month.
They receive an average of 3-5 internet orders a day. In summer this amounts to a USD 100-250 average and 30% more in winter. They are currently trying to increase this figure by 35% by the end of 2008.
From November 2007 to June 2008 Flowers.ge sold approximately 15,000 roses. The highest amount paid for a bunch of flowers amounted to GEL 700 and was a bunch of phalaenophsis.
The company spent USD 5,000 on advertising in 2007.
“Till now we do not have any competitors in Georgia. There is no other flower shop in Georgia that has internet service,” said the owner of Flowers.ge.
“The price of a bunch of flowers starts from USD 12 in our shop. A business bunch of flowers costs approximately USD 50. The customer can choose birthday flowers for USD 20. The price of flowers for wedding parties starts from USD 25,” noted Chkonia.
“The key directions of Art Flore Design are to deliver the products of high art level and modern design like celebrity and various ritual bunches of flowers, to decorate various types of events (wedding parties, presentations, governmental and various official receptions, concert halls and events) and interiors, to arrange small landscape designs and their further services, to provide various types of consultancy services on the treatment and protection of plants,” Irina Danelia, owner of Art Flore Design told The FINANCIAL.
As she stated, their customers are mainly private persons and organizations like the Georgian parliament, apparatus of the Prime Minister, chancellery, various ministries (the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Justice, etc.), embassies, banks, various state organizations, opera house and theatres and private companies.
Art Flore Design decorates businesses and other meetings. Besides the orders of state official institutions, the company cooperates with Georgian Events and various private entities.
The price for event decoration depends on the scope and difficulty of the work. Events are mainly decorated with flower compositions and plants (with exclusive copyright designs). Their services include designing, implementation, delivery, installation and dismantling.
During the first 5 months of 2008 and in 2007 Art Flore Design sold flowers of a total worth of GEL 320,000.
Lilies, roses, orchids and chrysanthemums are the most demanded flowers. A very expensive flower is the orchid. One orchid costs GEL 50-80 and sales of it are quite high. The biggest amount paid in their shop for a bunch of flowers is GEL 600.
The price for flower arrangements at businesses, wedding parties and birthdays fluctuate between GEL 30-150.
“We make arrangements for meetings when a famous person is arriving in Georgia. Our service includes greeting of the guest, decoration of the guest room, meeting, dinner, conferences and various places where the guest has to visit. One example was the greeting of the U.S. President George Bush. We decorated about 11 separate areas and were paid approximately GEL 25,000,” said Danelia.
As she noted, Art Flore is an official importer of Holland’s flowers and accordingly they have a wide range of flowers – lilies, chrysanthemums, roses, orchids, tulips, and irises. The assortment does not change seasonally and remains almost the same throughout the year.
“Our competitors are some of the importer companies who own their own shops. We spent approximately GEL 1,000 in 2007 for advertisements of our shop. We mostly buy flowers from Holland and in Georgia,” she added.
“Unfortunately we do not have internet service yet, but we plan to arrange it in the nearest future. However online orders and sales are only becoming popular now and their role is not so important in Georgia yet,” Danelia told The FINANCIAL.
Art Flore arranges flowers for approximately 80-100 various events a year and 6 or 7 events a month. The exact expenses depend on the demands of the clients.
“The price for designing one event is GEL 1,000 on average,” Nini Eristavi, Customer Relations & Marketing Manager Conferences & Special Events of Georgia Events, told The FINANCIAL.
Georgia Events has two directions: conference management, corporate events and events management in an open area. The company decorates all events with flowers, they use flowers and other various plants to decorate the main tables.
According to Eristavi, to design events they cooperate with flower salon Art Flore Design, which offers them many different flower compositions. Their service includes design, delivery and decoration of flowers. The prices are different and depend on the demand.
“We arrange PR events and use flower decoration if it is required by the event’s concept. We order designers and arrange the decoration of the event place,” Marika Sarjveladze, Event manager of GEPRA, told The FINANCIAL.
According to Sarjveladze the minimum bonus of event management amounts to EUR 1,500. From their experience the price of one event’s flowers decoration is 300 GEL and above.
Their company arranges PR events a minimum of twice a month, 24 events a year. Totally GEPRA arranges events of approximately EUR 36,000 a year, from which GEL 7,200 is spent on flower decoration.
Consultancy Group GEPRA is actively involved in the public relation sphere, providing consultancy and services from 2002 and now represents a private independent consultancy organization in public relations. The income of company GEPRA is half a million.
There are at least one hundred and one things to arrange when you are planning a wedding. Among the most important are the flowers that will be carried and worn by members of the bridal party and will decorate the venues. Wedding party vendors such as experienced wedding florists can save you time, worry and even money by helping with these arrangements.
“Today’s wedding bouquets are more personal than ever, running the gamut from classic all-white formal arrangements to unique designs featuring brightly coloured flowers,” said Rebecca Cole, New York City floral and interior designer.
Floriculture Item Sales at All Retail Outlets in America: 2007 – USD 20.1 billion, 2006 – USD 19.9 billion, 2005 – USD 19.2 billion, 2004 – USD 18.3 billion, 2003 – USD 17.9 billion.
Rebecca Cole is the founder of Cole Creates, a retail and design business, and appears regularly on television and radio shows. The author of Flower Power, Potted Gardens and Paradise Found, she is a regular contributor to the Today show and has appeared on Oprah. Cole is also the star of the Discovery Channel show, Surprise by Design.
According to Cole, brides need not worry about matchmaking when it comes to wedding flowers. From bridal bouquets to the boutonnieres, wedding flower trends include diversity of choice, boldness of colour and distinctiveness of design, according to a leading expert.
Wedding flowers follow fashion trends and today, individuality, rather than convention is in style.
Colourful blooms, in contrast to traditional white, are also ‘en vogue’, with lavenders and plums beautifying bridal parties. Bold and powerful arrangements dominate over the traditionally romantic. Modern, Zen and even monochromatic designs featuring only one flower or colour will in many cases replace traditional delicate mixes of flowers heading down the aisle.
When it comes to dramatic and distinctive design, hand-tied French twist bouquets incorporating bold ribbons and pearls make a striking statement. Cascading bouquets, a current popular selection for brides, will continue to add drama. And, table décor will become even more of a central focus.
“The containers that hold the flowers and what surrounds them, the candles, are attracting significant attention from brides,” Cole said. “Even for smaller, more intimate weddings, flowers can make a big design statement, on any budget.”
As Cole noted, beyond the most established uses for wedding flowers – room and table décor and corsages – flowers of all varieties are being used to enhance the special day in many non-traditional ways.
Ultimately, you should select a florist whose style you like. Visit a number of florist shops to get a feel for their style, and once you think you’ve decided on a florist, have your fiancé send you flowers from the shop, and see if you like what arrives.
“Flowers are one of the most important elements of your wedding day. “They set the mood and tone for the event and will be remembered for years to come,” Cole added.
Written by Sopho Kheladze
Discussion about this post