Episode 30: The Flower Shop of the Future: Keep your eyes open! Vonda & Ellie LaFever
Two years after Vonda presented "The Flower Shop of the Future" on the AIFD Symposium main stage in Washington, D.C., her daughter Ellie LaFever sits down to ask the obvious question: how much of it came true? The answer, it turns out, is a lot — and faster than anyone expected, thanks to a pandemic that pushed shops toward contactless payments, online experiences, and curbside everything. This episode is also a happy reunion: Lori is back after several weeks down with COVID-19, slowly getting her energy back and full of commentary.
Start with text messaging
Asked where a shop should begin with technology today, Vonda doesn't hesitate: SMS marketing. Text messages are a direct line to customers who practically live on their phones — perfect for time-sensitive offers, updates, and alerts sent to people who have consented to receive them. Her practical tip: shops are already calling customers to say they're open, so while you're on the phone, verify the mobile number and ask permission to send text reminders and specials. Services like TextMagic and SimpleTexting make it easy, and Ellie confirms the trend from the customer side — a 15-percent-off incentive got her to opt in, and SMS marketing is landing on her phone more every month. On the futuristic end: geo-fencing engines that use proximity beacons to ping opted-in customers with offers when they're physically nearby.
The disappearing cash register
The 2018 program predicted cash wraps would become less relevant, and Ellie walks through what that looks like now: the Apple-store model of a "floating" checkout — an iPad or phone with a tiny card reader (Square is the most common for in-person sales, Stripe another option) — frees up counter space for multipurpose use.
Even more timely is the QR code payment flow Ellie describes step by step: print a pre-receipt with a QR code, the customer scans it with their phone camera, a payment page pops up (often auto-filling from their digital wallet), and the transaction tracks back instantly to your payment portal or POS. No cash or cards change hands — a genuinely contactless, safer checkout during COVID. PayPal is already offering it. You don't need to rip out your terminals tomorrow, but this is the direction payments are moving; keep it in mind when it's time to update hardware.
Experiences, outside and online
Experiential retailing — a pillar of the original program — has gone virtual. Busey's flower shop in Georgia runs interactive online classes where customers pick up or receive a bucket of flowers and design along with the instructor. Julie Polar of Julie's Fountain of Flowers in Iowa created a wildly successful open-air market. Vonda urges shops to build big floral art displays outside the store and call the local media — the news is hungry for something positive. Ellie's addendum: amplify all of it with cheap, targeted paid social, and set up two permanent photo spots in your shop (one plain background, one home-style setting) so posting to social media takes seconds instead of willpower. Lori, listening back, connects it all to the Kmart blue light special — we've always marketed urgency; now the blue light is your phone.
Training your own designers
Experienced designers remain hard to find, and with more web orders shops are doing more recipe-and-picture duplication work — which an energetic person with some natural talent can be taught. The catch owners cite: no time to train. That demand is exactly why the family built Flower Prep School: The Essentials, a new online training program that starts at the true beginning — bucket washing, knife skills, bow making, the first arrangement — created by shop owners who have actually trained designers. One productivity key for novice and veteran alike: have the recipe and photo pullable on any device right at the workstation.
Key takeaways
- Start collecting SMS opt-ins now — every customer phone call is a chance to ask permission.
- Watch the cashless shift: floating checkouts and QR code payments are here, so plan your next hardware update around them.
- Sell experiences, not just stems — virtual classes, outdoor displays, open-air markets, and flash sales all bring people to you.
- Can't hire a designer? Train one — and keep recipes accessible on a device at every workstation.
- The flower shop of yesterday is not the shop of today or tomorrow. It's yours to create.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist