Florist webshop and design probes
November 2020
Zealand Academy
Bachelor Student
How to help a flower shop blossom?
It's Mother's Day, and you want to sweeten her life with a beautiful bouquet. There's just one problem: the shops are closed due to COVID-19, and you're late. You rush to search for bouquets Køge on Google and click on all the websites. Another problem arises: your mum is allergic to roses, and all the websites only offer bouquets where roses are included. You get frustrated but end up clicking on the webshop for Binderiet Vestergade. You are quickly aware of the visual identity and the fast one-day delivery. In addition, the company the company offers the possibility to compose your own bouquet. Your mum receives the flowers and is overjoyed and delighted by the sweet thought at such a difficult time.
Company description
The first impulse of the phrase, "find a business that has been strongly affected by COVID-19", is negatively weighted towards a business that has suffered losses during the first lockdown. Many businesses and industries have been heavily affected, with major consequences. This project was based on a company that has experienced the opposite effect. Through an innovative initiative, Binderiet Vestergade increased its turnover during this pressure. Using a sign, chalk, a product range and Mobilepay, the company has created a self-service system that has increased its turnover. This has given the owners the courage to innovate further aspects of the business. Binderiet Vestergade was, at that time, a relatively new business that had existed since January 2019. The owner wants a business with a cosy atmosphere and good old-fashioned personal service to keep customers returning. The florist is located on Vestergade in Køge, near Køge pedestrian street and market square. The idyllic facade is welcoming and hospitable.
Business Model Canvas
This Business Model Canvas model is developed from the company's current situation, based on assumptions from a conversation with Binderiet Vestergade.
Value proposition design
Primary target group
The target group, consisting primarily of women aged 30-60, has a stable economy and enjoys the ambience that fresh flowers can bring to a home. The following are assumptions based on conversations with Binderiet Vestergade.
Due to Covid-19, many workplaces have become remote. Binderiet Vestergade has learnt that the target group want their homes to look nice and decorated, now that they spend a lot of much of their time at home.
Customer jobs
Gains
"Poor me"
It is assumed that having something nice to look at will give them energy. It also feeds the ‘poor me’ mentality that some will acquire after having to do without some other aspects of their life, such as socialising with their colleagues.
The affirming effect
You want to be met with words of praise for your purchase, as it will have an affirming effect. For example, when you're in a zoom meeting with colleagues and they praise the beautiful bouquet on the table behind you.
Pains
Delivery
Despite working from home and cutting out commuting time, the target group is assumed to feel they should work more subconsciously. There's no time to buy these neglected elements for your everyday life.
Disadvantages of self-indulgence
The target audience is assumed to have a desire for self-indulgence. However, this pampering requires effort in terms of maintenance. Plants need water changes, branches need trimming, some need fertiliser, etc.
Gain creators
To fulfil the unmet needs, the company should consider building a website that can accommodate the remaining needs for flexible delivery and ordering of goods. In addition, the website can be used as another source of inspiration for customers.
Pain relievers
A website with delivery information, advice, a webshop, and contact information would allow customers who cannot physically visit the store in the store to still shop at Binderiet Vestergade. The website can probably also contribute to acquiring new customers and expanding the existing customer base.
Data collection
Quantitative
Data collection has primarily consisted of an online questionnaire created via Google Analyze. This quantitative questionnaire type is useful because the interviewer does not have to ask the target groups questions face-to-face in the cold. Few people want to do this because of Covid-19 and an online questionnaire doesn't require as much persuasion. It was shared on Facebook in groups dedicated to our target group, such as 'Det sker i Køge'. The first four questions are about demographics, and the rest are about what preferences and buying habits
the respondents have.​
Qualitative
To see if there are similarities between our online questionnaire results and the customers' observations according to the company's owner, we chose to send an email with some questions. The owner, Lærke, did not respond as quickly as we had hoped, and this resulted in a qualitative phone conversation, which we subsequently transcribed.
Result
The questionnaire shows that it is mainly women who shop in flower shops, 79.3% of 116 respondents. This is not surprising, as the company has said that primarily women shop at Binderiet Vestergade. Only 19 out of 116 respondents live in Køge and the surrounding area, which may explain why some answers do not match the company's assumptions. One example is that 70 out of 116 are between 18 and 30. However, Binderiet Vestergade's primary buyers are between 30 and 60 years old. Based on the questionnaire, 81% keep flowers at home, and since some of the responses do not take place in Køge, the respondents can be seen as potential online customers. However, many are not interested in shopping online because they prefer physical stores. Still, they can be persuaded to start shopping online if the ability to design their bouquet becomes a trend in online stores. This is precisely why a website for their business would be a good solution.
Design probes
This type of data collection has not been handed out to the target audience. These are just ideas of what our design probes might look like. For this project, collecting information about the target group and potential buyers using a questionnaire is considered beneficial. However, to further substantiate why the target group acts the way they do, a design of some design probes has been created to have the opportunity to collect more data.
Some were drawn by me and the rest by Rikke Rosenqvist Nielsen
Solution
The current assumed business model is based on physical store sales, with a high level of service and a great atmosphere that customers remember. The recommended future business model will be an innovative combination of the business models Digitisation and User design; these models will support the new concept of a website. Digitisation covers the website itself, which will link the physical store and the social media platforms used today. User design comes into play by offering customers the opportunity to design their own products in the form of flower arrangements and bouquets. This will be a subpage on the webshop.
New proposed Business Model Canvas
The above is a graphical representation of the new innovative business model, where elements associated with the website are implemented in the previous business model.
Website made in Wix
Reflection
This project was characterised by a lack of communication during the start-up period, which resulted in the group work starting slowly. This was optimised along the way, and the group effort improved. Scrum is considered an effective tool for project management that has created an overview. Furthermore, the number of team members is considered too high considering the size of the project. It is assessed that the survey is not representative of the rest of the Danish population, as 79.3% of the respondents are women. There is an equal distribution of men and women in Denmark, 50.26% women and 49.74 men, respectively. For the questionnaire to be representative, the percentage distribution of respondents should reflect the percentage distribution of women and men in the Danish population.
