A rosy view of orchids - Orchids Only

With long-stemmed roses selling for $45 a dozen, why not send orchids? Barbara Todd and Sandy Warford point out that a basket of five large orchid blossoms costs much less and, long after most cut flowers have faded, these exotic blooms will continue to flourish.

The women, sisters, are proprietors of "Orchids Only," a business they began in 1981 in a small greenhouse attached to Todd's Portland, Ore., home. They have since expanded to an attractive downtown shop and a nationwide mail-order business thta offers a variety of orchid arrangements, priced from $13.50 for a small vase with a single bloom to $31.25 for a basket of five, shipping costs included.

But how to attract customers to a greenhouse in a residential neighborhood? The sisters' solution--a promotion advertising limousine service to their shop. It worked. Not only did customers come, but the unusual marketing approach resulted in local TV and newspaper coverage, spreading the word even more quickly. (The neighbors did not object; Todd and Warford had gone from door to door--with orchids--to clear their plan.) Within a year the sisters were doing enough business to open the shop in downtown Portland.

A year after that they began advertising nationally in such magazines as Gourmet and Bon Appetit. And last year their orchids were included in a national mail-order catalog. They also began to produce their own catalog.

Next, they developed affiliates in five cities where they had gotten the best response to their national advertising. The affiliates--in Detroit, Miami, Houston, Minneapolis and Washington--are paid a commission for taking orders locally. The flowers are then shipped direct to the customer from Oregon.

It has not all been easy. The sisters admit making mistakes--like spending half of their initial investment on expensive vases when they started the business. Although the vases were elegant, customers did not like the price. (Eventually, they gave the vases away as presents." They now pretest new arrangements, orchid varieties and containers in their shop before including them in the catalog. They have learned that simple ceramic vases and baskets are the most popular containers, and that pink varieties are usually favored over green orchids.

Listening to customers also changed the focus of their business. "We started out just selling plants, but people kept asking for bouquets," says Todd. Although their catalog includes orchid bulbs for $6 each and blooming plants for $40, Todd says they now deal primarily in cut blossoms.

Warford and Todd agree that their biggest problem is convincing people that orchids are not fragile. "These are not the sme orchids people got in corsages in the '40s and '50s," says Todd. They are of the cymbidium variety, native to the foothills of the Himalayas, and thrive in the temperate, moist climate of the Northwest. Careful breeding has produced larger, more richly colored flowers than those of the original species, and the blossoms are hardy, lasting three weeks or longer.

To emphasize the point, Warford holds out a perfectly formed white orchid. "Touch it," she says. "You can't hurt it. It won't discolor." In fact, the partners guarantee that their blooms will arrive fresh and flawless anywhere in the United States.

Todd and Warford attribute their success to a combination of effective marketing and careful planning. They started small, investing less than $5,000 to test their idea. When it proved successful, they borrowed $20,000 to expand. They carefully direct their marketing efforts toward the affluent consumer who enjoys entertaining, sends flowers as gifts and buys them for home or office.

The formula has paid off. Sales have increased about 40 percent each year since the business started. With the recent acquisition of a computer to speed up order processing, they are projecting 1985 sales at $400,000.

COPYRIGHT 1985 U.S. Chamber of Commerce
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group