Thousands of funeral homes in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean will be able to sell flowers directly to their customers from their branded websites, as the result of a new partnership between FTD and Batesville Casket Company.

Funeral homes that use Batesville’s Weblink website will receive a co-branded floral website, designed and hosted by FTD. Consumers can access this site through a link on the funeral home’s website; orders originating here will be sent to FTD.com and then to an FTD florist. The FTD site will include an assortment of FTD sympathy and funeral arrangements and gifts.

Batesville’s communications director, Teresa Gyularia, said “thousands” of funeral homes in the U.S. and Canada use Batesville’s branded website.

With this program, “FTD will provide a nationwide system for ordering sympathy arrangements to a market that has not always enjoyed a consistent, quality, branded experience,” said Robert Apatoff, president of FTD Group, Inc.

Jeff Corbin, owner of Radford Florist in Radford, Va., said he hopes the move will discourage the “flowers in a box” trend he’s seen grow at funeral homes. “I like that this makes floral orders florist filled,” said Corbin, a design instructor for FTD. “In my town, I see flowers arrive by box at funeral homes. And when those flowers aren’t processed properly or arrive in poor condition initially, it leaves a bad taste in consumers’ mouths and discourages them from buying flowers as future gifts.”

Corbin anticipates an uproar from fellow retailers “because this is something different,” but commends FTD for “taking a proactive stance” to get and keep these sympathy orders in the FTD system.

“Many florists still do not embrace a website and they would not get these orders anyway,” Corbin said. “This is simply wise marketing on FTD’s part and it keeps me on my toes as an independent business person to make sure my websites — plural — are up-to-date with good search engine optimization to get my own orders.” Corbin operates six websites for Radford Florist.

Consumers, Corbin predicts, will be exposed to higher sympathy price points on FTD’s site, and, as a result, will get used to paying prices higher than what most florists would suggest. Other retailers fear the partnership will siphon dollars from local florists, hamper creativity and reduce their marketing potential.

“This will cut florists out of one of the few markets we still have: serving families with personalized tributes for their loved ones,” said Tom Hamilton, AAF, owner of Beavercreek Florist in Beavercreek, Ohio, where sympathy sales account for 20 percent of the business. “Funeral directors will direct (families) online, where they may, in turn, send their relatives and friends.”

Florists who have developed relationships with the deceased or the family may be left out of the picture, Hamilton said. “And it will not provide service or save mourners any money,” he said. “There are too many middlemen taking money out of the equation before the hapless florist gets and fills the order at a discount.”

The potential loss of lifetime customers bothers Art Conforti, owner of Beneva Flowers in Sarasota, Fla. Sympathy work generates “a tremendous amount” of new customers who come back to Beneva Flowers for happier occasions, said Conforti, who has enjoyed good working relationships with area funeral directors,including one exclusive partnership.

“It concerns me that florists may miss out on opportunities to build relationships with both consumers and funeral directors,” Conforti said. “And by selling FTD orders, we lose our brand.”

If those relationships with funeral directors are, in fact, strong, the new program won't alter or erode them, said Scott Kremp, president of Kremp Florist in Philadelphia. "Florists who are confident in (their) product and service will continue to earn the business directly from the funeral homes," said Kremp, who sees the partnership as a way to turn around declining sympathy sales within the industry.

The site’s catalogue of designs could be troublesome for florists operating in a time crunch, said Cathy Hillen-Rulloda of Avante Gardens in Anaheim, Calif. She worries about scenarios in which florists must make substitutions because they are out of a particular flower included in an online arrangement, which could upset an already distraught customer.

“Will filling florists be able to satisfy the consumer and funeral home’s expectations, meet deadlines and produce any profits with the program’s steep commissions and fees to make this worthwhile?” Hillen-Rulloda asked.

The partnership may cause florists to “lose a percentage or two of profitability,” said Manny Gonzalez. But the owner of Tiger Lily in Charleston, S.C., predicts that, while distant friends of the deceased may gravitate toward the websites’ convenience, “intimate friends and family who want to send something special will call a florist or work with the funeral home directly.”

Gonzalez has a commission-based relationship with local funeral directors. “That to me brings the best of the two industries together,” he said, “because to maintain those relationships, the quality has to be high and the value fair for repeat business and satisfied customers.” Bringing a remote third party into the business troubles him because it sacrifices the personal aspect of the transaction in favor of the commercial one.

Someone who only buys flowers for a funeral will remain just that. “The casual flower consumer will be less than satisfied with their product and that will turn them into non-consumers of flowers,” he said.

From SAF