By Dennis Harp

Success of a flower shop hinges on many variables, including marketing and customer service. But the basic building block is finding the best wholesale flowers supplier. After all, you can pour as much money into advertisement, but if the flowers in your store do not look good, getting many customers will be difficult. If the flowers that you are offering your customers are blotchy or suffering from stained petals you will find that your flowers will be dying on your shop shelves. Finding the best wholesale flowers supplier is simply the single most important business decision you will make.

Does the wholesaler grow their own flowers?

Try to find a wholesaler who owns their own farm or has a partnership with flower farms. If they do, the flowers you receive will likely be a lot fresher. This means both better looking flowers and flowers with longer shelf life than the ones you would get from a cut flower wholesaler. Selecting a supplier that grows their own flowers eliminates part of the costs associated with a longer supply chain.

Does the wholesaler offer a variety of blooms?

Your customers' picks of particular flowers changes with seasons, occasions, budgets, to name a few variables. Keeping a variety of blooms available in your store at all times widens the client base and increases your chances for repeat buyers. Yet dealing with several suppliers to maintain a diverse inventory of cut flowers can become very time-consuming and confusing. Simplify your business's operations by choosing a wholesale flowers supplier that offers not only a wide variety of cut flowers, but also a variety of colors.

Wedding planners know that many brides do not always want to settle for roses, even if they are available in colors other than white or red. Instead, they often like to add unique touch to their event using unusual flowers, such as Birds of Paradise and heliconias or use more subtle white campanulas or even wild flowers. Finding a wholesale flowers supplier that can ship you such flowers will put your shop at the top of the brides and event planners list.

How fast will you get your order?

Many larger wholesale flower suppliers work with a network of farms in order to provide the widest selection of cut flowers. This is great since the supplier will be able to meet your business's needs for a variety of blooms. At the same time, it lengthens the supply chain and might present a logistical problem of getting the flowers to you in the shortest possible time.

When looking for a wholesale flowers supplier, make sure to ask for their delivery guarantee - how many days it takes them to deliver cut flowers to your shop. Additionally, make sure that the delivery time frame refers to the number of days from the day the flowers are cut, not from the day they arrive to your wholesaler's packing facility.

Does a supplier have proper flower processing facilities?

Once the flowers arrive from farms to the supplier's facilities, the blooms need to be processed quickly while kept in a climate-controlled environment that extends their life and preserves their freshness. This means you need a supplier that operates out of state-of-the-art refrigerated warehouses with specialized wet packing and bouquet assembly facilities.

Is your potental supplier easy to reach?

What are your wholesale flowers supplier's hours of operation? As a business owner, you know that your hours are quite long and work can be hectic. You might find it hard to place a timely order with a supplier if their hours of operation are limited. How many different ways can you get in touch with the supplier to place an order or get your inquiry resolved? It is a bonus if your wholesale flowers supplier has an online ordering option and an around-the-clock customer support.

A multitude of factors must be considered when selecting a wholesale flowers supplier. Vital to your flower shop's success, the supplier that you end up choosing must combine high quality, wide selection, quick processing and superior customer service with low price.

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