Believe it or not, having consistency between your online and physical store branding is important if you want customers to easily recognize your flower business no matter how they interact with you. Whether someone sees your logo on social media, your website, a delivery van, or right inside the store, they should instantly know it's from your shop without having to think about it.
In this article, we are going to share some helpful tips for making sure your branding stays in sync across different channels so potential customers don't get confused. Keeping everything looking uniform will help your shop feel more professional and established while also making it simpler for people to identify with your brand.
Use Consistent Branding Elements
Some of the main branding elements you need to carry over from your physical store to your online store include:
- Your business name
- Logo
- Tagline
- Color scheme
- Fonts
- Tone of voice
- Personality
For instance, if your physical store features your striking logo with a distinctive font and color palette, your online store should mirror that. The overall style, messaging, and personality should also align.
This consistency strengthens the recognition of your brand. Customers will realize it is the same business whether they are shopping on your florist website or walking into your store.
Offer a Similar Product Assortment
Ideally, you should sell most if not all of the same flower arrangements, plants, and gifts both online and in your physical location. This way, when customers browse your online selection, they’ll know what to expect when they come into your store.
If there are limitations that prevent you from listing your entire in-store inventory online, try to offer a representative sample. And you can make a note on your website if there are additional offerings only available in the store.
Likewise, if you sell gift items or specialty floral designs exclusively online, be sure to promote these in-store through signage letting customers know they can shop additional options at your website.
Align Prices
When transitioning to selling products online in addition to in a physical retail space, sometimes there can be a temptation to inflate prices for delivery orders to account for costs and effort to fulfill these orders.
However, your pricing structure must remain consistent whether a customer buys in-store or online. This shows integrity to your customers rather than seeming as if you are overcharging based on the channel.
Instead, consider adding transparent delivery fees, service fees, or order minimums to online orders rather than raising base product prices. Also, ensure any sales or promotions apply across both online and brick-and-mortar channels- try to use an effective florist POS software for that consistency. Customers will appreciate the fairness and honesty.
Use Coordinated Imagery
The photographs and images used across your online flower shop and physical store should align to contribute to a cohesive aesthetic. Some specific ways to coordinate flower shop design might include:
- Hiring the same photographer to capture photos of your arrangements and products for your website and your in-store displays and marketing materials
- Using a reliable color management system during photo shoots and editing to ensure accurate color representation
- Choosing a clean, minimal background that flatters your offerings without distracting
- Styling arrangements using consistent vessels, ribbons, filler flowers, etc.
- Capturing arrangement photos from multiple flattering angles
Cohesive imagery reinforces that customers are shopping from the same beloved local source whether online or in your store.
Mirror In-Store Presentation Styles Online
Think through the way products are presented and displayed in your brick-and-mortar shop and aim to reflect this in the user experience of your e-commerce store.
For example, if colorful seasonal arrangements greet customers as soon as they walk through your doors, your homepage design could feature similar vibrant arrangements. If you display flower care guides or styling inspiration through in-store signage, you may want to create a flower blog.
When customers transition from shopping online to visiting your physical storefront, the overall style should feel familiar. This contributes to branding consistency.
Promote Your E-commerce Store In-Store (And Vice Versa)
To encourage customers to shop across both your online and offline channels, heavily promote your e-commerce store in your physical location and via SEO for your florists websites.
Some ideas include:
- Displaying your website URL prominently on signage
- Distributing business cards or flyers with your website listed
- Providing in-store computers for browsing flower arrangements or placing orders
- Offering in-store pickup discounts for online orders
Training staff to talk up online offerings
Likewise, promote your brick-and-mortar location through your e-commerce store. On your website or in email campaigns, share your physical address, store hours, contact info, and any in-store offerings or events.
Reminding customers about your diverse purchase channels encourages multi-channel engagement. A customer who had a stellar experience picking up an online order in your store may be more likely to visit your physical location directly next time.
Analyze How Customers Interact with Your Brand
Pay attention to how customers are interacting with your small business across channels. Notice if certain product varieties sell quicker online versus in-store or vice versa to shape inventory planning. Read online reviews and solicit in-store feedback to track branding sentiment.
Ongoing analysis allows you to bring learnings from each channel to the other to maximize cohesion. For example, you may get the sense through online reviews that your brand gives off more of a hip, modern vibe than your physical aesthetic conveys. You could then adjust your in-store displays toward a sleeker, contemporary style.
Or if chatty in-store customers rave about a certain flower variety, you may want to prioritize displaying it on your homepage.
Managing online and brick-and-mortar operations this way for a flower shop can be simplified by using an integrated POS system like Hana Florist. The florist POS system also has a user-friendly web portal and mobile app so you can access your unified data and sales metrics on the go. Sign up today!
