Meet Michael Rose, Co-founder of Floral Tab

Floral Tab is a network of skilled professional floral designers. We love people who are passionate about their industry so we caught up with Michael Rose, the co-founder to dive into the details behind their business.

So Michael tell us why you started Floral Tab? When did you start it?

For many years the industry has been plagued with floral software companies that are completely killing my industry. The local florist are the backbone of the industry and for decades, they’ve being severely mistreated by their floral specific technology providers. The mistreatment can range from large transaction fees to very high subscription models.

In most recent years, there have been a few VC funded floral technology companies that have been founded by non-technical/non-floral industry insiders. Their products provide minimal value to florists at a very high cost. For example, some florists are paying tens of thousands of dollars a year in transaction fees for a basic cookie cutter website. Yet again, the floral industry is being taken advantage of. As a second generation florist I’ve been watching this from the sidelines for a few years and decided to do something about it.

Consumers are also being mislead by national flower delivery companies. These companies are overcharging online buyers and undercutting local florists that fulfill their orders. Order gathering companies are making huge margins, while the florist is doing all the work and is averaging a 5% margin. With this model currently in place, ordering flowers online has become very risky. Most of the time, the flowers won’t even show up to the recipient because the relationship between florists and the national flower delivery companies is broken. These companies are selling arrangements that are undervalued and most likely not in stock. The process has been broken for years and consumers have no idea what is going on behind the scenes.

Floral Tab partnered with Shopify in November 2015 to launch Floral Tab website management. So now we’re building floral websites on the most powerful e-commerce platform in the world. This is one of the biggest needs in my industry and where change needs to first start. We’re giving florists the most advanced technology at the lowest price. Our easy to use no-code platform helps local florists become independent. What’s really exciting is, when it comes to price and functionality, no other floral technology company can compete.

It’s great to hear that you’re spearheading the industry by partnering with companies like Shopify. Bravo. What did you do before Floral Tab?

Well, my brother and I are second generation florists and still currently own a flower shop. We’re both self taught developers and with our understanding for technology, we have built a few dozen e-commerce websites, 2 B2B platforms, and 2 mobile apps.

Very cool. That’s fantastic you still own your own flower shop. What is Floral Tabs ideal customer?

We have two types of customers and we know them both very well.

1) The local florist who is looking to grow their business and increase profit.

2) The online flower buyer who is looking for a trusted source to purchase flowers from a local florist.

Knowing your customer personas well is a huge signal for success. What is something funny about the culture of Floral Tab?

We’re all extremely competitive workaholics, we all try to out do each other when it comes to design and product development. The competitiveness has been ingrained in my brother and I since we were young, and we push that upbringing on our team. I expect the best out of each team member and they demand it out of me. I encourage them to call me in the middle of the night if they have a good feature idea. It’s motivating when I get these calls, the good energy is contagious.

We pride ourselves in everyone on our team being extremely well rounded. Meaning they need to be experts in 3 or more domain skills that can help Floral Tab become the biggest asset to the floral industry.

Totally agree. Well rounded teams fuel great brands. What marketing channels have worked the best?

Facebook groups have worked the best for us. I’m very active in the floral groups and enjoy the dialogs. I see complaints daily from florists on other floral technology companies. The need for a better solution is at an all time high. I see a lot of bad advice being passed around when it comes to which floral technology companies are helping the industry, so I do my best to give detailed explanations and give real value to the florist group members.

What are your plans for 2016? Any announcements?

Our marketplace is coming VERY soon. Local florists will be able to upload their arrangements from their mobile phone and sell in our marketplace to consumers looking to buy flowers. It’s a great secondary revenue stream for florists looking to take more market share in the areas they serve.

Excited to see the marketplace when it comes out :) Who is someone you admire? Favorite company?

This is a hard one, but right now Brian Chesky. I’ve learned a lot listening to his lectures on YouTube. He really understands company culture and branding. Learning from him and seeing what his team has produced is inspirational, this why Airbnbis one of my favorite companies.

Great answer. Airbnb has changed the way people rent property without owning a single property. Love it. What has been your most successful marketing campaign to date?

The most effective marketing campaign we’ve done is our email marketing.

What is your social media strategy? Special tactics?

Our social media strategy is focused on posting value to our followers. We post beautiful photos of in house flower arrangements, floral technology graphics and every Friday give “Arrangement of the Week” spotlights from florists all across the world.

That’s a great Friday tradition! We’ve found that most successful brands and influencer we talk with post honest and valuable content for their following. How big is the Floral Tab team?

Floral Tab is a team of 8

2 Co-Founders

1 Head of Business Development

2 Developers

3 Engineers

What makes you special as a business?

Our business represents us very well. From our last name (Rose), to us being in the floral industry and solving every problem our industry faces, I’d say it’s destiny.

Special thanks to Michael and the whole Floral Tab team!