I'll start with personal memories.
The scheme there is simple: you buy flowers in bulk somewhere, and then from your car on the street you sell the flowers for twice the price.
But this year I wanted to increase my turnover and earn more, and in some other way.
And the idea came to my mind: “why not sell flowers wholesale?” The idea is cool, but my brain began to resist the unknown. After all, I have neither an office nor money, not to mention the tulips themselves.
I'm stumped.
I called my friends, no one knows where to get flowers, and no one has that much money either.
I thought, “Well, what the heck with these flowers, there’s so much to do,” and with a clear conscience I forgot about them.”
Until one fine day, when my phone rang and a man asked: “Do you sell tulips? Will you have 10 thousand tulips? I'm ready to buy tomorrow"
It turned out that my ads from last year were indexed and are among the first to appear in Yandex for the key queries “buy tulips in bulk.”
From that moment on, I started looking for flowers, called a bunch of suppliers, everywhere you need to first make an advance payment to book flowers. And this is logical.
I came up with a solution: First, I take an advance payment from the client at a higher price, then I give it to the supplier and make money on the difference in prices. It’s a good scheme, but there are pitfalls here, namely, buyers are afraid to give such large sums of money to no one knows where.
For these purposes, you need an office in which people work and create the impression of a full-fledged company. I don't have one. You don’t have to take money from the client right away, but then you have to pay for the advance payment yourself, and the buyer may change his mind and buy elsewhere.
Again a hopeless situation.
I asked myself the questions “How to find a solution? What should be done?" I began to look for investments so that I could buy flowers and then sell them at a higher price. I found people who have a lot of money, but they are not interested in investing a lot of money in such a risky business.
After several days of reflection, I met my good friend Kirill, I explained the situation to him, and together in the dining room we began to think about what to do.
It turned out that he had an acquaintance, Vadim, who had his own large holding. There are no coincidences, I thought, and together we went to Vadim’s office to negotiate.
Vadim turned out to be a kind person with an open soul. He allowed us to use part of his office and loaned us money for working capital without further ado. And in an instant we destroyed all the barriers that were previously insurmountable.
On March 4, we began our activities as the Agrocomplex of Novosibirsk 😀 Then I placed additional advertisements and an incredible number of people began calling my phone, I redirected them all to the office.
A crowd of people began to gather near the office doors, we stopped coping with all this flow of people.
My nerves were on edge. People came and demanded flowers, but we failed to keep all our promises. It was some kind of chaos.
The first time I celebrated my birthday in the refrigerator of a cargo van: we spent almost the entire day loading flowers and the longest thing we had to do was cut off the labels from the flowers, because we couldn’t allow wholesale buyers to know where we get the flowers.
For several nights I couldn’t sleep, I close my eyes, and my brain continues to think, before my eyes are tulips and a van where they need to be loaded. Many times thoughts have arisen in my head to give up this whole idea and stop. But I didn’t do this, because the amount of 25,000 thousand rubles was constantly spinning in my head, this was my minimum goal.
This all lasted until March 7, we fulfilled all the obligations we took on. However, the clients refused some of the flowers and before March 8 we were left with about 1,600 tulips in not the best shape and a pale lilac color that no one liked.
It turned out that virtually all these days we worked to earn money for these flowers, and now all our net profit hangs in them.
There were about 200 flowers left, which we later gave as gifts.
Many of you are engaged in flowers or are just planning to do so, so I decided that this article would be useful.
And I decided to periodically reveal the secrets of the flower business and share this knowledge on this site, summarizing all the questions that clients and visitors so often ask.
And some of the questions (especially now before February 14 and March 8) are related to tulips .
Howchoose the right tulips from suppliers?
Howbuy fresh tulips at a flower wholesaler?
Howcare for tulips before selling them?
Howstore tulips at home (apartment without a cool room)?
In fact, the questions are really relevant, since many people are trying to earn several tens or hundreds of thousands of rubles on March 8 by trading these flowers.
So, everything in order!
I have never recommended and do not recommend buying tulips in advance (a month in advance, for example), placing an order from wholesalers without seeing the flowers themselves. That is, when you pay for flowers, and then pick them up before the holidays, receiving your flowers guaranteed, while other players in the retail flower business may not receive flowers, since there is not enough for them. These are all fairy tales! With all due respect to wholesalers, these are often the arguments that wholesalers use to get you to pay in advance for flower supplies.
There is one significant BUT that is worth thinking about! They may give you a frank G, and not normal fresh tulips (not all suppliers are “saints” and conscientious). Especially if the driver brings you flowers, who does not understand any flowers at all, but only picks up the goods from the company. What will he be able to understand there, what kind of boxes and what flowers were put in front of him? We have already gone through such things. And then there will be a huge problem to sell all this. Why complicate your life?
It's simple: take flowers when you need them. I remember how we picked up flowers at the Riga market a couple of days before March 8th, and there was absolutely everything and even more than we needed (than if we had prepaid for a batch of tulips a month in advance), everything was of the freshest quality! There is a wholesale flower company near Rizhsky - they also bought literally back to back on March 8th, and they also had almost everything, although they had to choose a little, since there were also frozen tulips (but who can guarantee you that you won’t get “frosted” in advance) in boxes?), but in the end they collected as many flowers (and only fresh ones, no “frost”) as needed for trading.
Second point: look at what you take with your own eyes! You shouldn’t believe company employees who say that all the flowers are fresh. Look at everything, that's what you have eyes for!
Tulips may be stale or frostbitten. It makes sense to take such tulips only if tomorrow is already March 8th, then you will sell them, otherwise they will just start to turn black, you won’t sell anything and just throw everything away!
You need to take only fresh tulips, not frozen.
If you take tulips not a couple of days before the trade, but for example, a week, then you should take tulips in buds that are not yet fully colored. If you take tulips in large buds, there is a risk that the tulips will open strongly and begin to deteriorate (especially if you store them incorrectly), plus the open center may be visible when selling. All this looks beautiful in the spring in a sunny garden bed, but when cut, clients prefer closed tulip buds rather than open burdocks.
What to do if tulips are frozen?sell them ASAP! For example, you are selling somewhere on the street (we have a lot of people in Russia on March 8th who are trying to make extra money, although they have never sold flowers before), the temperature is on the verge of minus or really minus, many people have flowers on the street. Naturally, by the evening the tulips will be almost gone (especially if minus 3-5), you can immediately notice how the foliage begins to change to an ugly dark green, the petals of the buds begin to deteriorate at the edges and darken. so just try to sell faster! 90% of clients (men) simply do not understand anything about flowers, and even more so about tulips. They often ask what these same tulips look like, because “the wife was told to buy tulips for March 8th,” and they buy them! In any case, everyone will be happy: both you, since they bought flowers from you, and the client, since he will give flowers to his wife (mother, girlfriend, friend, etc.), but the fact that the flowers will not stand at home , so any frost-bitten flowers, in principle, will not stand in warm home conditions. These are just flowers, don't expect anything more from them!
Now regarding storage, as you understand, you cannot keep tulips (flowers in general) in the cold (at sub-zero temperatures) - they will quickly come to an end! The room temperature should be greater than 0 degrees ( 2-3 degrees is the most optimal temperature).
If you want the tulips not to grow until March 8th (for example, you bought flowers a week in advance), then you can not put them in water yet (nothing will happen to them), wrap them well in paper so that the light does not fall (especially on the buds), otherwise they will begin to stretch towards the light, then they will all curves. In general, put them in a box, close the lid, and reduce the bright light in your cool room.
If you want your tulips quickly turned from small buds to large ones, that is, they have started to grow, then you need to put them in water (you can even warm it (not boiling water), but before placing it, trim the tulips with pruning shears by 1 cm) and turn on the lighting. Only the light should be even (and not so that it’s dark everywhere, but light comes from the window, the tulips will begin to reach for the light and will be crooked).
For that, so that the tulips do not open, when they already have the shape of burdocks (huge) and want to open, showing the middle, you need to use grandma’s old method - rubber bands on the buds. Or you can use a pretty floral ribbon. There is no other option. That’s why I wrote above that just don’t put them in water, nothing will happen to them. This is how we sell them on March 8, without putting a single one in the water. But all with beautiful buds, and not huge burdocks.
If tulips are in your home(you just decided to trade on March 8th and that’s it), then do everything the same as I wrote above, the only thing is that you then need to keep the windows open for several days (otherwise the radiators in many apartments become very hot, the tulips will quickly deteriorate, + 22-26 is a very high temperature for tulips). If suddenly the stems of the tulips become soft (from the heat from the radiators), then they should be placed in water, but do not remove the paper from the tulips, otherwise the buds will begin to grow quickly.
I hope you found the article useful.
Good luck with your flowers on February 14 and March 8! Especially with tulips! :)
Business idea: Selling tulips on March 8th. 52 thousand rubles. in 2 days!Let's consider the legal aspects.
In order to trade on March 7 and 8, you do not need to open a legal entity. A certificate from the administration is sufficient. (And in some places this is not even necessary!) To do this, you need to write an application indicating the place where you want to sell flowers from your car. Then, in a couple of days, you will be given a temporary trade permit.
Automobile
If you have your own car, then you have little choice, but if you don’t have a car, then you can rent it from friends or acquaintances for 500 to 1000 rubles. This rental will pay for itself.
The most suitable cars are a station wagon with folding rear seats.
Where is the best place to stand?
The most suitable points for selling flowers on the street are passable places.
For example:
- near metro stations,
- stops,
- stations,
- places with higher traffic volumes.
Sleeping areas are strictly not recommended.
Range
Your main assortment will be cut flowers and packaged in 3 pieces. You can also additionally sell soft small toys and hearts. Of course, there is no point in purchasing them specifically; in this case, you can negotiate with a toy store and take them for sale.
Since you buy tulips in bulk, you can collect orders for bouquets in advance, and by the middle of the day, hire a courier for a small fee, for example, a student, to deliver them. Here both the client and the student are happy.
For cutting, the most suitable related product is flower stickers.
Sale
If the weather permits, you need to decorate the couple with a bouquet and place it in a vase on the car, so that everyone passing by can see what you are doing here. This will attract additional clients. After all, what is written by a person is perceived differently when he sees it on the shop window. Consequently, a potential client will have a desire to buy a bouquet for his wife, girlfriend, mother.
To decorate bouquets, you need to stock up on wrapping film and mesh of various colors, as well as ribbons for decorating bouquets.
Approximate profit calculation:
There are 7 bouquets of 50 pieces in a box, therefore there are 350 pieces in a box.
The purchase price is currently 35 rubles*.
*The closer the holiday, the higher the supplier’s prices!
The estimated cost of a flower on holidays is 50-80 rubles.
We count:
We buy: 350 * 35 = 14,000 rubles. (investments)
We sell:
350 * 60 = 21,000 – 14,000 = 7,000 rub. (profit)
350 * 90 = 28,00 – 14,000 = 17,500 rubles. (profit)
Total:
YOUR profit from one box will be from 7,000 to 17,500 rubles.
Based on my own experience, you can sell at least 3 boxes in 3 days.
You can also take goods, for example, to 2 points, and just like with delivery, hire a person who will stand and sell. His salary will be ~800, 1000 rubles, and he can also be further motivated (for example, based on % of sales).
Let's calculate the profit for 3 boxes, we get: 21,000 - 52,500 rubles for 2 days.
