Fourteen new enchancements including five new reports requested by our users. It's always a pleasure to deliver the improvements clients have asked for.
Features like the one that automate printing of a duplicate enclosure card on sympathy orders will help florists that want to be the favorite of local funeral directors. The new components feature helps florists figure out exactly how many stems of each flower they need to fill the orders they have booked. And the UPS Worldship feature helps florists that send gift baskets and dried/silk arrangements through UPS.
Another new feature, the ability to generate quotes for wedding and event work, will appeal to almost all florists.
New Features & Enhancements in FloristWare v3.0...
Click for more on some of the specific improvements & enhancements in this version of FloristWare.
Flower Shop Network Sending
FloristWare now makes sending your outgoing wires through Flower Shop Network easier than ever - just one click and they’re on their way! You no longer have to visit the FSN website and enter the order details - you can send the order right from FloristWare in seconds with just a single click.
Flower Shop Network Receiving
FloristWare can now receive your incoming Flower Shop Network orders. FloristWare retrieves your orders and presents them for you to review and accept or reject. If you decide to accept the order it is automatically entered into your production queue, the the worksheet/enclosure card/delivery slip prints, etc.
Flower Shop Network Reporting
FloristWare now offers detailed reporting (sent and received) on all of your Flower Shop Network orders.
Category Management - Nested Categories
FloristWare now makes managing your categories easier than ever by allowing you to “nest” categories inside of each other. In previous versions each category could only contain products. Now each category can contain sub-categories which can in turn contain more sub-categories or products.
This means more manageable and better organized lists of categories and products. For example you might have one category called “Fresh Flowers” which would in turn contain sub-categories like “Roses”, “Cut Flowers”, “Orchids”, etc. Each of those sub-categories would then have their own products.
Category Management - Portion Categories
Some of you have products that come in different sizes. By this we mean that the same product might be available in (for example) small, medium and large sizes. FloristWare now makes working with these types of products easier than ever by allowing you to specify them as being “portioned” in nature. This in turn puts all of these product sizes on the same line in the products list making navigation and product selection faster and easier.
Category Management - Category Discounts
FloristWare now allows you to assign discounts to particular categories of products. For example you could assign a discount of 25% to all of the products in your “Christmas” category once the holiday is over to help move that merchandise out the door.
Category Management - Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
FloristWare Version 3 gives you unprecedented control over “Cost Of Goods Sold” (COGS) reporting. You can now create a separate list of COGS categories and then assign each individual product to the correct one - completely independent of it’s product category.
For example you might have a Product Category called “Christmas” that contains a variety of Christmas-themed products like Poinsettias, Red & White Centerpieces and Holiday Gift Baskets. Even though all of these products would be in the same Product Category (Christmas) you could assign each to the most accurate COGS Category - Fresh Flowers, Plants, Gift Baskets, etc. This is a very valuable feature for those users who are interested in tracking their cost of goods sold as accurately as possible.
E-Mail Marketing - Automated Reminder E-Mails
FloristWare has always had great tools for sending reminders about important events (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) to your customers but Version 3.0 brings a new level of ease and automation for those who want it. You can now request that FloristWare automatically send out all appropriate reminders automatically each day when you start up. Reminding your customers about their special events has never been easier!
E-Mail Marketing - Automated Sales E-Mails
Previous versions of FloristWare featured a very powerful tool for sending out sales e-mails targeting customers who have not purchased from you or been contacted by you within a certain period of time.
Version 3.0 brings a new level of automation to the process - you can request that these sales e-mails are automatically sent out each day when you start up. The feature still uses the same powerful formula that spreads these e-mails out for maximum results. Staying in touch with your customers has never been easier!
E-Mail Marketing - Automated Unsubscribes
FloristWare Version 3 makes CAN-SPAM compliance easier than ever.
The CAN-SPAM act was put into place to protect consumers from unwanted and unsolicited marketing e-mails known as “Spam”. One of the requirements is that any marketing e-mails include a link that will lead to them being taken off your mailing list. The idea is that should a person want to be removed from your mailing list they simply click on that link in your e-mail.
FloristWare makes this easier than you ever imagined by retrieving these “unsubscribe” e-mails and then flagging the associated customer as “Do Not Contact By E-Mail”.
Automated Off-Site FTP Back-Up
As you know keeping back-ups of your data file is very important. And while storing back-ups on your computer is a good start it does not offer you any protection if the computer is stolen, damaged (drive failure, virus or other corruption) or destroyed (fire, flood, etc.). The best possible approach is “remote” back-up - storing your data somewhere safe. FloristWare now makes this not just easy but automatic - it can automatically compress and save a secure copy of your back-up file to our secure storage server each night. If something ever does happen to your computer we can get a clean back-up to you right away.
Alternate File-Path Back-Up
FloristWare 3.0 offers you the ability to specify a second default back-up location. This means that in addition to the copy the system saves to the “FloristWare Back-Ups” folder each night it can also automatically save an additional copy to the location of your choice. This is a great option for people who are interested in the security of their data as it lets you save an additional back-up file to another driver, another computer, some type of removable media, etc.
Enclosure Card Settings
FloristWare now allows you to specify the default font settings for enclosure cards. This gives you more control over the look and feel of the cards that you print out. Some stores are even creating custom font sets based on their own handwriting
WYSIWYG Enclosure Card Entry
If you use FloristWare to print your enclosure cards Version 3.0 includes a powerful new WYSIWIG (What You See Is What You Get) card editing feature. As you enter the card message into the system you now get full control over the formatting: font, size, alignment, etc. The card will print out just as you see it on screen.
Account List
Users with a large number of charge accounts will find FloristWare Version 3.0 makes working with that account list easier than ever. You can scroll through the account list (as always) but now you can also sort it by several different criteria, search for an account or find an account with the new automatic type-ahead feature that tries to guess what account you are looking for.
Scheduling Tool
FloristWare Version 3.0 includes a very powerful scheduling tool that allows management to create, view and print staff schedules. The visual nature of this feature makes it very easy to ensure that you always have adequate coverage in your store while at the same time avoiding over-staffing. It also allows employees to view and print their schedules.
Payment Record Improvement
More detailed information has been added to the payment record that is generated each time you take a payment. This makes it easier to answer questions from customers, avoid confusion and resolve disputes.
Funeral List (HotSpots)
The HotSpots feature has been expanded to include a new feature that makes taking orders for sympathy work easier than ever. Each time you take a new order for sympathy work it is temporarily added to a list of active funeral services. Taking subsequent orders for the same service becomes much faster as you can now use much of the information from the first order.
Payment Privileges - Checks
You can now specify whether individual customers have the right to pay by check. This feature was added to protect our users by ensuring that new/uninformed employees do not accidentally accept checks from customers that have abused that privilege in the past. All you have to do is indicate that a particular customer is not allowed to pay by check in their customer profile and no user will be allowed to select “Check” as the payment method when dealing with that customer.
Payment Privileges - Deferred
You can now specify whether individual customers have the right to defer payment on their purchases. This feature was added to protect our users by ensuring that new employees do not accidentally allow customers with a bad credit history to “charge” a sale by deferring payment. All you have to do is indicate that a particular customer is not allowed to defer payment in their customer profile and no user will be allowed to select “Defer Payment” when dealing with that customer.
HotSpots - Default Route
You can now assign your HotSpots (the places like hospitals, funeral homes, etc. that you deliver to most frequently) a default route. The delivery will automatically be assigned to this route each time the HotSpot is selected.
Default Sort Order - Products & Categories
In the past FloristWare sorted your lists of products and categories in order of popularity by default. Users were always able to sort by name or price if they wished but the initial sort was always done by popularity. This worked for many users but was not ideal for some.
In Version 3.0 you can specify the default sort of your choice in your settings. If for example you would rather see your lists of products and/or categories sorted alphabetically by name by default you just change one setting and each time you come to a list it will be sorted alphabetically by name. You can of course then perform a different sort but the first sort will always be the one that you prefer.
Fast User Switching
For stores that are interested in having their employees being able to sign in and out of the system faster FloristWare Version 3.0 includes a new “Fast User Switching” feature.
If this interests you all you have to do is enable Fast User Switching in your settings. All the user has to do is hold down the shift key while they click the blue “User” button. Instead of having to then sign in they will see a list of all the users. They then just click their name to complete the sign-in process.
Express Check-In
FloristWare 3.0 allows users to skip several of the steps typically associated with the sign-in process just by holding down the “shift” key after entering their user name and password. This saves a lot of time in shops where users are signing in and out all day long.
Payment Method Selection
The payment process is now quicker and easier than ever. Instead of having to select the payment method from a pull-down menu and then clicking “Continue” you now just click on the payment option of your choice.
Better Customer Service
FloristWare now shows you the names of both the customer and recipient and the average order value for each throughout the order process. This allows you to provide a better customer service experience while also ensuring that you don’t undersell a customer.
Enhanced Receipt, Invoice, Quote and Statement Formatting
Your receipts, invoices, quotes and statements will look better than ever and use less paper in FloristWare Version 3.0. We have redesigned all of the layouts and reworked the sizing of each section with dramatic results.
Vendor Tracking
The inventory control module now allows you to create lists of manufacturers and vendors and attach them to products. Then - if you see in your inventory reporting that you are low on a particular product - the manufacturer and/or vendor information is right there for you.
Website Integration - Receiving Orders
FloristWare is now able to integrate with compliant websites. When someone places an order on a website that complies with our order relay protocol the order information is automatically retrieved by FloristWare and presented to you for review. If you accept it is then entered into the production queue for completion, the worksheet and delivery slip/enclosure card print, etc.
You also have the option of reviewing each part of the order, “attaching” it to the correct customer (so that it is reflected in their purchase history and spending habits and to ensure that they get their points if you are running a points program), checking that it doesn’t contradict any of the spending patterns or preferences in the customer and/or recipient notes, etc. This is a very powerful feature for those of you that get a lot of orders from your website.
Website Integration - Product Lists
One of the most time-consuming tasks involved in maintaining a website is updating the list of products on the website. FloristWare now makes this easier than you ever imagined! Using a unique and powerful process it allows you to export a product list in very little time - a product list that can then be imported by a compliant site.
Here is how it works. First FloristWare shows you a list of all of your products. You can enter a different name, description and price for use of the website (FloristWare will remember these changes for next time) without changing what your employees see in FloristWare. You can also omit any products that you do not want to appear on the website. FloristWare even shows you the inventory count and photograph for each product.
You then click a button and in just seconds FloristWare exports all of the product information and assembles all of the product photographs in a special folder. These can then be uploaded to your compliant website quickly and easily.
This means that you could completely redo your website with seasonal products and specials in mere minutes!
Wire Service Reporting on Daily Sales Reports
The Daily Sales Report has been enhanced so that it only includes statistics for the wire services that you belong to. In previous versions the DSR showed you statistics for all of the wire services supported by FloristWare.
Enhanced Commission Tracking - Clerks
FloristWare Version 3.0 contains two new reports for users that want to reward their employees for their sales performance with commissions. This report tracks the sales performance of your clerks - the people that actually ring in the sales. First you assign a commission percentage to each employee. Then you run the report and it shows you exactly what each employee earned for the period specified.
Enhanced Commission Tracking - Salespeople
This report is for those of you who have reps or salespeople that pursue accounts and/or special customers. You simply set a commission percentage for each salesperson in their user settings and run the report. It shows you exactly how much each of your employees earned in sales commissions.
The report also allows you to see a complete sale list and make adjustments as needed to ensure that commissions are rewarded to the right rep. You can also assign a different rep during the sales process.
This is a very powerful feature for those users that have salespeople and/or account reps working for them.
Enhanced Staff Performance Report
Many users are taking full advantage of the flower shop marketing features in FloristWare and this is great news to us - it’s these features that help FloristWare not only pay for itself but put a lot more money in your pocket as well.
However, many shop owners are finding that their employees are skipping some of the “optional” marketing steps (AdTracker & Reminders). FloristWare Version 3.0 helps you combat this by showing you exactly how often each employee is skipping these important steps. This allows you to encourage better habits by rewarding those employees who are really working the features and flagging those who are not.
Cancellation of Incoming “Terminal” Orders
It’s now much easier to cancel incoming wires that came in over your (for example) Dove or Mercury terminal and were then entered into FloristWare.
Change Filling Florist On Outgoing Wires
It’s now much easier to change the filling florist of record on outgoing wire orders. This is very handy when the first shop you try can’t fill the order and you need to send it to another.
More Streamlined Order Process
Changes have been made to the order and payment process so users can now get through an order faster - with fewer clicks and less screens.