Thai Internet florist reunites lovers
(Bangkok Post) It was a fairytale come true. Two lovers had not met for
years after separating. She lives in Thailand while he had returned home to the
United States. After returning, he had sent her letters several times asking to
meet again. Things passed by quietly. After making many attempts, the man was
disappointed. Having only her address in Nakhon Ratchasima, he decided to make
one last attempt by sending flowers through the service of Cattleya Florist http:// www.cattleya.com, an online
flower shop. The shop asked its business partner in the local area to search
for the woman.
Acting like a postman, the florist was able to find the woman, who finally
received his message and a bunch of red roses-eventually they were reunited in
Bangkok.
"Service is our heart. It makes our business different from others and
that leads to customer trust," said Danai Yeimpolpat, managing director of
Cattleya Florist.
The business was founded seven years ago but only started online in 1997
with a basic web site offering information and an email contact address. Today,
the shop offers complete on-line ordering with credit card acceptance.
The Siam Commercial Bank provides the clearing system, and Mr Danai said so
far there have been no problems offering real time purchasing over the web.
KSC Internet, the company's ISP, also offered a level of security, he noted.
The problems the company has run into are nothing to do with technology, but
rather finding skilled people who are both service-minded and
technology-oriented, he added.
"I work seven days a week and check my email every two hours since I
aim to succeed in the business, and I hope that customers will get that
impression from our services," he said.
After receiving an order, either over the Internet or by telephone, Cattelya
Florist will deliver flowers within an hour in Bangkok and within three hours
for other provinces, he said, claiming it offered the fastest delivery service
today.
"Whenever we receive an order, I will reply to the customer's email
immediately so that they will be impressed," he said. The orders from the
Internet have continued growing. Since the company opened its web site, the
number of orders have only gone upwards, Mr Danai said.
"The virtual shop has expanded our business. We have online purchasing
orders every day," he said. The online shop generates approximately US$30
a day on average, or around 30,000 baht a month, and contributes around 10
percent of Cattleya Florist's revenue.
And it is through word of mouth as well as from Net-based methods such as
search engine listings and link exchanges that business is expanding.
Today, Cattleya Florist provides not only flowers, but also baskets of gifts
and plants, which customers can select by clicking on a catalogue.
Approximately 70 percent of orders are made by people living in the US, with
the remainder coming from Europe, Asia, South Africa and Australia.
Most of the orders are for people living in Thailand, Mr Danai said.
Cattleya Florist has business alliances with flower shops throughout Thailand,
while for worldwide service, the shop uses florists in more than 100 countries.
Another online florist shop that is generating income through the Internet
is SiamFlorist http://www.siam
florist.com. Since its web site was introduced a few months ago, it has
received 10-15 orders a month on average, according to Jim & Cob managing
director Nakrob Sirichaijumnong.
Mr Nakrob said that he created the web site after researching the market for
a year. The concept was to provide Thai flowers with quality of service.
Jim & Cob is a business partner of the Malaiwan flower shop, which was
established around 40 years ago in Thailand. The site is hosted abroad but is
also a customer of SCB's credit card clearing service. Mr Nakrob said that the
heart of doing online business was to not get tired or bored of replying to
email or giving information to potential customers. The more active the
webmaster is, the more customers will be impressed, he noted, adding that
approximately 30 percent of customers make second orders.
SiamFlorist offers flowers both worldwide and across Thailand. It plans to
offer a Thai edition of the site with Thai currency soon.
"Although we have not yet officially launched and promoted our web
site, we already have orders. The technique we use is to post the information
on search engines," he said. Half of its orders come through the US, 21
percent from Europe, 10 percent from Asia (excluding Thailand), another one
percent from Australia and the remaining five percent from Thailand.
"Thai people are afraid to make online purchases since they think that
there is no law supporting electronic commerce," he commented.
Having a web site was like doing a business, he said, adding it needed a
team to manage the front office and the back office. "When you know what
business you want, it will be easier for you to offer it over the web. You do
not have to follow trends. Be patient for success. There are so many
opportunities," he advised