6 October 2024
The economics of a flower shop, in seven numbers
After a year onboarding shops, here are the seven numbers that tell us at a glance whether a flower shop is healthy. The interesting part is which numbers DON'T matter as much as people think.
The seven
Across 50+ shops we've onboarded, these are the metrics that actually predict survival:
- Gross margin — should be 55%+. Below 50% means either bad sourcing or undercharging.
- Inventory turnover — fresh-cut stock should turn 6+ times a month. Below 4× and you're losing 8–15% to spoilage.
- Subscription/recurring share of revenue — should be 18%+. The shops without recurring revenue are the ones that close in year three.
- Average ticket — varies by neighbourhood, but watch the trendline. Drifting down is a danger sign; you're competing on price.
- Delivery success rate — first-attempt delivery succeeded. Should be 96%+. Anything below 92% means routing or comms is broken.
- Card attach rate — orders with a paid card. Healthy is 25–35%.
- Wholesaler price comparison cadence — how often the shop checks alternative wholesalers. Doing it weekly correlates with 6–9% lower COGS over six months.
What doesn't matter as much as people think
- Instagram followers. Most shops get 70%+ of their orders from past customers and Google, not Instagram. Followers are a vanity metric.
- Number of SKUs. Wide catalogues correlate negatively with margin. The healthy shops are 60–120 SKUs, deeply curated.
- Storefront UI prettiness. Conversion rate is what matters. Pretty without conversion is decoration.
[Floree's analytics dashboard](/features) tracks all seven.