A gift with a story behind

Since 2007, City Flowers has created unique bouquets and flower arrangements for all art and beauty lovers. With a designer with many years of experience behind, they set out to turn every order into a unique surprise for the person who receives the gift.

The online store is a natural complement to the offline one, opening up to a new customer segment, but also fully covering those who are already loyal customers. Even an online shop could involve a lot of printing, so they decided to look for a more cost-effective solution while still having the option to be creative.

In addition to the flower segment, the brand has grown fast and has expanded its area of interest, thus identifying a rapid return. Currently, personalised gifts and floral arrangements of all categories are provided for private, corporate and private events for families and specific requests.

Challenges are the starting point

In a context with many constraints, any business is subject to permanent changes. The number of brands offering similar services, sales opportunities, products and costs behind them and consumer preferences are to be considered.

City Flowers has identified these elements as key points in terms of permanent development. All these points converge in operational changes with medium- and long-term impact: the integration of a new printing solution in the internal flow, to cover efficiently administrative activities, but also the customisation of the final products.

Canon solution

From the beginning, Daniel understood that the process of analysing, filtering and selecting solutions is the most important step. At the same time as this prospecting moment, they created a specific need list for their business, so that they can purchase the necessary long-term equipment.

“The analysis process was not easy, because the offer for personalisation equipment is extremely comprehensive. The decision-making factor, in our case, was represented in the first form, by the support provided by Canon experts. We formulated a brief on our specific needs, and Canon experts sent us a range of equipment, as well as a personalised analysis. That’s why the match was perfect. In a short time, I made a choice.”

To cover all their needs and to avoid having to outsource printing services, they chose two printers, capable of handling the growing demand.

The Canon PIXMA G6040 was integrated into the landscape of their business. They started encouraging their clients to make gifting a story. And like any story, they wanted it to be in harmony with the beneficiary’s desire.

“Now we can customise almost any product: from the wrapping paper, the boxes for objects and accessories, the stories behind the flowers, chosen by the people, the daily offers, and all the graphic elements inserted in the gifts and bouquets.”

From a business management perspective, they were faced with the accumulation of tasks: dozens of online orders, travel orders, administrative reports, budget centralisers and all the documents that support the internal environment and business itself. The equipment that helped ease the workload was the Canon i-Sensys MF 746Cx.

“Connectivity helped us a lot, we are more productive now, we are sending the orders directly to the atelier for production.“

With the two printers they managed to have professional results, high efficiency and low cost. In terms of functionality, the PIXMA G range offered versatility to the entire process, with the help of ink tanks. Productivity was ensured by the i-Sensys equipment. And to enhance the range of solutions, connectivity turned out to be an essential factor: from the moment they received a request, all the graphic elements were sent to the executive departments in less than 15 minutes, so that the products would be delivered in the shortest time.

“So, in the end I concluded that Canon’s solution was the perfect match between the identified challenges and City Flowers’ needs.”

Dedicated to evolution

Florists around the world now have a major challenge: offering concepts that will drive people toward beautiful ideas.

“This can be accepted by the public only by offering unlimited possibilities for personalisation: people want those things that remind them of a particular situation or a human being, make a butterfly or a special message on a card. This is what we are trying to do: to bring people closer to the graphic elements and personalisation that will produce memories.”

The growth of the business over the next 5 years requires a greater investment in the online store, a space in which people will now be able to choose the personalisation elements they want. In this moment they are covering all the special requests from the offline shop using Canon Print Apps.

“And don’t forget, where the customer imagination ends, your business reality begins! Find your own solution to offer the right product.”