FloristWare Software

Pros

Floristware is not proprietary, so you can board with a processor that you like.

There are features that are designed specifically for florists, creating special orders and deliveries.

Cons

Upgrading system can be cumbersome and expensive.

Customer service needs results in long waits and call backs that take a while

Pros

This POS has very fast processing so time can be saved if florists are using this POS.It is also not expensive.

Cons

Need to add other businesses to generate more revenue. Can add some more features for easy accesses.

Pros

Once you learn it, it does what it needs to do for us and our shop. We can contact the support team at any time.

Customer service, although not available immediately upon a phone call, is exceptional. Extremely fast and responsive to emails and remote assistance is established easily if necessary.

Pros

Non proprietary software (FTD or Teleflora). Works with all sorts of hardware set-ups, easy to get started.

Cons

Multi screen order entry makes order taking difficult at times. Sales reports are sometimes lacking in terms of filtering capabilities. While I love the "Progress Tracker" delivery module of this system, a "Map All" function would be a nice addition.

Likes Best

The system is relatively easy to use, and the technical support team is incredibly helpful.

Likes Least

I have no complaints about the vendor whatsoever. The product is a little clunky to use and could be streamlined in some areas for ease of use.

Recommendations

Always ask the support team if you have questions - they are helpful, readily available, and exceptionally knowledgeable.

Likes Best

The software itself is easy to use and clearly designed with actual flower shop experience in mind. We have many clients using FloristWare and it has proven to not only be a very popular choice, but users stay with the system a long time and typically become ardent brand advocates.

The FloristWare team offers exceptional customer from the initial sales process through setup, training, and ongoing assistance. They are prompt, courteous, and very invested in the success of their clients.

Likes Least

There really isn't much to dislike, and the dev team is very responsive to input from customers.

Working alongside the FloristWare team (we have many mutual clients) we have been able to quickly and effectively tailor integration solutions to meet the needs of our users.

Recommendations

Try the free trial from their website.

Consider the hosted vs cloud options and choose what you are most comfortable with.

Likes Best

I feel that Floristware is an affordable and reasonable alternative to comparable industry products. It performs reliably, produces great results, and is an incredible value to an independent florist, regardless of size. The ability to expand to other stations as needed, and on demand is a true value. Also the basic requirements and lack of specialty demands for hardware should keep this system on the forefront for independent, value minded florists searching for a great POS.

Likes Least

Floristware performs very well and relies on user input, the more you do with your system, the more it does for your shop in the long run. Not a complaint or quality issue, just a required commitment from it's user makes it an even better product.

Recommendations

Educate yourself on the true total costs of comparable systems, including required hard ware, tech support costs, specialty printing needs, subscription costs and the ability of your business to use all the bells and whistles that some products show.

Likes Best

The ability to see average purchases was great. Staff can easily see what a returning customer spends and then recommend similar products. Also ability to set reminders for birthdays and anniversaries was very helpful in making outbound calls.

Likes Least

The backup process was originally very slow for us. The computer we were running it on met the min specs but just barely. We changed the computer out and backups became much faster.

Recommendations

Support is Key. Floristware provided terrific support. This is something I think often gets overlooked when making a purchase. The software is not your core business so you need a company that does support right. Florestware does.

Likes Best

I like how it stores information about our clients and people they send flowers to.

Likes Least

I wish we could enter a customer/client as a business with a name as a contact. We take many orders for business' and they often do not want a specific name on the order.

Recommendations

I have no specific recommendations for this field.

Likes Best

FloristWare immediately simplified sales tax calculations cut our bookkeeping costs by 75%. It allows all of the customer tracking information we need including historical purchase patterns, customer contact and billing information, and customer preferences. Inventory control and sales reports are generated in an instant and things like staff performance and sales breakdowns are available in every imaginable configuration. FloristWare gave us back our Sundays!

Likes Least

A few less steps/screens in the order process would be nice, but FloristWare does have the ability to include multiple orders in one sale which is a great feature.

Recommendations

Look into all the features. Frankly there are more than we'll ever use, but we looked into all of them and use the ones that benefit us the most.

Likes Best

FloristWare allows for easy communication of quotes, invoices and receipts. We know that repeat business often comes from a customer locating an old FloristWare receipt. The folks at FloristWare are responsive to the changing retail landscape and offer great added benefits to their clients like webinars. The service department is excellent and help is a quick call away when we have questions.

Likes Least

There is very little I don't like about FloristWare. It does everything I need. New features are continually added to the software, and older features are updated regularly to allow superior customer service from us to our clients.

Recommendations

We are able to communicate design ideas via a FloristWare quote, and tailor orders to fit the client's needs and budget.
FloristWare helped us respond to our client's need for electronic receipts to complete a phone sale well before most of our competitors. Floristware is a leader in the transition of the floral industry from telephone technology to on-line technologies.

Likes Best

I don't use it as much as the others, but it does seem very user friendly, even someone like me who is not real computer savvy can work through the system.

Likes Least

Too many screens that duplicate each other, also think I might like a one screen option?

Recommendations

Easy to use, very helpful and collects good marketing data

Likes Best

Pretty straight forward, especially for inputting orders.

Easy to keep track of orders and deferred and held.

Cashout and end of day reports are straightforward and easy to follow.

Likes Least

Can be glitchy at times, long orders such as wedding have been lost without the ability to get the information back.

Better tracking of already paid, deferred orders would be nice.

Less steps for quick cashouts. The loading time between clicks can take centuries sometime. Less clicks and would be great for those busy and quick sales transactions.

Keyword searches for orders.

Need to be email to email refunds and returns.

Recommendations

Look for ease of use. Can the computer illiterate employees use the program.

Number of clicks to get where you need to go most often (simple sale).

How good the customer service is.

How easy it is to track orders. Its a big part of the floral industry and is often the hardest to keep organized. Any program that helps eliminate the potential for human error is good in my books.

Likes Best

I love the ease of use, all employees have had no problem learning how to use the program. The marketing features like reminder notices and the customer points has been of great value to increasing sales and customers love the reminders and points. The staff at FloristWare has always been terrific to work with from explaining a feature to resolving any issues that have ever arose. The owner is a pleasure to speak with and try to accommodate special request. My favorite part is that I am not stuck with over priced software of computer equipment if I ever change my mind.

Likes Least

My least favorite thing about this software is the number of screens that I have to go through when entering a sales. Really is not a big issue but I would much prefer 1 or 2 pages to finalize a sale.

Recommendations

My advise to anyone evaluating software, take advantage of the free download trial period!

Likes Best

It's fully loaded with great features and interfaces well with my Media99 website. I love the pay by month subscription service.

Likes Least

The multiple screens during the order taking process.

Recommendations

I highly recommend this for shops that need an affordable point of sale system with many features.

Likes Best

Support - from the research to the set up and from training to ongoing help desk - unparalleled. Response time for any question was the best I've ever experienced with POS systems.

Likes Least

Early on, we experienced slow back ups, but our computer was at the bottom end of the recommended equipment; when we upgraded our main processing computer we had no problems.

Recommendations

Ask other users before you buy. Keep in mind their perspective may not be your own, so remain objective, but know your goals from using the software and ask about their experiences with those features. The online tutorials are quite helpful, but the system was pretty easy to use and didn't require much training. Interface settings for beginner to advanced were quite helpful for staff learning how to use it, they could set their own pace and bypass prompts when they were more familiar. Be sure to ask about credit card processing and exchange to be sure that you can use your preferred merchant services provider.

Likes Best

Floristware is not only a POS, recording sales transactions and facilitating credit card processing. It's also a complete marketing and reporting system. Reports are dynamic and robust - anything I need to measure, in any time frame, I can get from Floristware. If the hard-coded reports don't do it for me, the report data can be exported to Excel and manipulated there. I can gather informed data on my customers and reach out to them from a position of strength knowing that I can measure their shopping habits with me and contact them in various forms with targeted marketing campaigns.
The vendor is superb - friendly, responsive and dedicated to the support of their customers. Floristware is a partner in my business, not just a tool.

Likes Least

There is so much Floristware can do, that it takes awhile to learn it all. I've been using the system for over 7 years, and recently learned a few things that I never knew it could do. I know they have reached out with webinars and training sessions, but maybe it's more incumbent on me to seek out more information from their web site. On the other hand, if I want to do something and can't intuitively figure out how it's done, a simple email to Floristware support gives me the answer in short order.

Recommendations

Don't underestimate it. It is extremely powerful. Have patience at first. When you fully understand its power, you will be glad for the way it is built. Take advantage of Floristware's offer to let you demo it free of charge for 30 days. Ask tons of questions. Study the support materials on their web site. It's extremely easy to just learn the basics and let it go at that. But work through the detail. It may seem cumbersome at first, but a few years down the road you'll wish you had spent more time thinking through all the ramifications of your business and anticipating how to make Floristware do the hard work for you.

Likes Best

The product is easy to use and there are built in strategies to raise the average order.

Likes Least

I have an old computer with a small hard drive. The backups and such take up a lot of room.

Recommendations

When looking at a POS, make sure it makes you money. It's easy to get a cheap POS or even have a spreadsheet, but Floristware has secret methods that help raise our average order, up our customer lifetime value and up-sale.

Likes Best

Friendly Customer Service and Support of the Retail Florists

Likes Least

We need easy methods of teaching clients how to use the POS to they benefit

Recommendations

I have already recommended FloristWare to many Florist and many are using FloristWare. My recommendation to others would to learn as much about any POS and find out what might work best for your situation.

Likes Best

FloristWare is super easy to use and makes staff training a breeze! It integrates to my website and to wire service networks eliminating the need to retype incoming web and wire orders. It tracks orders from the sale to the design bench all the way to the final point of delivery. It stores customer histories and life events like birthday and anniversaries so we can recapture customers we have already pleased. FloristWare handles wedding and event quotes and payments and incorporates credit card processing and a cash register function all into one!

Likes Least

Waiting for version 5 to come out; but it will be out of beta very soon

Recommendations

Kick the tires with a FREE download. It is the one software you can try your self without a wire service rep standing in your store trying to hard sell you.