How to Launch and Grow Your Own Florist Shop — with FREE Business Plan Template

Your flower arranging skills might be Instagram-worthy, but building a profitable florist business takes a completely different set of talents — supply chain management, route optimization, and customer experience design that turns emotional purchases into repeat business.

We interviewed Jenna Portnoi, who helped build Petal&Post from founder Kim Steyn's creative vision into a systematized delivery operation spanning multiple cities. Her practical insights show exactly how to turn floral passion into sustainable profit.

1. Define your brand

Jenna Portnoi, Petal&Post’s head of web and logistics, says the creative side is just one part of the business: there’s a lot more to it than arranging flowers! As with any startup, you need a clear sense of what you want your brand to be. 

Petal&Post was started by Kim Steyn, an urban planner who fell in love with floristry. She first launched a concept store in Cape Town in 2016, before expanding to other cities a few years later. Her ambition is to grow Petal&Post into South Africa’s largest flower delivery and gifting service that combines customer care with farm-fresh quality. 

The Petal&Post brand promise is simple: deliver beautiful, farm-fresh bunches of cut flowers, and do it really well. 

Understand the different types of flower business

Flower businesses come in all shapes and sizes, so take some time to think about the type of flower business you want to start. You could:

• Open a traditional fresh flower shop with a pretty storefront that attracts a lot of foot traffic.
• Set up an online store for a flower delivery business.
• Specialize in floral design for special occasions like weddings, birthdays, or corporate events.
• Become an exotic floral arrangement specialist who brings in rare and unusual types of flowers and greenery from around the world for a very specific target market.

Basic market research will help you make the right decision: What are other businesses doing? Are there any gaps in the local market that your new business could fill? 

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll know what type of floral business you want to open, and have a good idea of how you want to differentiate your new business.

2. Connect with the right partners

Finding the right local growers and building strong relationships, rather than buying from a wholesale market, was a big win for Petal&Post. The advantages include:

• They can order ahead for peak times.
• Flowers can be delivered at peak freshness.
• Posies are bunched on the farm, so there's minimal handling once they arrive. This helps preserve their structure and longevity.

This ensures that Petal & Post always delivers a high-quality product to their customers.

“We get our roses straight from the farm each morning – they arrive fresh, still in bud, prolonging the vase life. That daily rhythm means we can offer something truly fresh and consistent.” 

When you’re looking for partners, don’t be afraid to shop around. Reach out to different local flower farms, wholesalers and distributors so that you can find pricing and delivery terms to suit your business model and your budget.

3. Nail the operations side of the business

Planning ahead, keeping track of stock, and adjusting for the seasons are all important parts of running a successful floristry and flower delivery business. 

Plan ahead for peak demand periods

The flower business has some predictable peak demand times. For example, Statista estimates that US shoppers spent around $2.5 billion on flowers for Valentine's Day in 2025. And at Petal&Post, Portnoi says Mother’s Day is one of their busiest days of the year.

To make the most of these opportunities, you need to prepare well in advance:

• Work with your suppliers to ensure you will have enough inventory to meet increased order volume.
• Hire extra drivers and/or plan for overtime so you can make all your deliveries on time.

Pay attention to detail at every stage

Some of Petal&Post’s highest costs are exactly what you'd expect: fresh stems, sustainable packaging, and delivery, says Jenna Portnoi.

“Because fresh flowers are a perishable product, we invest in quality and care at every stage — from daily farm runs to the final ribbon tied around a posy. Presentation matters and every detail counts.” 

Common pitfalls to avoid in a florist business

Every type of business has its own operational pitfalls. These are the most important ones to look out for when you’re running a flower delivery business:

• Poor time management: Flowers are highly perishable, and delays can lead to wilted blooms and unhappy customers. This underlines the importance of a good delivery management process.
• Inconsistent flower quality: If you don’t have strong relationships with reliable suppliers, you’re more likely to get inconsistent/poor quality stock with a short shelf life.
• Poor packaging: Don’t be tempted to skimp on packaging — the wrong packaging can damage flowers while they’re being transported. 
• Underestimating logistics: If you’re planning delivery routes and you aren’t thinking about things like traffic or delivery windows, you can expect a lot of late/missed deliveries and wasted resources. This is where route optimization software like Routific can help businesses plan and manage more efficient delivery routes.
• Overcomplicated offerings: If you offer too many things, you’re only making your operations and inventory harder to manage. Keep it clean and simple. Petal&Post, for example, offers just one style of posy each week.

4. Market your business organically by focusing on customer experience

You’ll need a good marketing strategy to promote your flower business, and social media can help build brand awareness. But don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth. If you take the time to get to know what your customers really want and then deliver a great customer experience by addressing those needs, they’ll market your business for you. 

“People don't just buy our posies, they're buying a gesture, a message, a memory. It's up to us to honour that moment, and when we do, we earn their trust. That's what really builds a business: trust and word-of-mouth from people who've felt genuinely taken care of,” says Portnoi.

💡 Fun fact: The tradition of giving flowers as gifts dates back thousands of years. In ancient Egypt, flowers were often offered to gods and goddesses during rituals and other ceremonies. In ancient Greece and Rome, flowers were used as symbols in religious practices, and certain flowers were used to send messages or express specific emotions. Wealthy Romans even imported exotic flowers and created elaborate floral displays to impress their guests.

Deliver special moments and differentiators

There are a lot of flower businesses out there – from big online retailers that deliver bouquets to customers across the globe, to local business startups trying to earn the loyalty of customers in their local areas. 

To stand out, your small business needs to do something different. What is your unique selling point? Portnoi says Petal&Post offers a few key add-ons to make the experience more memorable: 

• Handwritten cards
• A custom bottle of posy food
• Friendly delivery drivers who wear branded Petal&Post uniforms
• Quick, responsive customer support via phone, WhatsApp, LiveChat or email

5. Implement an efficient logistics strategy

To create a great customer experience, says Portnoi, “our logistics have to be tight. Timing, handling, storage, delivery — it all has to run like clockwork.” 

The key things to get right are:

• An e-commerce platform that makes it easy for customers to browse your florist website, choose the product they want, and pay for it. 
• An integrated order management system. Shopify and WooCommerce both combine e-commerce website design and order management.
• A delivery management system like Routific that helps you schedule deliveries, manage a team of drivers, keep customers informed with automated notifications, and deliver on time.

Pillar&Post’s website, built using WooCommerce, handles most of their orders and is designed to keep the online ordering process simple and smooth for their customers.

“On the operations side, we rely heavily on our delivery logistics app – it helps us schedule, route, and track deliveries efficiently, so nothing gets missed,” Portnoi adds. “The app keeps everything streamlined and ensures we can respond quickly if anything changes during the day.”

💡Routific provides seamless delivery management for florists around the world. Check out our 7-day free trial.

Choose the right delivery model for your business

Traditional floral businesses and online flower shops offer a range of delivery options to suit the needs of their customer base:

• Same-day delivery is a popular option for last-minute gifts and special occasions like Valentine’s Day. By only offering deliveries in select locations, Petal&Post can offer same-day delivery for orders placed before 4pm.
• Scheduled deliveries are ideal for customers who plan ahead to ensure their order arrives on a specific day, like a wedding anniversary or birthday. This is also a more efficient model for the business, because a single driver can deliver multiple orders along a pre-planned, efficient route.
• Outsourced delivery is also an option if you’d prefer someone else to handle this part of the logistics. Using an external delivery service can eat into your profit margins, though.  

For Petal&Post, having a solid understanding of different delivery areas is a must. “It's one thing to plan a route on a map, but it's another to understand what that route actually feels like on the ground. We've learned a lot from driving our routes, getting to know how traffic flows, where access is tricky, and which areas tend to take longer. That kind of insight helps us plan better, support our drivers more thoughtfully, and ultimately deliver a better experience for the customer,” says Portnoi.

Build a delivery team that represents your brand

Petal&Post’s delivery team is made up of university students who are trained to handle orders, and customers, with care.

 “They know these deliveries often mark meaningful moments, and that they're not just dropping off a bunch of flowers, but delivering a feeling.”

6. Communicate, communicate, communicate

One of the biggest lessons the Petal&Post team have learned is that clear, consistent communication makes a world of difference. 

“If I had to give one piece of advice, it would be this: communicate well, and communicate often. Be honest, be clear, and keep your customers in the loop. From how your website flows, to how you write delivery updates, everything should feel thoughtful and easy to understand. Behind every order is someone trying to send a little love. Helping them do that is a responsibility we take seriously.”

Portnoi says that when customers feel informed and supported – from the moment they place their order to when their delivery is on the way – the experience is better for everyone.  

Petal&Post sends timely updates, and their customer support team is always ready to jump in if something needs extra attention.

💡Pro tip: Choose a delivery management system like Routific that sends automated delivery notifications with accurate ETAs and live delivery tracking links.

Want to start your own florist shop?

If Petal&Post’s story has inspired you to dip your toe into the floral industry and start making some extra cash from your flower arranging talents, you’re in luck. We’ve created a handy flower delivery business plan template to help you transform your business idea into your very own business. 

This handy guide will take you through everything you need to consider as a floral shop business owner – from figuring out your startup costs, identifying your potential customer base and deciding on a business name, to establishing an online presence and thinking about things like applying for a business license or a business loan.