Flower Power Revealed...

Consider the story of James "Jim" McCann. Jim is that easy-going, lovable "flower guy" who stars in his own TV ads... and is one of the best entrepreneurial success stories of our generation. Jim worked hard for his success and, like most other successful entrepreneurs, experienced more than his share of failure as he invented and then re-invented the company that is now recognized worldwide as 1-800-FLOWERS.com.

Jim's first career was as a social worker and administrator for St. Johns Home for Boys in Rockaway, NY. Fortunately, as it turns out for Jim, social work does not pay well, and he was forced to look for an additional job just to pay the bills. Finding work at a local flower shop, Jim also found that he had a passion for the flower business and ended up buying the shop he was working at. So began the very first change that Jim made in business.

Jim continued to work at St. Johns and, taking the profits from his first store, he committed to buying one flower store every year until he had acquired 14 stores in the New York Metropolitan Area. The year was 1986 and phone sales with 800 numbers were just coming into the market. Looking beyond the borders of New York, Jim envisioned selling flowers to the entire country, and bought out a nearly bankrupt company which owned the 1-800-FLOWERS phone number. He then changed his company name to reflect this easy to remember phone number.

Jim took full advantage of selling by way of 800 phone numbers. Spreading out through the creative use of national advertising and the creation of its own network of florists, Jim and 1-800-Flowers bloomed all through the late 1980's. Because of Jim's unique business, he transformed it into the first and best, in the nation, for selling flowers by phone. 1-800-FLOWERS, made its next big move with the onset of a brand new technology just starting to emerge called the internet. Knowing the importance of getting ahead of the curve, Jim became one of the very first retailers to sign an exclusive agreement with the fledgling CompuServe and AOL web sites, to sell flowers directly to consumers.

In 1995, Jim registered www.1800flowers.com to lead the way for retailers to sell products on the world-wide web. As profitable as they have become, Jim is not willing to just ride their past success into the sunset. With over 4,000 employees, a reported 30,000,000 customers and a reported revenue of $235,000,000 in 2011, 1-800-Flowers is thoroughly engaged in creating MAGIC found in the newest technologies — video, mobile and social marketing — as it keeps its eye on being the number one retail flower company in the country.

Through invention, innovation and a willingness to take a risk on new technologies, James McCann has proven that you can start with just one little store, and dominate an entire industry, as long as you are willing to see the opportunities that are inherent in the continuous changes in how business is done. Over the last decade, 1-800-Flowers.com has continued to grow as it has purchased and merged with many other companies such as DesignPac Gifts, and a gourmet gift basket maker called 1-800-Baskets.com, for $36 million in cash.

"1-800-Flowers.com... We're happy when you're smiling!"

Solid Gold Performance...

It requires a conscious effort to experiment, innovate and re-invent how your company will ride the next big wave to hit your customers. You must remain relevant to your customers way of doing business, or you are out of business!

How Did 1-800-Flowers Become a Gold Mine? By Superior:

Mission...     Innovation...     Administration Management...

Click on Function... Insert a Do It in your Strategic Plan... then Just DO IT!

Your Thoughts and Observations...

"We were always looking for the next emerging technology... I'm old, so I'm always asking younger people, 'What have you seen lately?'" ~ Jim McCann