It’s almost Thanksgiving, and all signs point to...

The wreath season hasn’t quite started yet. Let’s look at the stats!

• 144 orders

• 1.4% conversion rate

• 9,200 store sessions

Actually, it’s kind of nice to figure out a handful of operational challenges before we really get slammed with festive spirit. Our intel suggests that just after Thanksgiving, everyone takes down their turkey decorations and we dive headfirst into the December holidays.

That does worry me a little bit, but for now, things are looking good.

The traffic is there, and it looks like folks are festively circling. It seems like there may be a bit of a Black Friday wait-a-thon happening. Everyone expects big discounts and deals now. We don’t quite have the margins for that this year.

What I can say is that orders are flowing in and the numbers seem to be increasing.

'Tis the season!

Our First Orders Are Hanging On Doors!

What The... Black Friday? 🖤 

Everyone gets a deal! Wait, do they? Researching tactics for Black Friday we’ve noticed a few themes. It's become a "holiday" of its own, complete with a few popular strategies:

• Option 1: Inflate prices so that you can discount them. This seems dishonest and not really in the holiday spirit. There’s a pricing risk too, what do you do after Black Friday? Return prices to normal (pre inflation) or return them to the new inflated price?

• Option 2: Protect prices and create a new discounted item to sell. This feels like the right move in many ways. Customers get the deal they’re expecting, and the business can protect their pricing.

• Option 3: Do neither. We tend to run with our own pack. Our wreaths are high quality, and we don’t love the idea of discounting them. We did offer a slight discount from our desired asking price, but nothing that would compare to a typical Black Friday sale (25%+).

Next year we we’ll offer a unique wreath or maybe a two-wreath deal. It's hard to know if this feels like a missed opportunity. It pains us to do what everyone else is doing.

Oh one last thing, we already offer free shipping and that doesn’t seem to move the needle in the Black Friday mayhem.

The Great State Of Regulations!

Would you believe it if I told you that the great state of California loves rules? It’s the only state that requires us to label our boxes with the contents. Our boxes are brown craft with no branding (this year).

I’ve never heard of this! Mainly because I’ve never done any of this before. I called our UPS partner, who knows a thing or two about shipping festive wreaths. She said she wasn’t sure.

Okay, don’t tempt me with a good time. I called the Department of Food and Agriculture to get to the bottom of this. This was only half curiosity; the risk is that our packages get held up, and the last thing we want is a January wreath delivery.

Per California Food and Agricultural Code (FAC) Section 6421, the following needs to be clearly marked on the package:

Each shipment of plants brought into this state shall have legibly marked upon it in a conspicuous manner and place all of the following:

(a) The name and address of the shipper or owner.
(b) The name of the person to whom the shipment is forwarded or shipped, or the name of their agent.
(c) The name of the country, state, or territory where the contents were grown.
(d) A statement of its contents.

They also said that if the dogs pick up on plant matter in the package and there are no markings on the box, they are required to open it up! Lucky them, they get to smell our beautiful wreath. But unlucky customer who has to wait for their order.

Can’t have that. So, we ordered a rubber stamp. California orders now get stamped with: “Contents: Holiday Wreaths”—so fun!

Maybe that goes on every box.

Corporate Gifting Is LIVE

We’ve leveled up and launched Corporate Gifting!

The majority of our sales have been ones, twos or threes. Most of these are for individuals or sent as gifts (I love the gift messages!). For a large team, checking out 10+ different times might not be ideal. Potentially painful.

We wanted to make it easy for companies (and large families) to share a unique natural gift with their people. Because who doesn’t want to be surprised with a Holiday wreath? It’s pretty simple: upload a spreadsheet, add gift messages, and let us handle the rest.

Initiatives like this are what really unlock scale for this business.

Wreaths For Good?

We thought it would be cool to plant a tree for every wreath sold. We don’t cut down trees, but we do have a carbon footprint from shipping. So, perhaps we could have an even more positive impact by planting trees.

In a perfect world, we would plant one tree for every wreath sold. But the deeper you delve, the murkier it gets.

One option is a for-profit company out of Europe that integrates with Shopify stores. Simple setup, but the program plants mangroves in Africa, a bit far from home.

Another nonprofit replants deforested areas. Seems good, right? But why were they deforested? Ah, clear-cutting. What tends to happen is clear-cutters must replant the land they've cut as part of their contract. In this case, yes, a tree is being planted, but was an even larger, more important tree removed? It seems like all the impact is lost.

We need the trees in that area, but is the nonprofit actually subsidizing the clear-cutters' efforts to replant? Hmm, that’s not really what we’re looking to support.

A small aside: A friend wanted to donate a tree for every attendee at his wedding—a cool gift idea. The problem is that the company counted every seed flung from the back of their airplane as a tree.

Trees feel complex and now the story is getting complex to tell. I’m losing steam on this idea.

Maybe the play is to build a simple fundraising platform instead. Let individuals sell wreaths to raise money for whatever cause speaks to them: Non profits, softball uniforms, school trips, etc.

We’re a bit late in the season to launch this now. A fundraiser friend said these efforts start in September. We’re only 3 months late.

A Vision For The Future: A Collection Of Seasonal Businesses

Is this a seasonal business of businesses? Could this grow into a holiday holding company of other seasonal businesses that operate during short windows of time? I think there’s a very strong argument for this.

The upside is that it’s a really unique business; the downside is that all the hustle is compressed into a small windows of time.

Growing from zero in today's world requires a combination of advertising, influence, network, and cleverness. Holidays are highly competitive when it comes to marketing and advertising. Then again, we’re not afraid to get a bit creative and think outside the holiday box.

It’s Almost December, And We’re Ready!

Happy Holidays! It’s time to put our systems to the test.

Jonah

What’s next? 

• Head to Washington and get a close eye on our operation

• Connect with larger companies to sell corporate gifts

• Go Time!