Starting a flower shop with WooCommerce
Starting an online flower shop is a fantastic way to grow your florist business with WooCommerce. In this article, I'll show you how to get started with selling flowers online. As well as the basics, you'll learn how to add personalization and upselling options to encourage customers to buy more.
For centuries, florists have sold beautiful floral arrangements, often crafting personalized orders and building unique works of art. If the customizable creative process is anything to go by, then it can fit seamlessly with online ordering. Florists can build an online shop that gives their customers the ability to create and order unique flowers and bouquets.
In this article, we explore how to create an online shop that brings the floral creative process to your customers, no matter where they are. We'll do this by looking at the best WooCommerce florist plugins for selling flowers and other gifts online.
You'll learn how to sell flowers online, and how to create an interactive online ordering page for each bouquet. This includes adding customization options, allowing customers to enter the text to be written on the gift card, choosing ribbon and wrapping colors, and upsell extras such as boxes of chocolates to be sent with the bouquet.
To do this, we'll use the free WooCommerce plugin alongside Product Options to help you add flexible customization options and upsells to your online florist.
Setting up an online flower shop
From the get-go, building an online store for your physical flower shop may feel like a laborious task. But, it can be a hugely profitable way to reach new and current customers, simplify sales, and grow your business.
And while these benefits are apparent, there’s more. A WooCommerce florist website:
- Enables you to expand your customer base using SEO and digital marketing. Now, you can reach a wider audience on Google and social media platforms.
- Allows your customers to place orders 24/7. Even when your physical store closes for the day, buyers can still find your business running and enjoy a similar experience to visiting your shop.
- Creates opportunities for customers to contact and connect with you. Sharing your business location, contact details, social media profiles, FAQ and live chat makes it easy for buyers to find you.
- Enables you to scale your business fast, meaning you can increase business as the store gains traction. As you reach more users online and make more sales, you can open new physical branches, increase your deliveries, and reach more users.
- Is fantastic for upselling, if you use the right WooCommerce florist plugins. Customers might only come to your florist website to order a bouquet. However, you know they're buying a gift, so it's easy to inspire them to order further items such as a gift card or box of chocolates.
Taking your flower shop online is a sure way to expand your business reach and make the most of your WooCommerce florist business. You can create a WooCommerce flower shop to run alongside your physical florist shop. Or alternatively, you can run a 100% virtual florist and save on rental costs while still reaching an enormous market.
Why use WooCommerce to set up your flower shop?
With plenty of ways to take your floristry business online, what’s the most ideal platform to use? WordPress and WooCommerce rank high on that list, especially if you’re building an ecommerce store for the first time. So why start out with WooCommerce?
Here are some top reasons:
WordPress and WooCommerce are user-friendly and well-established with a massive support community behind them.
If you’re a complete beginner, WordPress is a great place to start with your online store. No need to learn to code or deal with complicated features. It features an intuitive and user-friendly interface that you can get used to fast.WordPress enables you to build your online flower store – and many other types of websites – in hours.
To help you navigate it even better, there is a massive community and multiple guides online to get you started.
WordPress and WooCommerce websites are highly customizable, and you can use a design that meets your brand standards and business style.
WordPress is a versatile solution that can fit any general or unique use – including building a WooCommerce flower shop. You can customize your new online flower store to appear however you like. By adding the best WooCommerce florist plugins, you can add flexible options which will increase your average order value.
You can use unique brand colors, images, and videos on your new website to display flowers and bouquets in multiple ways. One way may be to arrange flowers based on color, flower type, occasion, and more. As well as the homepage and other main pages, you'll have an online flower shop with full e-commerce functionality.
WordPress comes with a built-in responsive design, which means users can access your online store from any device at any place or time.
Using WordPress makes it effortless for buyers to access your website from any device. Because of its open-source nature and massive community support, WordPress comes with built-in functionality that supports devices of any screen size.
Your website visitors can now access your website from any smartphone, tablet, or PC, regardless of screen size. Your WordPress website adjusts its experience automatically to make your content as accessible and interactive as possible, regardless of a user’s device.
WordPress is SEO-friendly with an inbuilt capacity to support meta tags, headers, descriptions, and other SEO features.
WordPress is by nature search engine friendly, giving you a chance to rank high in your niche if you use its SEO tools appropriately. For instance, If you upload an image, adding alternative text for accessibility is an effortless task. It provides a text box that supports alt text, and you can add and edit it whenever necessary.
Once you add new content to the WordPress text editor, you can also add other SEO features, including meta descriptions, tags, embed links, and insert media. These features can help search engines understand your website and recommend it to relevant users.
WordPress comes with a massive ecosystem of plugins and extensions that can expand the functionality of a website beyond its defaults.
For instance, you can enhance the security of your website by downloading WordFence or iTheme Security, two top-notch plugins. You can also introduce other features like contact forms, live chat, analytics, and subscriptions to your website using plugins and add-ons.
While the possibilities are endless, the main WooCommerce florist plugin we'll be covering in this tutorial is WooCommerce Product Options. This is directly relevant to selling flowers online as it lets you sell more flowers and flower products, enabling users to customize orders uniquely. However, with thousands of plugins available, there’s no limit to what you can do with WordPress.
Both WooCommerce and WordPress are open-source products that are free to use.
Rather than spend money on building a custom website, you can access WordPress and WooCommerce free of charge. You may only need hosting services and most of them are affordable.
It also frees up your budget to invest in a unique theme and specific WooCommerce florist plugins that will directly improve your profitability.
Offering customizable flower products with WooCommerce Product Options
Customization is important for any WooCommerce flower shop, as you need to meet the unique needs of your customers. For this reason, any item sold in your physical flower shop should be customizable to some extent.
There are lots of ways that you could allow customers to customize the flowers in your WooCommerce florist, such as:
- Select from a small, medium and large bouquet size - each with different pricing.
- Choose the number of roses to order for Valentine’s Day.
- Select an exact color scheme and favorite flowers for a custom bouquet.
- Sell optional extras such as extra sachets of flower food or a decorative vase.
- Allow customers to add a gift card and enter a personal text message to be written or printed.
- Upsell extra gifts such as boxes or chocolates or teddy bears.
- Gift wrap options for the flowers and any extra items the customer has selected.
- Add a 'Rush charge' checkbox where customers can pay an extra fee for faster delivery.
Once the customer has chosen all the options, they can add everything to their cart and then proceed to the shopping cart and complete their order.
Product Options - the perfect way to add extra options to your WooCommerce florist website
The WooCommerce Product Options plugin provides an easy way to add all the extras that I listed above, and more. You can get as creative as you like with your customizations.
- You can add up to 16 types of extra options to your products, including checkboxes, dropdown lists, custom text fields, color swatches, clickable images, display other products, radio buttons, and more. These fields make it easier for customers to select product options and even add a personal twist to some of them.
- Either create the options directly in the plugin, or select existing variations to display in the above styles.
- It automatically calculates the price for your buyer, depending on the choices made. You can use eight different pricing options, such as adding a flat fee or increasing the overall product price by a percentage.
- You can upsell customers on other products and services or sell bundles. That way, you give people ideas that improve their experience while increasing your average order value per customer.
- If you want to add lots of options, then you can use conditional logic to dynamically show and hide each option based on the customer's other selections. This is a great way to avoid cluttering up the page for your florist products. For example, you might add a "Customize my bouquet" checkbox which people can tick to reveal all the extra options.
Choosing the right theme for your WooCommerce florist
All WordPress websites need a theme to control the overall design of your online florist.
Just as you are invested in the presentation of your physical flower shop, an attractive WooCommerce WordPress theme is the key to a great first impression online. Choosing a theme that fits your niche is essential because it affects your user experience.
Ideally, you want a well-designed and navigable theme. A robust theme will offer multiple templates, including one that fits your flower boutique niche. It should be silky and navigable, with a clear layout that users can access with ease. Most importantly, it should offer full support for WooCommerce.
If you’re not sure where to start, you can take inspiration from other popular florist websites. A free theme may be a great place to start, but opting for a premium option is often better. That's because it comes bundled with premium plugins, flexible theme options and customer support.
You can always try out live demos of these flower shop WordPress themes to see what works best.
Here are some of my favorite website templates for online florists:
All the florist templates in Divi theme
Divi theme comes with a range of built-in templates designed for WooCommerce florist websites.
The florist template in Astra theme
Astra is the world's top selling theme and is also one of the fastest WooCommerce themes. Its Florist template is perfect for displaying and selling flowers online.
WooCommerce florist setup tutorial
Now we've looked at what you need to create a WooCommerce florist website, I'll tell you how to set it up. Before you start, you need a WordPress website with the free WooCommerce plugin installed. Use the WooCommerce setup wizard to choose your overall options, such as shipping, tax, and which payment methods you'll accept.
Adding flower products to your store
After setting up your website, it’s time to add flowers and all other florist products and services you offer. To add a product:
- Start by logging into the admin section of your WordPress site.
- Go to Woocommerce → Products → Add Product.
- Add a product title and description.
- Add the basic price. (Remember that you'll be adding extra options later which can change this price.)
- Upload a product image.
- Repeat steps 1-5 for each of the flower products you will be selling.
Here is a more detailed guide on how to add and manage products in WooCommerce.
Add the customization options
Now install WooCommerce Product Options to add the customizable options your customers need:
- Purchase the WooCommerce Product Options plugin and install it.
- Once installed, go to Products → Product Options and create a group of each set of options that you will add. Here is an example of what that may look like:
In this Mother’s Day Bouquet example, a customer can choose the size of a bouquet, add an optional free gift card, and add a special message to it. They can also add upsells, like a bottle of Prosecco or champagne truffles as seen in 2 and 3 below.
- You can add separate options for each product, or have the same options on multiple products. When creating the group, choose which products and/or categories you want them to appear on.
In the example above, this option group has its visibility (1) set to specific categories and products, in particular, the Mother’s Day Bouquet. You can also include (2) or exclude (3) other products or categories, depending on your product strategy. - Add the options. You can also create and add other options, including gift wrapping options, custom delivery, custom flower arrangements, and other product configurations. For each option, you'll see a range of settings such as price options, a maximum character count for your text fields, and conditional logic.
Enhancing customer experience with conditional logic
You can enhance the display of your product options using conditional logic.
Conditional logic is an advanced setting that you can add to each product option. It comes in handy when options are interdependent, or a single product option relies on the presence of another. It’s a type of “if…then” statement that helps you build interactive product and checkout pages.
For example, as mentioned in the example above, nearly any purchase from a florist might benefit from a custom gift card. But not everyone may desire one. In that case, you can make this product conditional to a buyer’s preference, as illustrated below.
The product page initially loads with the price and purchase buttons, the customer may see a checkbox asking, “Choose a gift card (it's free!)”
If the customer checks it, They can pick a gift card design from the options offered. If they leave the box unchecked, they skip the gift card option altogether and move to the next step.
Creating product options using conditional logic can mimic the bespoke experience customers may expect if they come into your shop or call you over the phone instead.
Additionally, hiding irrelevant options keeps the page clutter-free and guides the customer smoothly through the ordering process.
Managing delivery and shipping tips
Once a customer makes a purchase online, it’s time for you to deliver their order. Florists have several options to choose from when it comes to order delivery and shipping, and here are some of them.
Remember that you can offer multiple delivery options for customers to choose from. You can also show different shipping methods based on the customer's location.
In-house delivery
Suppose you deliver the flowers yourself, you may already have or plan to purchase your own van and hire a driver.
That gives you a high level of control and reliability over deliveries and you can offer personalized customer service. You may also enjoy flexibility in scheduling and order management
However, that has a higher upfront cost and may take more work to manage. You'll be delivering to a restricted area, so use WooCommerce shipping zones to control which zip code areas the in-house shipping is available to.
Third-party delivery
You can also use local, national or international courier companies and on-demand delivery services to deliver your florist products. The advantages are that you don’t need to purchase equipment or manage staff and it may be more affordable and reliable, as you have access to an established network of delivery drivers.
However, you give up control over the delivery process and your customer service experience may be less personalized.
Let customers choose a delivery slot
WooCommerce florists can get more sales by letting customers choose an exact date and/or time when the flowers will be delivered. This is essential when ordering gifts online because you might want it to be delivered on an exact day, such as a loved one's birthday or Mother's Day.
The best way to do this is by installing the Delivery Slots plugin on your online flower shop. This lets you choose which time slots to make available for each shipping method and clearly display this on the WooCommerce checkout page.
Marketing tips and strategies for your online flower shop
The best form of marketing your florist business can enjoy is word of mouth. But before your reputation spreads and you become a household name, you can market your online flower shop in other ways and improve your bottom line.
Some strategies include:
- Social media marketing on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and more. Florists may benefit more from image-based platforms.
- Improve your website SEO and rank for relevant keywords that cover floral arrangement advice, special occasion étiquette, gift-giving guides, wedding planning tips, and more.
- Partner with local companies to build communities and improve your reputation.
- Attend fairs and showcase your bouquets.
Add a B2B wholesale area to your WooCommerce florist website
So far in this WooCommerce florist tutorial, we have assumed that you're selling flowers to the public.
Lots of florists also sell to the trade, and can save time by adding a private wholesale area to their online flower shop. You can easily do this by installing the WooCommerce Wholesale Pro plugin.
WooCommerce Wholesale Pro has everything you need to sell flowers to B2B users, including:
- Create one or more wholesale user roles and enter wholesale prices for that role.
- Allow new trade users to register for a wholesale account, and either let them start shopping immediately or hold their application for manual approval.
- Set each category of products in your WooCommerce florist to either public only, wholesale only, or both.
- Offer different payment, tax and shipping options to retail and trade buyers.
- Display trade products in a quick order form for faster ordering.
Bring your WooCommerce flower shop to life today
Selling flowers online is a fantastic way to connect with a wider audience and boost your sales. With WordPress and WooCommerce, you can build a fantastic florist shop in no time and take your business online.
Since flowers are diverse and your customers have unique preferences, remember to use a WooCommerce florist plugin like Product Options to create a highly customizable ordering experience. WooCommerce Product Options gives you all the tools you need to recreate a bespoke florist experience online - download the plugin to get started today!