Ever since we opened our florist business in Annandale in 1999 we’ve focused on two things – having the freshest and best quality flowers and giving people the best possible experience. If flowers are past their best we don’t sell them, instead we give them to customers as a bonus on top of what they purchase.
Surcharging our customers just doesn’t feel right to us – we’re focused on our customers and what’s going to make them smile. Whilst being Surcharge Free alone doesn’t achieve this it is part of many more initiatives, policies and practices that all combine to try to create a great experience and make shopping with us enjoyable and easy.
In-store we accept Amex, Diners, MC, Visa, eftpos and cash The reaction is always positive – “oh great, I didn’t even know if you’d even take Amex” or “excellent, my points are growing I’ve got an awesome holiday coming up”.
The whole ethos is to try and ensure people will keep coming back. Opening long hours – so they can shop with us before or after work – providing a quality product and not imposing a surcharge goes a long way to achieving that.
When I go shopping myself I don’t like being surcharged even though, at the end of the day, that one transaction is not going to make that big a difference to me. I’d just much rather that the business display a spirit of generosity that says, “you’re welcome to use your preferred payment method with us – we’re here for you”. There is a large local business I shop at every day that had previously not accepted Amex at another location (or did, but with a surcharge, I can’t recall) but now accepts the card surcharge free. I really like that and use my Amex all the time and always think, “that’s another way they show they are customer-focused”.
I think surcharging can have the effect of having your customers thinking about something you don’t want them to. Whilst some may not think twice and couldn’t care if they get surcharged, there are enough people who do care about it and who will be unhappy about being surcharged that it makes good business sense to not do it.
Jodie McGregor, Founder, Jodie McGregor Flowers
