Beautiful and American grown

Cassie Neiden | May 2016

Farmgirl Flowers' signature look is an overflowing, wildflower aesthetic.
Photo courtesy of Farmgirl Flowers

Founder Christina Stembel offers customers one daily arrangement via her e-commerce website.
Photo courtesy of Farmgirl Flowers

Christina Stembel operates her e-commerce floral company Farmgirl Flowers with less than 1 percent of waste — an idea that may seem nearly impossible after considering all of the product pushed through a greenhouse during the spring season. Yet, she makes her national floral bouquet arrangement and delivery service work effectively by purchasing all of her plant product in season, and only from American growers.

Stembel’s smart — albeit more expensive — buying decisions are made possible through a limited daily arrangement selection to avoid “hundreds of lackluster options” that may end up disappointing customers. And in this day and age of Millennial purchasers who value quality over quantity of choices, what could make more sense?

“Since we do daily arrangements, we don’t let people pick. We can use just about anything. So even though we have ‘one daily arrangement,’ we really have like six daily arrangements going on ... They’re always the same flower varieties, but there will be a lot of different color combinations,” she says.

The bouquets, packed tightly with overflowing florals and foliage in a spilling-over “farmgirl” style, are bundled together by a trademarked burlap wrap for a rustic chic appeal, then shipped anywhere in the United States. (In the San Francisco Bay Area, bouquets are delivered by bike messenger for an extra personal touch.)

Stembel came up with the idea while working at Stanford University, where she put on events for the law school from 2005 to 2010 and frequently purchased from big e-commerce florists. “I couldn’t understand, from a budget perspective, why we were spending so much money, and why the flowers cost so much for events,” she says. “We were spending $100 to $200 on each centerpiece for [a] table. It just seemed a bit exorbitant to me.” After budgets at the law school were cut during the recession, Stembel turned to local growers to purchase flowers, pumpkins and other live goods, and then designed the centerpieces herself.

Farmgirl Flowers employs about 30 people who work in the San Francisco Flower Mart putting together arrangements, and handling, shipping and delivering orders.
Photo courtesy of Farmgirl Flowers

She got to know the growers during that time purchasing their product for Stanford, and ran her idea for Farmgirl Flowers by a couple of them. “I was like, ‘What would you think if I started a flower company that only used American-grown flowers, and we did one daily arrangement, and didn’t give consumers any choice about the flowers?’” One countered, saying, “That’s crazy. First of all, we’ve lost the battle. Nobody cares whether it’s imported or not, and everybody uses imports … You can get it 16 cents a stem in Mexico or South America, why are people going to pay a dollar here for it?”

Stembel says that even in the San Francisco Flower Mart where her shop is located, local growers would bring in imported flowers, selling them side-by-side with what they do grow. “They all basically had a defeatist mentality of, ‘It’s just too late,’” she says.

But Stembel was ready to take on the challenge when she founded the business in December 2010 by studying the buying habits of her target customers and being transparent about where her flowers come from.

“Everything I’ve found in studying Millennial purchasing and consumer behavior of the Millennials [shows that] they want to feel like it’s a good quality for the money they’re spending. They’re a lot savvier customers. They just are. They have a lot more options readily available at their fingertips,” she says.

Stembel details the cause behind her operation on her website, and includes a variety of tidbits about the American-grown ideals within her social media posts, too, so that anyone purchasing from Farmgirl can easily discover Stembel’s story and the motivation behind her business.

Stembel's reduced waste (less than 1 percent), opens up her margins to purchase directly from U.S. flower growers.
Photo courtesy of Farmgirl Flowers

The lack of waste helps greatly, allowing Stembel to spend more per flower from American farmers, while keeping her price point even with floral e-commerce giants at about $80 per bouquet.

And so far, her business model, dedication to American growers and of course, stylish eye for design, have paid off.

“Now, we’re one, if not the biggest customer with most of the growers we buy from. If we’re not the biggest, we’re second or third. They’ve definitely changed their minds a bit, and I can see more hope with them. And they’re growing more flowers.”

Digital marketing tips from Farmgirl Flowers’ founder

Farmgirl Flowers founder and CEO Christina Stembel has garnered about 90,000 Instagram followers, 71,000 Facebook followers, 2,000 Twitter followers and 1,200 Pinterest followers at press time. Here she shares some tips on how to attract users to your online platforms.

Invest in social media — it’s important

Eighty-five percent of Farmgirl’s marketing dollars go to social media, and Facebook by far is the best return on investment, Stembel says. “We have the highest conversion rates with the lowest cost propositions at Facebook, so I’m always encouraging people to utilize the marketing channels on Facebook,” she says. Full disclosure — Stembel’s husband works at Facebook, but she insists that it’s still No. 1. “We tried Instagram — that’s owned by Facebook, too — and Instagram wasn’t great for us as far as cost per conversion,” she adds.

Make your posts real and relatable

Stembel says social media works for Farmgirl Flowers because it's where her target demographic spends its time. But she says it can also work well for growers. “I think for farms, it’s really great because people do want to see behind the scenes,” she adds. “Consumers want to feel something when they buy, so really staying authentic is really helpful. And digital media and social media allow you to do that.”

Photo courtesy of Farmgirl Flowers

No, you don’t need to hire a social media professional

Stembel says she receives about 10 resumes per week from people wanting to run Farmgirl Flowers’ social media accounts, but Stembel refuses to pass the buck to an external hire. “No. 1, I wouldn’t give up that control to somebody outside, or even bring somebody in full-time for it, because I like to joke that I do it when I go to the bathroom every day,” she says. “I spend 10 minutes on it. It takes no time at all.” She adds that she doesn’t want to corporatize Farmgirl’s message, saying it would make the company’s social media “lose its luster.” Flower farmers frequently ask for Stembel's advice when social media hopefuls request to run their accounts. “I tell them not to do it. Do not pay $5,000 a month to have this company come help you … because it won’t work.”

It doesn’t have to be perfect

“You need to stay true to what your company or your farm is, and how can an outside company ever do that well for you?” Stembel says. “Doing it internally is always the best way, and not to make it look too good either,” she adds. “You don’t have to clean it up and scrub it down … We’ll post pictures of when it’s just a torn-up mess in our shop. I think people like that because they don’t feel like they have the wool pulled over their eyes.”