Dates: 6 May 2016 - 12 May 2016
Venue: NYP Atrium
Time: 8.00AM - 8.00PM
About the Event
The NYP Graduation Flower Sales 2016 took place
at NYP’s Atrium from the 6th May to 12th May respectively. It was organised by EMRS Team 3 and
Xpressflowers. A total of 12 of us were involved in the sales of the various
types of flower bouquets.
Pre-Event
By the end of the first week, the OICs of our
team, Kerina and Samuel, had come up with a well-organised schedule. It clearly
indicated the exact reporting time, break time, as well as shift timings. They
also deployed manpower to be cashiers and salespeople.
The posters were created by Wei Han and Ayn, who
were in charge of the Advertising & Promotion (A&P). They had a rough
layout of posters by the middle of the first week and completed them by the 3rd of May. The posters
were placed around the school campus, with at least one poster stand at each
school.
The banner was made through a joint effort of
team 3 and through much deliberation and thought, our final product was born.
On the 5th of May, a day before
the actual event, we retrieved the necessary equipment from the logistics room
and started to set up our booth. We revised our roles and conducted a dry run
on how the customer would interact with each point in our booth.
On the very same day, a few of us who were
appointed to be the cashiers for the entire event also learnt to operate the
POS machine.
Actual Event
There were a few changes made throughout the
event as well as various challenges faced. Our initial flow of the transaction
process is as follows. We had wanted our customers to look at the display of
samples on the wire mesh, after which that they would choose their specific
bouquet at the start of our booth which would then be brought to the holding
area. Succeeding payment at the cashier, customers would finally be able to
collect their flowers at the collection booth.
However, when the event started, we realized that the collection counter was redundant when there was a slow but steady
stream of customers and was only useful when a large crowd arrived, which in
turn, rarely happened. Thinking on our feet, we decided to close the collection
booth and convert the holding area to a reserve area for customers who have
paid. This greatly improved the flow of the booth and like a well-oiled engine,
we started to take off.
To promote Mother's day, we attempted to have a
roving team of students who would try and sell flowers on the go. However the
response we received was lacklustre as most students were unapproachable and it
would be more efficient if the students stayed at the booth. Thus, we had to
dismiss this method of selling.
Another complication that arose was that some of
the bouquets which had arrived were dissimilar to those which we had
advertised. The types of flowers and bouquets that came each session varied in
terms of pricing, wrapping style and size.
We displayed the various samples of bouquets on
the wire mesh. This was to enable the customers to have a closer look at the
bouquets available and before they purchase their preferred bouquet. However,
due to the inconsistency and at times shortage of flowers, we made the decision
to take down the samples during busier sessions and use the empty wire meshes
as a barricade to prevent unauthorised personnel from accessing the stock.
During the five days of the event, there were
changes made to the stipulated opening and closing time. We had to open later
due to the inconsistency in the delivery time of flowers and closed the booth
earlier as there was a lack of a crowd towards the end.
There were various roles that needed to be
attended to, someone to restock flowers, someone at the front of the booth to
attend to the customers and others to make sure the flowers were presented
correctly and adequately watered. Most of these roles overlapped each other and
would have caused complications. However due to the teamwork and camaraderie we
had formed as a team, we were able to communicate well and work as a whole to
make sure everything ran smoothly.
Also many customers were unsure about what
flowers to purchase, we approached them and provided them the information on
which flowers would be appropriate.
Post-Event
Nearing the end of the event, as we began to
tear down the booth, we were more efficient with our time and managed to
dismantle the booth quickly. After all the equipment were safely put back into
the fixtures room, we were elated to find out that we had over exceeded our
projected sales figure twice.
We had learnt new skills through this event
which included the wrapping of bouquets, proper customer service and
efficiency. Furthermore, this event has also helped us to polish up our ability
to work as a team.
