And we’re off!
Hello! Welcome to our inaugural post on the new East Coast website Blog!
We will not mention our old site, may it rest in peace and non-functionality for eternity in the cloud.
This new site has been a thoughtful and exciting labor of love. We hope that you will all enjoy playing around- we have designed it to be used across all platforms- computers, tablets and phones.
So, what’s new? Well considering the previous standard…um, everything. You can get to know our team through our bios. You can take a video tour of the cooler. You can check out classes and events we are offering or hosting at the warehouse. Read the blog. Send us a note. Check out the latest pricelists. And oh yeah, SHOP.
Yes, that’s the big news here. The new website is going to offer you all one more way to shop East Coast- at 3:30 in the morning in your pajamas with a glass of merlot, if you so choose. You will now be able to place an order online! All orders will still require personal confirmation from your salesperson. This is for a good reason- we have people ordering several different ways- in person, over the phone and now, online. We believe that the person to person contact is what allows us to work an order for you. By requiring every online order to be verbally confirmed with your sales person, we can continue to insure your order is fulfilled with accuracy, and keep dialog open for substitutions that might have to be made. East Coast is not a behemoth of an operation. We work hard to bring the best of the best product to you while giving you a local, personal experience. There are lots of options out there. Here, when one of our people takes your order, they personally see it through to the end. We don’t have “pickers” or people that pull your order, so why would we let an electronically generated order replace that dialog? We see this option a great way to get a jump on things outside the confines of our business hours. At the end of the day, or the crack of dawn if that’s your time, you can sit down and take time in the quiet moments to place orders for event work, or get somethings lined up for the funeral you had to take late in the day. Together with our amazing sales team, the online option is going to be a powerful tool in sharpening your buying skills.
Another aspect that we love is the photos! We have spent a year taking photos of our product in OUR warehouse. No stock photos- all our photos are gorgeous and you can use them to create a design board for your clients, or maybe make a wish list for a future event. You can even create an idea board or Pinterest board for a client, using our photos. Then, simply save that list and board so you can refer to it when placing an order. There are some great tools that you can utilize, and we are excited to see how you all jump in!
PLEASE NOTE that the shopping cart will not be fully functional right away. When it goes live, we are going to host a party here at the warehouse to show everyone how it works. We want you to embrace it if you want to, and give you as much support as possible when we launch it. And of course, if you don’t ever want to use it that’s fine! We will be happy to continue to serve you over the phone- I mean, you didn’t think we could abandon our legendary “on hold” infomercials?
But, Pamme, what about the blog? Why should we read this blog?
Well, as we see it, this blog is going to be a forum for all sorts of things. How about industry news? How about California? There’s no water there. Not just, “there hasn’t been any rain”- I mean, there is no water there. What does this mean for the future of flower production?
Brexit? Absolutely- all those Holland flowers don’t just fly from Holland you know.
But, this blog might also just be a forum for things like this:
https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/08/05/the-mystery-of-why-sunflowers-turn-to-follow-the-sun-solved/
The blog will also be a place where we shine the spotlight on our team here at East Coast. We are also going to have a series called “In the shop” (or studio) where I come and spend a day in the trenches with one of our clients. We want to highlight what people are doing out there, give everyone a chance to get to know their contemporaries in the profession.
So welcome to our new site! Every Friday, when the price lists are updated I will have a brand spanking new blog entry and a new video of the warehouse and/or cooler. Can’t wait! Here’s to flowers!
Cheers-
Pamme