Ideas to grow a home-based floristry business please

[HelloDenise]

Does anyone have any good ideas for getting a floristry business WFH off the ground please? It's a qualified florist, also does classes in the community but often only gets about 5 customers each time. Doesn't rent a shop so doesn't get passing trade. Thanks.

Where are you based and what is your unique selling point?

If you don’t have a shop you’ll need to be online and do delivery. Are you in a big town or city?

Or specialise in party decoration. Something that people are booking in advance.

I should have said, this is a friend, not me. She's in a small town. She's not got a website, just uses Facebook.

I can't think of a USP.

Party decorations sounds a good idea though.

I used to run a floristry business from home when my DD was a toddler. 40 years ago. I made wedding flowers. I only used silk flowers because it was too much waste to use fresh.

How on earth is that little story relevant to an actual florist in 2026?!!

OP does your friend have a garden? There's a trend towards home grown, locally delivered natural looking bouquets. Like a flower subscription service on a micro level.

Any local cafes she could team up with? The cute brunch spots/delis near me often have a local florist set up a little stall outside on e.g. mother's day, valentines. Or they advertised pre-order bouquets for collection from the cafe. Not sure if they're taking commission on sales, or if they're just working on the basis that when customers come to collect flowers they'll grab a coffee or cake at the same time.

What an incredibly rude comment. Such anger on a thread about bloody flowers!

If your friend is working from home, @HelloDenise , silk flowers make perfect sense. Great idea @DustyMaiden .

@CallingOnTheMegaphone "How on earth is that little story relevant to an actual florist in 2026?!!"

Rude or what? It's a perfectly relevant comment. There's demand for high quality silk flowers today as there was then. It's much less wasteful and far more practical when operating without a shop. And @DustyMaiden is the only actual poster with WFH florist experience to reply on this thread.

Some clever person round my way used to do a Friday service at the local train station - 5.30-7pm ready made bouquets all at the same price, broadly similar. Commuters would pick them up on their way home. Presume they had to have an arrangement with the station to pitch up there.

Being able to supply places like local hotels, cafes, restaurants, offices with fresh flowers could work - if you can deliver to them on a regular basis? Perhaps even care homes as well? They may already have suppliers, but could be worth asking around and finding out if your friend could provide a cheaper/more reliable/more frequent/more personal service/displays.

There is a company in a city near me that is a non-profit that takes flowers from florists and supermarkets that they take off sale, rebundles them and sells them to care homes, etc. I am not entirely sure of the business model other than only the owner gets a salary from it, but just wanted to add it in as it is an example of working with flowers, but in a different way, so could spark some ideas.

Also, as above, centrepieces for weddings and other family events could be way to go? Whether fresh or not, or a mix. It would mean needing storage potentially, but doable at home. Are there are local wedding organisers or venues nearby that your friend could talk to about what and when they need stuff?

Could she run wreath making workshops at Christmas/ autumn at her home or a local cafe?

run other floristry classes?

speak to local funeral homes and celebrants to advertise/ make connections?

run foraging/ home grown/ local flower and plants specials

Instagram or TikTok is probably better suited to that sort of business - does she have the confidence to make short reels etc?
Could she speak to local undertakers/wedding venues to leave business cards with them? Presumably she’s a bit cheaper because of less overheads. There’s a local florist to us who advertises funeral flowers and does special offers, she’s definitely cheaper than local florists with shops and seems to do well (and let’s face it a lot of people can’t afford huge prices these days)