About The Flower Shop
Coming from a background in IT, Bilal Sabusa was excited to start a new venture with his wife. In 2015, he and his wife purchased The Flower Shop, a local floral business located in Decatur, Georgia, and looked forward to charting a new path together.
"Though we didn’t have experience in the floral business, I had always loved gardening and making flower arrangements for my wife," Bilal explains.
Today, The Flower Shops offers an incredible selection of flowers sourced from all over the world at competitive pricing. Their location in a suburb of Atlanta also boasts a larger-than-life billboard advertising special pricing on roses—an iconic and savvy marketing holdover from the previous owner.
The Challenge
From the beginning, Bilal brought an analytics-obsessed mindset to growing The Flower Shop.
"I spent the first two to three years improving efficiencies for the business," Bilal explains. "That meant modernizing technology, bringing computers, updating our website, and planning route optimization with our drivers."
Bilal saw delivery as key to his business’ success but he didn’t consider working with a third-party partner until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. "I closed the business for a week and spent it trying to think about other avenues to help us thrive," he recalls. "Then I thought, why not sell flowers through DoorDash?"
"We try to be where the customer wants us to be, in a very competitive market — and partnering with DoorDash to expand our delivery capabilities helps us do that."
The Solution
Bilal quickly got to work, taking photos of his arrangements and uploading them to The Flower Shop’s listing on DoorDash. With a delivery footprint of 142 zip codes in the metro Atlanta area and rotating range of 20-30 SKUs, Bilal soon saw the convenience of working with third-party partners to expand his delivery capabilities.
"Every day, we do about 100 deliveries with our own drivers, 12-15 with DoorDash, and 12-15 with other partners," he notes. "We’ve gotten good at packaging flowers so they arrive at their destination in perfect condition."
Bilal is also a fan of DoorDash Marketing promotions like First Order, Free Delivery and $5 Off Next Order to help drive new orders. He explains, "I love those promos. They help get the message out about our local business, and all of the great products we have."
The Results
Since partnering with DoorDash, Bilal has seen steady growth, citing a 3% average monthly growth in DoorDash orders and an overall 10% profit margin increase. Today, 10% of The Flower Shop’s delivery revenue comes from DoorDash, and the couple has already invested in two additional locations.
Even Bilal is surprised by the scope of his success, explaining, "Before getting into this business, I didn’t realize or know that people bought this many flowers." He’s even started to get calls from other local florists asking about his experience partnering with DoorDash.
At the end of the day, despite Bilal’s passion for optimization and growth, it’s not all about the money. He and his wife want their business to serve the community, and routinely donate flowers to parents who have lost children, in addition to other charitable causes.
Bilal sums it up: "Relationships are so important in our business. As we grow, it’s important for us to build and maintain those relationships with our community."
