Flower business students worry about unsold products every rainy day

(Baonghean.vn) - The unfavorable weather in Vinh City around March 8th has made many young seasonal business people worried. "Some people have more than they can eat, others have less than they need" is probably the saying that fits the mood of business people these days.

Millionaire

Phan Thi Ha, a third-year student at Vinh University, is busy arranging flowers to sell to customers. She shares: "Since the first year, we have been selling flowers on holidays. A group of close friends contributed capital. The first year, we only contributed less than 2 million VND, mainly selling to students; after that, we earned more than 5 million VND, after deducting expenses, each student still had a profit of 1 million VND. In the following years, we contributed more capital."

March 8 is an occasion for students to do business together to earn extra income. Photo PT - QA

Le Thi Van, a student at Nghe An Pedagogical College, said: “Before International Women’s Day, we pooled our money to import flowers from Hanoi. The first thing we did was to arrange eye-catching flower baskets and post them on Facebook groups and fan pages to introduce the products.

When customers want to buy, the shipping team will deliver the flowers to their doorstep, completely free of charge. On holidays and years with bad weather, we cannot sell on the street, so we only sell online. There are years when the income is 3 times higher than expected.

With the explosion of the technology age, many people not only sell directly at locations but also sell online, receive free shipping, this business method has helped many students have an additional source of income that increases many times compared to traditional sales methods.

Man proposes, God disposes

Nguyen Thi Huong, a senior student at Vinh University, said selling fresh flowers means accepting a 50-50 chance of winning.

"On March 8th last year, my friends and I discussed collecting flowers to sell in the hope of earning some profit for spending. Since the beginning of March, the group has been assigned to buy wrapping paper, silk strings, and learn how to arrange flowers online. However, due to not understanding the actual market, we imported too many roses, and it rained for a long time, so by the end of March 8th, there were still more than half of the flowers left. We had to sell at a loss and divide them among ourselves to arrange them," Huong shared.

This year, Huong and her group of friends continued their fresh flower business, but it rained for several days in a row, making it difficult to recover their capital.

The weather was an unexpected factor, many young people wore raincoats and stuck with their "flower carts". Photo by Phuong Thuy

Tran Hong Nhung, a student at Vinh Medical University, had 1 million VND in hand, borrowed another 1.5 million VND from friends to go to the wholesale market to buy flowers to sell near the school.

"The seller showed me how to preserve the flowers, so I went online to find out how to keep them fresh for a long time. But because there were too many sellers and it was raining, I spent nearly 3 million VND and still didn't get back half of it. Today is the end of March 7. I don't think about selling flowers in the coming years anymore" - Hong Nhung complained.

According to the experience of some students who have been in the flower business for a long time, the important thing is to know how to grasp the market, find a place to sell and know how to communicate. You should not follow the crowd, you must know how to calculate to have a variety of flowers and sell at a reasonable price.

If not preserved well, the flowers will wilt before they can be sold and customers will complain. And more importantly, you have to be good at talking, if you are hesitant in communicating, it will be difficult to attract customers.

Many students pooled money to start a flower business on the sidewalk in front of Vinh University on March 8, even occupying the bus stop. Photo by Quang An

One thing worth noting is that many young flower sellers encroach on the sidewalks, sometimes spilling onto the roadside to sell flowers and gifts, leading to loss of urban beauty and affecting traffic order and safety.

Phuong Thuy - Quang An