South London locals are sure to be well acquainted with Flower Girl London, passing its train station location every day on their commute. A local, independent, hard-working business in every sense, Sam sets up her pop-up location every day and packs it up every evening.
It was being mobile that had kept Sam from card payments initially, as she explains, “I always wanted to be able to take credit and debit card, but there was no option for a fixed terminal.” Being cash-only was made all the more difficult by her local facilities, with the closest cash point “being notoriously unreliable” and adding yet another obstacle for customers to overcome. For Sam, Square was a “match made in heaven!” and has let her take her business to the next level. As a truly mobile solution to her payment processing needs, Sam happily says, “my till point is wherever I am standing.”
She’s also perfectly placed for commuters to pick up flowers for the year’s big holidays like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, and unlike previous years when she had to worry about her personal safety carrying her cash takings to the bank, all payments are now securely processed and deposited via Square.
These deposits, coming as quickly as the next day, have also revolutionised Sam’s ability to track her company’s cash flow which can change from day to day, as she explains, “It’s fab in a business like floristry where you’re buying stock on a daily basis.” More than helping her track money in and out, Square helped Sam pinpoint precisely when it was coming, too. The result was a better work-life balance for hard-working Sam, “The data showed me that I wasn’t taking much in the mornings, so I changed my hours…now I don’t work in the mornings at all, freeing up my time to do other things like weddings. I work fewer hours and make more money - I call it working smarter.”
One of the first businesses in the UK to have started using Square, Sam is keen for fellow small businesses to make the change, cheerfully saying “It’s really super-powered my business and is definitely the future for small businesses who want to take payments wherever and whenever their customers want!”
Read more about Britain’s move towards a cashless society.
