This bud's for you - 1-800-FLOWERS CEO and President Jim McCann

Chief Executive, The, March, 1997 by Jennifer Pellet, George Schira

Growing up with lira McCann, according to accounts from the CEO's siblings - several of whom now hold key positions within his $300-million-a-year company - was like "growing up with Alex Keaton from the TV sitcom Family Ties." Like Keaton, the clean-cut, teenage epitomy of a Type A personality played by Michael J. Fox, McCann is a natural-born entrepreneur, demonstrating a boundless supply of both energy and innovative ideas, as well as a tireless devotion to building his business.

From a single shop 20 years ago, he cultivated a global enterprise with $300 million in annual sales. Today, his firm encompasses 150 franchised and company-owned stores, 2,500 domestic affiliates, 1,300 overseas affiliates (accessible in 20 languages), and 15 electronic retail partners. It was McCann's savvy recognition that the floral business had not yet been "McDonaldized" that set the stage for the rapid expansion of the company, which enjoyed a 50 percent compounded growth rate over the last three years. And it is the Alex Keaton in him speaking when the CEO predicts a tripling in company size in the next three years.

McCann's formidable track record began when he purchased 1-800-Flowers back when the budding company was faltering, and took on a competitive powerhouse named FTD. Back then, FTD was the only brand-name floral wire service, monopolizing long-distance sales with a service that took orders through affiliated local florists and matched them with an FTD florist at the destination locale. Each player along the chain clipped a piece of the profit. It wasn't the most efficient of methods for consumers, but it had that all-important advantage of being the only game in town.

Until 1-800-Flowers came to market. Built on the premise of greater convenience at competitive prices, the company had ambitious plans to siphon off FTD market share by taking orders through a toll-free phone line and filling them at local retail shops. Yet early sales were slow and member florists less than eager to sign on. When bankruptcy was imminent, the company approached McCann - who had by then won a reputation in the industry by parlaying his one shop into an eight-store chain - for help. Recognizing the potential of the relatively young toll-free telephone technology, McCann opted to buy the company, change his own chain's name to match that of his new acquisition, and set about growing the business.

Believing that innovation is "borrowing ideas from other industries and re-packaging them as your own," McCann studied two successful catalog retailers, Land's End and L.L. Bean, noting that both built customer loyalty by establishing a reputation for super service and satisfaction guarantees. Taking steps to nurture these principles at 1-800 Flowers, McCann quickly added a seven-day freshness guarantee, a 100-percent satisfaction guarantee on all purchases, and a Frequent Flowers Club for repeat customers.

To make his retail shops equally unique, he provided a setting similar to that of a European flower market. "A customer can feel the product like he does fruits and vegetables," he says. Visitors can also enter the storage area and choose their flowers, or learn "as one learns from a wine merchant" at in-store workshops on everything from gift giving to home decoration. It's all part of McCann's strategy of "raising the whole category," and boosting awareness of flowers.

As 1-800-Flowers spread its roots, signing on new affiliates and sprouting telecenter outposts nationwide, electronic retailing emerged as a natural adjunct. In 1992, the Westbury, NY-based company opened its first on-line store site on CompuServe's Electronic Mall. Today, it has a Web site and presences on electronic retail venues worldwide; in fact, 10 percent of annual gross revenues come from on-line purchases.

The company's self-described "chief cultural engineer," McCann promotes "open book" management, insisting that every employee know every aspect of the business. To that end, he founded Floraversity, where employees learn all about handling floral products - and floral customers. He also drew family members into the business; one sister is creative director, another sits on the board, a brother is a vp, and a second brother, developmentally disadvantaged, is a grower who runs a greenhouse that employs developmentally challenged workers.

His close-knit corporate culture wins raves with employees, as well as within the business community, which has recognized McCann with numerous awards, including Direct Marketer of the Year, Retailer of the Year, and Entrepreneur of the Year.

Yet, McCann was, to some degree, a late-bloomer to the floral business. Planning to become a policeman, he attended John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "Where I grew up," he says, "an Irish-American kid became a priest, a cop, a bartender, or a bad guy." Instead, McCann took a post as administrator of St. John's Home for Boys in Rockaway, NY. When reflecting on his early career, he sometimes notes that business problems pale in comparison to being responsible for 150 troubled teens. Still, he enjoyed social work, and only entered the floral business out of a need to supplement his salary as a social worker.