Flower delivery is a service in
floristry
Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related s ...
. In many cases it is conducted through
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...
s which allow consumers to browse online catalogues of flowers. They are often delivered to a third party, the recipient of the gift. Historically, these were coordinated through telegraphs and later telephones before the advent of the
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
.
Floral wire service intermediaries
A floral wire service, also known as a flower relay service is a company established primarily to facilitate order exchange and fulfillment between local
florists
Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related su ...
and/or third-party sales agents of floral products. Floral wire services offer proprietary networks,
clearing house
Clearing house or Clearinghouse may refer to:
Banking and finance
* Clearing house (finance)
* Automated clearing house
* ACH Network, an electronic network for financial transactions in the U.S.
* Bankers' clearing house
* Cheque clearing
* Cl ...
services and operate as
affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement in which affiliates receive a commission for each visit, signup or sale they generate for a merchant. This arrangement allows businesses to outsource part of the sales process. It is a form of ...
sources.
History
The first floral wire service, established by a group of 15 US florists in 1910, was Florists' Telegraph Delivery Service (FTD). The group was formed as a
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...
and was mutually owned by its members. Members exchanged orders via
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
messages and hence the name 'wire service' was used to identify the order exchange business model. In 1965, with the introduction of international order sending, FTD changed its name to
Florists' Transworld Delivery.
In the 1920s, a group of British florists formed a similar 'Flowers by Wire' group. This group, also a business cooperative and affiliated with FTD, began operating under the name
Interflora
Interflora is a flower delivery network, associated with over 58,000 affiliated flower shops in over 140 countries. It is a subsidiary of Teleflora, a subsidiary of The Wonderful Company.
History
In 1920 a florist, Joe Dobson, of Leighto ...
in 1953. By the 1970s, most European countries had their own Interflora units.
In addition to the cooperatives, independently owned and operated for-profit companies built their own proprietary networks including
Teleflora and
1-800-Flowers
1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. is a floral and foods gift retailer and distribution company in the United States. The company's focus, except for Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, is on gift baskets. They also use the name ''1-800-Baskets.com''. Their ...
with their BloomNet division.
Operations
Similar to
travel agents
A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinati ...
, wire service affiliates' main functions are to act as
agents and sell products and services on behalf of local florist suppliers. Unlike other retail businesses, sellers are not required to keep stock on hand. A flower arrangement or other floral gift is not purchased from a supplier unless a customer requests the item. The flowers or other floral gift are supplied to them at a discount. The profit is therefore the difference between the advertised price which the customer pays and the discounted price at which it is charged to the agent. This is known as the commission. A wire service affiliate selling agent typically earns 20% of the product and local delivery price, plus services charges. Additionally, many florist wire services pay performance rebates to affiliate resellers.
Twenty-four states in the USA have now outlawed geographic misrepresentation by floral product sellers in
Yellow Pages
The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to Telephone direct ...
and in online advertising.National floral marketplaces such as
BloomNation
BloomNation is an American online floral marketplace with about 3,500 florists delivering to nearly 5,000 cities across the country. As an “ Etsy-type” site for flowers, customers connect directly with local florists whose flower arrangemen ...
offer an alternative to the wire services.
Florists attitudes
Many traditional retail florists have a deep rooted disdain for modern wire services. This comes from the perception that companies such as
FTD,
1800flowers
1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. is a floral and foods gift retailer and distribution company in the United States. The company's focus, except for Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, is on gift baskets. They also use the name ''1-800-Baskets.com''. The ...
,
From You Flowers and
Teleflora take floral orders away from the local business and extract excessive commission.
FTD was formerly a
co-op
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
, owned by its member florists. In 1994 the board of directors made the decision to sell the co-op to
Perry Capital. The revenue from the sale was disbursed amongst the member florist, more senior florists being paid substantially more than the more junior florists. At this point FTD became a for profit company.
Major companies
*
Bloomex
*
BloomNet
*
Euroflorist
*
FTD
*
Interflora
Interflora is a flower delivery network, associated with over 58,000 affiliated flower shops in over 140 countries. It is a subsidiary of Teleflora, a subsidiary of The Wonderful Company.
History
In 1920 a florist, Joe Dobson, of Leighto ...
*
Petals Network
*
Teleflora
*
Teleflorist
*
1800flowers
1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. is a floral and foods gift retailer and distribution company in the United States. The company's focus, except for Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, is on gift baskets. They also use the name ''1-800-Baskets.com''. The ...
Cooperative efforts
Wire services were originally member-owned
co-ops
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
, but were privatized. Florists have organized new nonprofit initiatives through a group called Florists for Change with a website RealLocalFlorists.com.
Types of service
Services are broadly divided into four categories:
Local florist
Local
florist
Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related su ...
websites offer arrangements and bouquets for direct
delivery in the geographic area physically serviced by their companies' own vans and
personnel
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any ot ...
. This service is also known as "hand delivered" and has the advantage of presenting shoppers with the precise items available for delivery on a same-day basis. Local delivery charges are generally displayed as a separate fee from the price of each product.
Order broker
Order brokers are third-party
agent
Agent may refer to:
Espionage, investigation, and law
*, spies or intelligence officers
* Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another
** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...
s that display arrangement and bouquet product images and then transfer orders to
affiliate
Affiliation or affiliate may refer to:
* Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law
* Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship
* Affiliate marketing
* Affiliate network or affiliation pla ...
d local
florist
Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related su ...
s for fulfillment and hand delivery. Order broker customers pay additional service fees as well as local delivery charges, which are generally included in the price displayed with each product. Orders are sent to local florists for fulfillment via a
floral wire service. The advantage of this service is the consolidation of purchases for delivery to multiple locations through a single website. The disadvantage is the customer cannot see or pick the fulfilling florist.
Most florists also offer order brokering services for national and international delivery.
Relay florist
A relay service, often referred to as a relay
florist
Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related su ...
, is a website where a person or organization procures a purchase order between a consumer and itself instead of the order being placed directly with a local florist in the delivery area. The relay service collects payment for the order; however, as the relay service normally cannot fulfill the order itself unless the delivery is local to the location of the relay service, it relays the order and payment to a local florist in the delivery area, minus a commission.
Courier delivery
Courier
A courier is a person or organisation that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...
-delivered flowers (also sometimes called grower-direct or Flowers By Post) are assembled into bunches at the farm or in the warehouse of an
importer
An import is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade.
In international trade, the importation and exportation of goods are limited ...
or distributor; they are then placed in cardboard boxes and shipped direct to the recipient via overnight couriers. The advantage of such a service is that because the flowers are shipped from the farm or importer they can be fresher although temperature fluctuations en route and shipping conditions may negate the benefit. Recipients are responsible to unpack, clean, condition and arrange courier-delivered flowers.
Few companies in fact ship flowers direct to the consumer from the farm. Most online flower retails such as
ProFlowers,
Interflora
Interflora is a flower delivery network, associated with over 58,000 affiliated flower shops in over 140 countries. It is a subsidiary of Teleflora, a subsidiary of The Wonderful Company.
History
In 1920 a florist, Joe Dobson, of Leighto ...
,
Teleflora,
FTD typically function as ''order gatherers'' and will work with local florists to have the order delivered.
See also
*
FloristWare POS System
*
Cut flowers
Cut flowers are flowers or flower buds (often with some stem and leaf) that have been cut from the plant bearing it. It is usually removed from the plant for decorative use. Typical uses are in vase displays, wreaths and garlands. Many ga ...
*
Dutch flower bucket
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Online Flower Delivery
Floral industry