Interflora
Interflora is the most commonly used name for a group of organisations worldwide, providing florists with a brand under which flowers can be purchased and delivered to 140 countries, most with their own partnership, or unit.
History
Back in 1920 a florist, Joe Dobson, of Leighton's Seedsmen and Florists in Glasgow, and a nurseryman, Carl Englemann in Saffron Walden, Essex were looking to increase their business. They knew of the Florists Telegraph Delivery Association (now known as Florists' Transworld Delivery) which had existed in the US since 1910, and applied to join as foreign members. In 1923 the UK arm of the FTDA was officially formed and had seventeen members across the UK. Back then, one of the straplines used in advertising was Flowers by Wire when the telegraph was actually used to communicate between florists. Later, telegrams were sent from member to member requesting deliveries to be made in the recipient florists area. In the original Interflora Directory, used by members, the longest established members could be recognised by their telegraphic address. This would be the only telegraphic address in that city to include the name Interflora. In the case of the founding members, their telegraphic addresses were "Interflora Glasgow" and "Interflora Saffron Walden" respectively.
In 1953 the name changed to Interflora and the slogan Flowers Worldwide along with the now famous Mercury Man roundel became well known. Say it with Flowers became the subsequent and most famous slogan associated with Interflora.
When telegrams became obsolete the most used method for requesting deliveries was by telephone. Following that Interflora brought in messenger1 in the mid to late 80's, this system was very similar to sending a fax. Then in the late 90's messenger2 was introduced. This system used the internet to transmit orders. In the early part of this century Interflora brought out a new system called Rose, again this used the internet but instead of a dial up connection a broadband connection was used. This enabled orders to be transmitted in real time.
In 2005, Interflora British Unit moved from being a trade association to private equity ownership under investment company, 3i. The brand was faced with declining sales and difficulty retaining market share within a more competitive market after a number of other well-known High Street names entered the flower delivery sector.
3i sold British Interflora to US-based FTD Group, the successor to Florists' Transworld Delivery, in 2007.
Criticisms
Until January 2011 Interflora worked with the online "Web Loyalty" company Shopper Discounts & Rewards.[1] Shopper Discounts & Rewards describes itself as "a premier online savings service operated by Webloyalty". However, various sources including the US Senate Commerce Committee,[2] international newspapers,[3][4][5][6][7] [8] financial advice websites and forums[9][10] [11] have described its business practices and those of its parent company using terms such as scam, robbery and theft.
Publications
A book entitled The History of Interflora was written by Geoffrey Lewis in 1977 (Interflora's Jubilee year), also published in 1986 as The Interflora Story 1923-73.
Units
- Interflora British Unit (UK) - IBU renounced its co-operative structure when purchased in 2006 by FTD Group (Interflora's US affiliate)
- Fleurop (Europe, main English site)
- Aux Quatre Vents Swiss Florist, Fleurop affiliate
- Interflora Australian Unit
- Hana Cupid (Japan) - Formerly known as Japanese Florists Transworld Delivery (JFTD), until a disagreement was had with FTD in the US, and JFTD disassociated itself from FTD and renamed itself Hana Cupid.
- Interflora Pacific Unit (New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, Brunei, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Tonga, Vietnam and Western Samoa) Interflora Pacific Unit is a retailers' co-operative[12]
See also
References
- ^ "Shoppers hit by disguised voucher". ThisIsMoney. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/article.html?in_article_id=488664&in_page_id=5. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ Sandoval, Greg (2009-11-23). "E-tailers snagged in marketing 'scam' blame customers". CNet News. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10403286-83.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ Brignall, Miles (2010-02-13). "Shopper Discounts & Rewards could cost you dear". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/feb/13/shopper-discounts-and-rewards. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ Gammell, Kara (2010-05-15). "Web discounts: be on your guard". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/7722464/Web-discounts-be-on-your-guard.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ Sommerlad, Nick (2008-07-03). "We save money for shopper discounts victims". The Mirror. http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2008/07/we-save-money-for-shopper-disc.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ Thomas, Holly (2008-07-02). "ONLINE SHOPPERS ALERTED TO 'DISCOUNT CLUB' RISK". The Express. http://www.express.co.uk/features/view/50772/Online-shoppers-alerted-to-discount-club-risk. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ Oldenburg, Don (2006-05-21). "A scam pops up". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/makeitcount/2003005932_keepyourmoney21.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ Leach, Andrew (2009-07-18). "Online discounts club that could make you £10 a month poorer outrages shoppers - and a Rockefeller". The Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1200594/Online-discounts-club-make-10-month-poorer-outrages-shoppers--Rockefeller.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ "Shoppers hit by disguised voucher". ThisIsMoney. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/article.html?in_article_id=488664&in_page_id=5. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ "Warning "Shopper Discount & Rewards"". Money Saving Expert.com. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=819869. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ "Scam Warning: Shopper Discounts & Rewards". Freeola Forums. http://chat.freeola.com/General-Chat-2-chat/Scam-Warning-Shopper-Discounts-Rewards-5097.html. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ "About". Interflora Pacific Unit Limited. http://www.interflora.co.nz/flowers/About/. Retrieved 2008-05-20. "Interflora Pacific Unit Limited was formed in New Zealand in 1952 and is a Co-operative Company registered in New Zealand under the Co-operative Companies Act 1996. It is owned by its member florists, currently 200 in New Zealand and 120 ‘overseas members’ in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Myanmar, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Tonga, Vietnam and Samoa."
External links
Video clips