Online flower delivery

Online flower delivery services are websites that allow consumers to order flowers and related items by browsing online catalogues. They are often delivered to a third party, the recipient of the gift.

Types of service

Services are broadly divided into four categories:

Local florist

Local florist websites offer arrangements and bouquets for direct delivery in the geographic area physically serviced by their companies' own vans and personnel. 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 agents that display arrangement and bouquet product images and then transfer orders to affiliated local florists 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, 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-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 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.[1] 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 but one such company that does work directly with flower farms to ship flowers direct to the consumer is The Bouqs.[2] Most other online flower retails such as ProFlowers, Interflora, Teleflora, FTD typically function as order gatherers and will work with local florists to have the order delivered.[3] Florists are equipped with knowledge of all types of floristry and can make up any type of a vase, hand-tied florist choice bouquet, modern or traditional, or just something quite out of the ordinary, whenever a circumstance may demand it.

Peak periods

Christmas, 25 December; Valentines Day, 14 February; and Mother's Day, second Sunday of May (or three weeks before Easter Sunday in UK) are when demand of services is the highest.

List of online flower companies

References

  1. ↑ Staby, George and Reid, Michael. "Improving the Cold Chain for Cut Flowers and Potted Plants", California Cut Flower Commission, December 2005.
  2. ↑ Kolodny, Lora (June 25, 2013). "Florist Seeded to Disrupt Blossom Trade With Farm-to-Home Delivery". Venture Capital Dispatch. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Thompson, Connie (May 5, 2014). "Plenty of good local florists, but beware ordering flowers online". Retrieved 15 August 2014.