Hi,
I Just wanted to clarify how iflorist operate, and also my role as the lead designer for www.iflorist.co.uk . I think there are several things to concider within the industry that can be emotive, but which are important for all florists and flower shops.
iflorist is an online floral & gifting platform that enables florists to receive orders that have been generated by our range of websites, customers, business clients and partners.
I design and photograph all the photographs that appear on our websites and that are featured in marketing and promotions, so I would say that it is fair to call myself a florist!
Hopefully the 400 designs I have created, show that I have a little bit of experiance
I believe iflorist is quite unique, in that we have created gifting platform that enables customers to choose gifts that cater for there exact requirement, if that is a 'a thankyou bouquet for under £20' , a designer bouquet for £100 or funeral arrangement.
Our bouquets are sold as different ranges, and the reason for this is to be able to compete with online only retailers that have a 'mass produce' courier service.
So our Florist range is delivered by florists and our courier ranges are created by central floristry business and dispatched by courier in the UK , Canada, Holland and Australia.
We find that our customers will buy regular 'cheaper bouquets' but also come back for that special occasion when an individullay created bouquet from a local florist is required.
We do not charge supscription fees, sign-up fees or any other charges, and have over 1400 florists that reguarly deliver work for us in the UK, and now that we have good coverage in the UK, are looking to recruit florists in other countries.
Over the past six months we have been extremly hectic, and have invested over £100,00 in our new web site and ecommerce platform, in order to enable orders to easily sent to our suppliers in several currencies and in four languages.
I would say that we have a good reputation in the indsutry, especially for our understanding of web and how to market ourselves online and also how we treate our florist suppliers.
What I think is of the upmost importance is to provide a reliable service to a customer, so that they become long term customers, equally important is to ensure that the relationship with a supplier is good so that it also long term.
So I would also say that iflorist is a florist business, in that we design bouquets and sell them, our suppliers who are florists create and delivery them for us.
I belive that iflorist can play an important role within a florist shop's business, in that we create good value orders for our florists using our own designs, and work hard to develop relationships with companies to encourage customers to buy from florists.
A good example of this was 'PS I Love you' the movie released by Momentum films, in which we sent posters to every florist in the UK, and encouraged them to use our design for themselves, whilst promoting the movie and ourselves.
So I think it is fair to say we do more that use web tricks to create orders, we are a business that has embraced the internet, whilst fully supporting and helping local florist shops, whithout burdening them with monthly fees, and sign-up costs.
We strongly believe that by being fair to all our suppliers and customers together with investing in technology, we are creating a business that will grow from strength to strength and compliments and helps local flower shops around the globe.
Chrissy
If you didn't have real florists filling your orders would your company still exist on what is produced and shipped from central design? And why would you NOT allow local florists to use your design to promote movie and your company? Were they paid anything for using a design that promoted your business or how did their business benefit from the promotion?
