Flowers for All Season, and so Much More
Written: Jul 20 '04
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My wife enjoys getting flowers, and I enjoying sending them to her in those odd little times when she is really not expecting them; usually four or five times a year, and never on the same date. My first choice for these little fragrant colorful slashes of romance is the local florist where I can pick up fresh roses, or lilies. But in the off season I like to get her something special, some thing out of the ordinary; like tulips from Holland in the spring. On those occasions I turn to 1800Flowers.com.
The Site
From the Site: Jim McCann, CEO of 1-800-FLOWERS.COMŪ, opened his first retail store in 1976 and successfully built his own chain of 14 flower shops in the New York metropolitan area. In 1986, he acquired the 1-800-FLOWERSŪ number and continued to grow his business under the 1-800-FLOWERSŪ name. His immediate focus was to create a reliable brand name built on trust, and over the next few years he achieved this through his understanding of his customer base and market. The next logical step was expansion, and McCann successfully expanded his business into other retail access channels-going online in 1992 and opening a web site in 1995. Today, 1-800-FLOWERS.COMŪ has a well-known web site (www.1800flowers.com), and maintains strategic online relationships with a number of online services, including America Online, Microsoft Network (MSN), and Yahoo!.
One of the first things you notice about the 1800Flowers.com web site is how colorful and eye-popping it is. Rich colors and hues ooze from the site, beckoning to the potential buyer, drawing you in, enticing you to explore.
Where once 1800Flowers.com only offered flowers and plants, the site now offers a plethora of gifts for almost every occasion or event; these can be accessed from tab that line the top of the site, and include:
• Flowers: Still the staple of the 1800Flowers.com, the site offers a wide variety of flora both domestic and imported. Choices include the perennial favorite, roses, as well as sunflowers, wildflowers, tulips, lilies, and others. Other gift items like teddy bears, cakes & cookies, and chocolates are included with some of the flower arrangements, while others can be professionally arranged. There are numerous sub-categories, including, Spotlight, Everyday Celebration, Sentiments, By Brand, Department, and By Price. These sub-categories are broken down into more sub-categories, giving the potential buyer a martyred of purchasing choices.
• Plants: from juniper, to cactus, lavender to rose bushes, and all plants in between; 1800Flowers.comdelivers. As in the flower section, plants can be bundled with other items, and are searchable via sub-category.
• Gourmet: Food, food, and more food are the themes of this hearty and tasty section. In this section you will find a rich assortment of foods, from decorative and functional fruit (fresh as well as dry) & vegetable baskets, gourmet cheeses, turkey, coffee and tea baskets & trays, sausage and cheese baskets, wines and spirits, etc.
• Sweet Shoppe: chocolates, cookies and cakes festoon this section of 1800Flowers.com. Here there is a hodgepodge of sweets guaranteed to satisfy the sweet tooth of that special someone. Chocolate candy (including Godiva, and Mama Moore’s Sweets & Confections), chocolate cheesecake, chocolate covered strawberries, nuts & pretzels, assorted cakes, cookies (chocolate ship, gingerbread, oatmeal raisin etc.), are just some of the items you will find here.
• Unique Gifts: looking for a teddy bear, jewelry, a dried Lavender wreath, a baby gift set, scented candles, or colorful topiary? Then this is the section for you; think eclectic.
Ordering
Ordering flowers or that other special gift is pretty straight forward: pick your item(s), chose your state and ZIP code, and the date you would like it to be delivered, from a convenient drop down calendar. Regular delivers are Monday – Friday with and extra delivery cost for Saturday, and delivery on Sunday.
To place an order via the phone with one of 1800Flowers.com “friendly gift advisors” call 1-800-FLOWERS.COM or call 1-800-356-9377 within the U.S., or overseas. 1800Flowers.comwill send items anywhere in the world; call 1-800-858-5039 for help in selecting that perfect gift or floral arrangement. In most cases your order will be delivered in three business days to most countries.
You can create an account (which I encourage because it is a time saver) in which you can save the addresses you ship to most. There are of course several steps you have to go through before finally placing your order, the last of which is payment. 1800Flowers.comaccepts all major credit cards including American Express, Bill Me Later, Diners Club, Discover Card, JCB, MasterCard, and Visa. Sales tax is collected based on the destination of the order: local and state sales tax will be collected if your recipient's mailing address is in Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas or Virginia.
Shipping & Handling
1800Flowers.comadds shipping charges to all purchases. The price of shipping will vary depending on a number of variables; i.e. item ordered, desired delivery date and speed of service, number of items purchased, and the amount of the total item. See the web site of a comprehensive listing of shipping charges broken down by category. Also be aware of the ubiquitous service charge of $9.99 that every on-line florist seems to charge. This charge is in addition to shipping charges. My, this order is starting to add up!
From the Site: Florist Delivery Information—the service charge for all florist-fulfilled products delivered within the Continental U.S. (including Alaska, Hawaii and Canada) is $9.99. These are items offered on our Flowers channel and are indicated as being delivered by a Florist on the product page.
Final Thoughts
In the five odd years I have been using 1800Flowers.comI have for the most part been satisfied with the product and the level of customer service. 1800Flowers.comflower usually come fresh and last upwards to a week, or more. There was one occasion when an order of Tulips arrives looking rather worn, and soon died. 1800Flowers.comnot only replaced the flowers with fresh ones, but sent me a coupon for discounts off my next two orders. Delivery has always been on-time, however on one occasion, the UPS delivery person failed to notify my wife that he had dropped off flowers (in the middle of winter, with snow on the ground), and the roses froze and died. Although it was not 1800Flowers.com’s fault they once again replaced the flowers free of charge.
So while 1800Flowers.comis not my first choice for a fresh floral arrangement or bunch of flowers—I prefer the local florist, they are a reliable, if not pricy backup when I lack the time to shop local. All things considered 1800Flowers.com remains my first choice in on-line florist.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Flowers & Plants
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Member: Vincent
Location: Aurora, IL
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