5 ms·

A Start-Up That Aims to Bring Back the Farm-to-Vase Bouquet

9 points by e15ctr0n 11y ago

smackfu 11y ago
The flower business does seem ripe for disruption. Looking at a traditional flower business website, it definitely feel like, "these designs are not to my taste". I'm just not sure how many people want gift flowers but have no preference about what colors or flowers there are. (Like my wife has clear preferences about those things and giving her flowers that ignore them would be kind of insulting.) Also the shipping is pretty steep if you can't use their local delivery. $25 on a $38 bouquet.
joezydeco 11y ago
“I think that the local flower movement is where the local food movement was about a decade ago,” Ms. Stembel said. Consumers are starting to become aware of where their flowers come from and purchase accordingly, she said. But the majority of flower bouquets are given to people, unlike restaurant food. Is the recipient really able to detect that these tulips were grown in California and not Aalsmeer? Is there a visible quality or longevity difference? Because, if there isn't, then this is just luxury posturing and adds no value to the product.
- erroneousfunk 11y ago
  Perhaps people don't like me much, but I buy the majority of my flowers for myself. This site looks terrible (I can't find the report directly, just florists talking about it), but it's taking its data from a major study done on the flower industry in 2005: http://www.aboutflowers.com/about-the-flower-industry/consumer-trends.html http://www.aboutflowers.com/about-the-flower-industry/consum... Of people purchasing bouquets, a third of the purchases were for themselves. So yes, a majority are gifts, but that's still a big market. As far as why anyone would want to "purchase locally" (note: I live in Boston, think FarmGirl is overpriced, and have nothing to do with this company, but as a frequent flower purchaser, I can see the appeal of the concept) Purchasing flowers locally expand the type of flowers commonly and cheaply available, as counter-intuitive as it might seem. Roses are "traditional" on Valentine's Day simply because they ship well. Really really well. Roses are practically indestructible, and can be grown in Kenya, go without water for a while and still look great when they're rehydrated. Other flowers (Lisianthus, for example) don't appreciate being tightly packed into boxes and living without/with little water while they're hanging out in the dark. Shipping delicate flowers raises the price dramatically, and if there's an option to purchase them without that overhead, I'm certainly game.

9 points by e15ctr0n 11y ago

The flower business does seem ripe for disruption. Looking at a traditional flower business website, it definitely feel like, "these designs are not to my taste". I'm just not sure how many people want gift flowers but have no preference about what colors or flowers there are. (Like my wife has clear preferences about those things and giving her flowers that ignore them would be kind of insulting.) Also the shipping is pretty steep if you can't use their local delivery. $25 on a $38 bouquet.

joezydeco 11y ago

“I think that the local flower movement is where the local food movement was about a decade ago,” Ms. Stembel said. Consumers are starting to become aware of where their flowers come from and purchase accordingly, she said. But the majority of flower bouquets are given to people, unlike restaurant food. Is the recipient really able to detect that these tulips were grown in California and not Aalsmeer? Is there a visible quality or longevity difference? Because, if there isn't, then this is just luxury posturing and adds no value to the product.

erroneousfunk 11y ago
Perhaps people don't like me much, but I buy the majority of my flowers for myself. This site looks terrible (I can't find the report directly, just florists talking about it), but it's taking its data from a major study done on the flower industry in 2005: http://www.aboutflowers.com/about-the-flower-industry/consumer-trends.html http://www.aboutflowers.com/about-the-flower-industry/consum... Of people purchasing bouquets, a third of the purchases were for themselves. So yes, a majority are gifts, but that's still a big market. As far as why anyone would want to "purchase locally" (note: I live in Boston, think FarmGirl is overpriced, and have nothing to do with this company, but as a frequent flower purchaser, I can see the appeal of the concept) Purchasing flowers locally expand the type of flowers commonly and cheaply available, as counter-intuitive as it might seem. Roses are "traditional" on Valentine's Day simply because they ship well. Really really well. Roses are practically indestructible, and can be grown in Kenya, go without water for a while and still look great when they're rehydrated. Other flowers (Lisianthus, for example) don't appreciate being tightly packed into boxes and living without/with little water while they're hanging out in the dark. Shipping delicate flowers raises the price dramatically, and if there's an option to purchase them without that overhead, I'm certainly game.