Can you believe it’s nearly May?!
No, us either. But alas, here we are, and it’s time to talk about Mother’s Day Flowers.
There’s a few points we want to cover over the coming weeks but of upmost importance (and one of the reasons we started The FQ) is to address order gathering and what to look for when placing orders this Mother’s Day.
A quick recap of what order gathering is:
Relay services, or order gathering, is a system where large companies in call centres pose online as local florists. They capture orders from unknowing consumers, taking a large chunk of the profits and then book (relay) the job with a real florist in the local area. They have huge advertising budgets and spend big buying up local domains and use suburbs as clickbait for unsuspecting customers.
They do not disclose that they are acting as a middleman in the buying process and certainly do not disclose the percentage they are taking (which can be over 60%!) before relaying the order with the florist that is left with a tiny budget and big expectations from the customer.
Your hard earned $150 has now become a $60 bouquet.
This highly unethical business model not only leaves customers dissatisfied but tarnishes the reputation of the industry as a whole.
The good news is that the ACCC is currently investigating this practice after years of outcry from the floral industry. But it is still happening. So what can we look for to ensure we are buying locally and ethically when we’re booking online?
After your initial search online, you may have entered ‘Mother’s Day Flowers, Melbourne CBD’ and had a flurry of options presented to you by Google. Unfortunately, we can guarantee, a few of these are going to be Order Gatherers.
So what can we look for:
- Look for a physical address on their website and Google. Some order gathers have been known to enter dummy addresses but with a bit of sleuthing you can usually suss out who is genuine or not.
- Check if they have a social media presence. The majority of genuine florists in 2022 will have some form of social media presence and you can use this to gauge their validity.
- Do they have their contact details easily accessible on their website with a telephone number? Nothing beats a good old fashioned phone call and you will be able to tell right away if you are speaking to the real deal or someone sitting in a call centre. Real florists won’t make it impossible to find these details on their website because they want you to call and enquire, order gatherers on the other hand, make contact incredibly difficult.
- Look at the online reviews. These will be very telling whether you about to order with a real, genuine florist or not.
Ordering flowers directly from a reputable local florist is the only way to go! Not only are you supporting local, but you’re also getting more bang for your buck.
If you’re ever in doubt, head over to The Florist Quarter directory where all our florists are vetted. For the ultimate peace of mind finding your florist this Mother’s Day.
The FQ xx
