After the successful trial of experience days and gift

activities over the Christmas 2007 period on the

iflorist.co.uk website, we have now launched a dedicated

experience and gifting site at iactivity.co.uk which has

over 500 activities, experiences and gifts.

Launched in good time for Fathers Day, the site features

one of the most comprehensive ranges of experiences

and activities online. From pampering days and

champagne balloon flights, to paintballing and track

driving, there’s something for everyone.

With the recent rise in popularity of more unusual

gifts, and by linking our range of flowers to this new

range of products, we are able to offer an extremely

comprehensive gifting service which will be the envy

of our competitors. A key reason for launching the

iactivity website is to expand the range available to

our corporate customers, providing companies with a

single source of supply for all types of gifts. Thus far,

the response from our larger corporate clients has been

fantastic, with orders already beginning to flood in.

iactivity in one of a family of new websites which will

be launched over the coming months by our steadily

growing team. With our dedication to customer service

and our enviable reputation for maintaining excellent

supplier relations, we strongly believe that the success

of iactivity and further upcoming sites will drive more

orders to you, our florists.

With each gifting site we are increasing our customer

base, which is good news for our florist network, as many

of these new customers will buy flowers from us in the

future as we have already started to prove.

iflorist News Update June 2008

TM

iactivity.co.uk launches

Go Karting Grand Prix Driving Experience

Relaxation & Pampering Experiences

Caramel

Our already extensive range of flowers has

recently been expanded, with new additions to our

florist delivered designer, traditional and basket

arrangement collection.

Perhaps most notable however are our new

sympathy arrangements. These include everything

from traditional wreath arrangements and posies

to personal tributes including a massed harp, Celtic

cross, linked heart wreaths, and even a cricket bat

tribute.

You may have noticed a few changes happening

on the site in recent weeks, and while the primary

ammendments have now been implemented, the

range continues to grow.

So, you should start seeing orders for more varied

tributes which you might not have had allocated to

you in the past over coming weeks and months, with

higher frequency and better transaction values.

Our extremely comprehensive range of funeral

flowers now extends to over 150 floral tribute

designs, with an average transaction value of

between £75 and £150. A few recently introduced

arrangements and a couple of existing larger

tributes total over £300, possibly higher depending

on customer specification.

The iflorist website now boasts one of the most

comprehensive sympathy ranges, and has resulted in

a steady increase in online funeral tribute orders.

Expanded designer & sympathy collection

Following on from our previous promotions for ‘The

Accidental Husband’ and ‘P.S I Love You’, Momentum

Pictures has once again teamed up with iflorist for the

promotion of Oscar nominated movie ‘Caramel’, a film

by Nadine Labaki.

The compettion - which you can still enter at

www.iflorist.co.uk - is to win a selection of relaxing,

pampering treats, spa days & gift activities.

Best shop window competition

Submit a photo of your shop front (plus any additional photos you

may wish to include – from the interior, to your staff, or perhaps

even yourself!) for the chance to win a case of wine.

Presented in a wooden chest and featuring wines from around the

globe, this fantastic prize could be yours simply by emailing your

photographs to emily@iflorist.co.uk with the subject ‘Best Shop

Window Competition’ – we’ll pick a winner next month and notify you

in due course. Please include your shop name and contact details.

With stores throughout the Southeast of

England, the well-respected furniture and

homeware retailer Cargo has become the

first on the high street to not only offer same day florist

delivered bouquets, but also a range of fresh bouquets

available for delivery across the globe via our network

of international florists.

A considerable amount of behind the scenes activity

was needed prior to launch, and continues as the

range of bouquets and gifts expands to ensure that

the service and selection of products is consistently well

portrayed and received.

In the virtual world of online floristry, the photography

and presentation of a website and the products

displayed upon it is of paramount importance. A

customer will never be able to fully appreciate the

beauty, scent, texture and up-close effect of a bouquet

via their computer screen, but iflorist and the team

at Cargo have meticulously planned and prepared

for photoshoots, both for the website and their own

catalogues & promotional material.

Having both set studio photos and on-location lifestyle

images is key to fully do justice to both the design of

the bouqets and the skill of our local florists.

And we’re glad to say the general consensus appears

to be that our photographs and imagery have done

the trick, with many customers commenting on how well

portrayed the bouquets are, and how clear it is to see

the effort and skill which has gone into both designing

and photographing them.

To launch the new floral service in-store and within

Cargo’s own direct marketing, we were granted access

to carry out a photoshoot at a property featured on

Kevin McCloud’s Channel 4 show, Grand Designs. As

much as we all love being at the iflorist offices or in the

studio, a day on set with our friends at Cargo in the

countryside surroundings of a Grand Designs-featured

property was too good to miss!

Our head designer Christine Price and our team

of florists took a trip down to Henley on Thames to

meet up with the Cargo design team for a four day

photoshoot, creating room sets and still shots for the

forthcoming media launch. The stunning designer

bouquets were photographed alongside Cargo’s own

range of fabulous furniture. These will feature both in

print and web form, from the latest Cargo catalogue, to

in-store posters, point of sale materials and the Cargo

Flowers website.

On location at the cargoflowers.co.uk Photoshoot

Grand Designs

Being able to create and stylise the launch of our

latest range of designer bouquets in a beautiful

part of England on the banks of the river Thames

was a real treat, and the resulting photographs

and lifestyle imagery are sure to pay dividends.

It’s easy to underestimate the time and effort

involved in taking one core photograph, let alone a

website or catalogues worth; the involvement with

lighting set-ups, camera angles, styling, detailing

and arrangement of accessories is staggering! As

you can see from our behind the scenes snapshots,

getting the latest range of bouquets prepared and

shot was no mean feat!

We’re glad to say however, that many of you

should soon start seeing Cargo bouquets allocated

to you, which will give you the chance to make up

something a little different and typically with a

much higher transaction value. We’re confident in

our belief that ourselves and our shops are able to

offer Cargo and their customers a first class floral

service, and once again wish to extend our thanks

all 1,400 of our florists for your continued effort

and hard work.

Keep your eyes peeled for Cargo orders, or check

out the website www.cargoflowers.co.uk for more

photos and further details as we expand the range

over coming months.

On location ‘Grand Designs’

Photoshoot.

Above, Right On location at the ‘Grand Design’ featured house as presented by Kevin McCloud on Channel 4

Cargo floral gifting service launched

by iflorist

“

“

The world is becoming a smaller

place, with the adoption of the

internet and broadband into

everyday life. Customers now demand

floristry to be a 24/7 business, and

expect to be able to send flowers to the

far reaches of the world at the drop of

a hat... and with the click of a mouse!

Understanding the cultural and design

trends in each part of the world is key

to the success of international floristry

and flower delivery. What might be

deemed a perfect bouquet for an

English customer could be seen as totally

inappropriate to a recipient in India,

Italy or New Zealand.

Our design team - headed by our

own international florist, Christine

Price - provide us with a unique

insight into international flower trends.

Living overseas in New Zealand,

Australia and Singapore for 14 years,

Christine - originally trained at her

Mothers Rochdale-based flower shop

- brings with her a fantastic and truly

international perspective on floral

design. Having designed and arranged

flowers for the such venues as the

State Opera House and global brands

including Saachi & Saachi, she not only

has a diverse knowledge of all aspects

of floristry, but a truly keen eye for style

and design on an international scale.

Christine comments that, “Introducing

a subtle but quintessentially English-

slant has proven popular wherever I’ve

worked in the world. From Wellington

to Singapore, applying a little English

charm often provides the basis for

a winning formula, especially when

combined with local, traditional floristry

techniques.”

The style and diversity of floral art

and arrangements in the Southern

Hemisphere is immense. The relatively

low cost of flowers here allows scope for

truly epic designs, created on sensible

budgets, but which would rarely be

considered in the UK on the basis of

cost. By the same token, flowers and

foliage often revered and considered

luxurious, trendy or chic in England are

close to being deemed garden weeds in

some parts of the world!

Understanding different floral events

around the world is also key, but

perhaps not as easy as it may at first

seem. Mothers Day, for example, falls on

different days in different parts of the

world, and events such as Secretaries

Day - often completely overlooked in

the UK - are major events in countries

such as Australia. Cultural and

technological differences must also be

taken into account. In India, for example,

where - when allocating orders to our

florists - we often find that they will

request payment in cash, as many do not

have credit card terminals or processing

facilities and - in some cases - even

traditional banking.

In addition to our UK-based teams,

having software, support and allocation

staff in India, America and the

Philippines means that we are well

versed and perhaps more familiar with

aspects such as time zones & cultural

differences, or international holidays &

special occasions than most businesses

within our sector.

We have worked hard to plant ourselves

firmly on the international stage.

Seamlessly & effectively allocating

orders to the four corners of the globe

has proven a real challenge, not least

for our team of software developers.

It’s easy to forget just how spoilt we

are in the UK, with our postcode system

allowing us to literally pinpoint every

address in the country with ease.

Language differences may seem like big

enough barriers in themselves for some,

but consider that in many parts of the

world, entire streets remain unnamed

and vast areas or regions have totally

different names locally to what we refer

to them as elsewhere in the world.

All in all, international floristry is not for

the faint hearted. Doing it right, and

on the scale that we are, not only takes

serious dedication, but also massive

investment.

With our teams in India allocating 24/7,

we are able to send and receive orders

around the globe while many of us here

in the UK are in bed, fast asleep.

Christine Price, International DesignerGlobal Flower Delivery International floral design

& flower delivery

Sydney, Australia Liberty Island, NewYork

Taj Mahal, India

Champs Elysees, Paris