Valentine’s Day Flowers Delivery Will Have Something Old, Try Something New

What better expression of love is there than getting flowers delivered to you on Valentine’s Day? Now, there will be a few different ways to get that done.

ARL.com is reporting that according to the National Retail Foundation, 37.8 percent of Americans will buy flowers for Valentine’s Day, spending in excess of $2.1 billion this year.

One company that is getting in on the market is Crystal City, VA-based Bloompop. Started in September 2013, the company is gearing up for its second Valentine’s Day push. Bloompop founder and CEO Shavanna Miller says that Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are their two busiest holidays for her company’s florist partners, and they’ve been gearing up for the last few weeks getting ready.

“Our Florist Partners are doing the heavy lifting this week,” Miller said today via email, “managing huge amounts of floral inventory, adding additional drivers and team members (sometimes two-three times their normal staff), and making sure all of their beautiful floral art work is delivered carefully and on time for Valentine’s.”

Bloompop is offering $10 delivery on bouquets ranging in price from $50 to $150. Bloompop is also offering their “Easy Valentine” service, allowing the customer to choose the color, price, and whether the recipient of the bouquet likes flowers or not. “The biggest Valentine’s Day fault line,” Miller said.

Forbes is reporting that customer have the usual outlets to choose from to get their flowers. However, another new avenue has come to the forefront. Whole Foods is teaming up with Instacart, Started on Monday, the two will team up to deliver floral bouquets, along with cheeses, chocolates, lotions and other romantic items to customers until February 15. Prices start at $25, plus Instacart’s standard fees of $3.99 for two-hour deliver and $5.99 for one-hour delivery.

Instacart and Whole Foods had already established a partnership before the Valentine’s Day business, and this could only help the $2 million startup as they try to cement partnerships with other supermarkets. Whole Foods executive vice president of operations David Lannon said in a statement that the service is “a good example of the innovative and affordable new experiences our partnership with Instacart can offer.”

Though there seems to be room for more delivery options, the room is rather crowded. 1-800 Flowers, Teleflora, Proflowers, along with FTD, have been established for a long time. Now, with Bloompop and the Instacart/Whole Foods coupling, there is BloomNation others vying for a share of the Valentine’s Day pie. So, there are many options, and many romantic ideas to make that someone special feel even more so.

[Image courtesy of Addison Magazine]