Ordering flowers online

Ordering flowers online has become very popular. The internet has made it so easy to browse various arrangements and choose the one that appeals to you, or the one your intended recipient will like. Mobile phones have made the task even more accessible, as we can send flowers across vast distances from the comfort of our bed.

However, there are a few things to remember when sending flowers online. The most important is that you find a real florist to send your order through. It may seem like a silly thing to highlight, of course you are going to choose a real florist, what kind of other florists are there? Well there are a number of websites that have been set up by enterprising businesses, that gather orders from the internet and pass them onto real florists after deducting a hefty commission. These may not be real florists.

So, for example, if  you would like to send a beautiful bouquet to an address in Baulkham Hills in NSW, you would naturally use a search engine to type in “Florist in Baulkham Hills NSW”. Most people will use Google to try and locate the florist in Baulkham Hills. Unfortunately, out of 10 results on the front page of Google, only 4 are real florists. The rest are simply order gathering websites designed to catch your order, charge a commission and pass this order to a real florist to send to Baulkham Hills.

Now the commission these order gathering websites charge may be between 21% and 50%. What this means for you is that you may be spending $100 on an arrangement that may be reduced down to $50 when it actually is made up for delivery by a real florist. This florist might only be paid $50 to deliver your arrangement and they will not be told that you actually spend twice that amount.  Interestingly, this real florist may not even be located in Baulkham Hills, or even in the surrounding suburbs of Castle Hill, Kellyville, Northmead, or Parramatta. The florist that may get this order might be located in Liverpool, Campbelltown, or Manly. Florists attempting to deliver flowers to Baulkham Hills from Campbelltown for example, will have to pay a courier charge of at least $15.00 per delivery. So, your beautiful $100 arrangement might become $35 worth of flowers and $15.00 delivery charge.

The example above is extreme, but not impossible. However, even losing 21% of your order in commissions is an amount that seems unacceptable, especially since these order gathering websites do not tell you at any time how much they will be pocketing out of your order.

So now you have to figure out which websites are real florists and which are order gatherers. To help you in this task check out our blog here.

Floral Expressions is an award winning florist located in Sydney’s Hills District, surrounded by Parramatta, Oatlands, Westmead, Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, West Pennant Hills, Kellyville, Winston Hills, North Rocks. Our professional florists can design anything you require for your special occasion, from small posy to exquisite bouquet, elegant corporate arrangement, or magnificent wedding flowers. Visit our charming store in Northmead Shopping Centre, or call us on 02 9683 1116, or shop online at www.floralexpressions.com.au