Bloomex’s Weblog

Welcome!

Why the Bloomex model works December 4, 2008

Taken from: Financial Post Published: Friday, November 28, 2008

Re: Flower Shop Empire A Bloomin’ Good Idea, Nov. 10.

Cesario Ginjo wants to build a national brand of flower retailers and distributors, according to the CBC show Dragon’s Den and the National Post. His position is that if he could find investors to finance his idea of creating a Canada-wide florist, he could “hit the ground running, open a new location and do $200,000 to $300,000 a year in business.”

This idea would be a unique one, except Bloomex ( bloomex.ca)has already implemented this business concept. Since 2005, Bloomex has been Canada’s largest florist. It has production facilities in seven major Canadian cities — Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. Bloomex is the only Canadian online florist that can deliver to over 97% of the Canadian population from its own production facilities. In the Bloomex model, flowers are bought directly from the growers, eliminating the expensive middleman and overhead expenses. It also reduces transit time from growers to Bloomex production facilities, which equates to fresher flowers that last longer at a better price.

Bloomex has more cost-effective practices by reducing overhead expenses with warehouses, as opposed to store front retail, and passing the savings on to consumers. The Bloomex business model allows us to design and deliver fresh cut flower bouquets at 35%-50% cheaper than traditional florists.

Michelle Robitaille, Public Relations Manager, Bloomex.

 

5 Quick Steps to Ordering Flowers Online October 24, 2008

Sending flowers to people has a special meaning, whether to say “congratulations”, “get well”, “good luck”, “happy birthday”, “my sympathies”, etc, the gift of receiving flowers is one of the most powerful and emotional message that has been used for centuries. The message you want to relay with your gift of flowers is an important one, here are a few guidelines to follow when choosing who to use when sending your powerful message:

Ask about popular trends or popular choses for an occasion:

Often the suggestion of a florist is very useful in conveying the correct message you want your recipient to know. Ask about popular flowers sent on specific occasions. Let the florist know what your intentions are by sending the gift of flowers, so that they may suggest will arrangement will suit you. All flowers carry different meaning, ask the perfect flowers to send on a particular occasion.

Ask about the packaging and delivery of your flowers:

Depending on the effect you want to portray, packaging of your special gift is important. Ask how the florist wraps your flowers, most wrap in cellophane to protect your bouquet, and then inside a specially made box for safeguarding. If you want a special touch, add the florist to add a ribbon. As for the delivery, ask whether they have different delivery times, based on when your recipient would most benefit from your gift, choose a florist that has options of morning or evening delivery, os that you can ensure your recipient will be there to receive the flowers.

Ask if there are any handling fees or additional charges for using their services:

Typically, all the charges will be posted on a florist’s website includes all the taxes and other charges. It is always recommended that you ask if there are any handling fees, as often people ordering flowers do not realize that companies that “gather” orders (ie: take the order, and then send it to the individual florists that will fulfill the order) charge to use their services. These charges are usually anywhere from $9.99 to $17.99 MORE just for the pleasure of placing the order with that company. Be aware to ask about these charges, so that you make a decision to use their services or not, most actual florist do not charge for their services.

Ask about special offers for Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas and New Years:

Generally these special dates are the occasions when the volume of orders are at the maximum for all florists. Some florists will provide different offers like free delivery, or specials bouquets, or discounts on flowers arrangements for a limited time period.

Ask about their refund/cancellation policies:

In most cases, florists should have their refund/cancellation policies listed on their websites. If it seems unclear, or is not there, ask about it- ask what happens when flowers are damaged in transit, what happens if what you ordered was not what was received, what happens if the recipient will not be home at the time of delivery. These are great questions you should ask, so that the chances of you being disappointed v in using the florist’s services are dramatically reduced.

 

Bloomex Customer Reviews October 2, 2008

Bloomex.ca continually strives to provide the highest quality flowers at the best prices. Over the last 2 years, Bloomex has blossomed into Canada’s fastest growing online florist. We care deeply about our customers, and our continued success depends on their satisfaction.

Bloomex has created a special post on it’s corporate blog where customers share reviews: http://bloomex.blogspot.com

Here clients are able to post their company reviews and feedbacks to help us consistently provide the best products and services. We encourage all feedback, and if you are not satisfied with the services received by Bloomex, we will endeavor to rectify those issues. Please include your order number in your post for verification.

 

Join Bloomex Flowers Facebook Group August 20, 2008

Join our Facebook group, every little bit we do helps fight the # 1 cause of death among Canadians:

Bloomex Supports the Canadian Cancer Society

Join Bloomex Facebook

Join Bloomex Facebook

show your support, anyone can join

 

ONLINE FLORIST TAKES COMPLAINTS SERIOUSLY July 21, 2008

OTTAWA, June, 2008 – Bloomex, the fastest growing online florist in Canada, has come together with Ellen Roseman of the Toronto Star. This encounter came about after several customer complaints were published on Ellen Roseman’s blog site, which had imprecision of Bloomex policies and procedures.

Mrs. Roseman, who describes herself as an advocator for consumer issues, positions herself on the side of the consumer to battle alongside annoyed, testy and disgruntled consumers in their dealings with big companies. Her blog site is just that, a place for discontented consumers to voice their experiences, and deter others from dealing with certain corporations.

The owner and President of Bloomex, Dimitri Lokhonia, met personally with Ellen Roseman to give clarification, and resolve some of the misapprehension of Bloomex policies. Mr. Lokhonia admits that there have been mistakes in the past, and in an effort to correct these issues, we implemented a new system that will allow customers to get answers to their questions almost immediately. “We could not possibly predict the enormous growth of Bloomex, especially in the past year”, says Dimitri Lokhonia. “We realized we needed a more interactive, customer centric system that is easily available, and understandable to our customers, which is why we created these two new systems”

Bloomex, a national Canadian online floral company, offering various floral and gift arrangements throughout Canada and the U.S. via its online computerized system. Since it’s inauguration in January 2006, Bloomex has grown to an exponential growth rate of 200%. The magnitude of its success was unpredictable, and in the light of this development, Bloomex Management implemented new systems to properly deal with the quantity of orders being placed, designed and shipped.

With the initial installation stages now complete, Bloomex was pleased to announce the implementation a state-of-the-art customer service system in order to keep pace with the company’s dynamic growth. This new approach to customer service will dramatically reduce hold times, eliminate the need for customers to repeat information after arriving at a live customer care representative and even allow customers to chat live with a service agent, resolving their issues faster and more conveniently. In addition to this ultra-modern customer service system that has received optimistic reviews, a new tracking system will work in conjunction and hold all our employees accountable. Bloomex anticipates this new tracking system will improve overall customer satisfaction.

”Our customers are always our #1 priority and we continuously strive to provide the very best products and services”, says Angela Malik, Customer Service Manager of Bloomex. “ We are confident that our two new systems will alleviate some of the issues that have faced us in the past.”

After the initial meeting with Ellen Roseman, Dimitri Lokhonia placed Michelle Robitaille, the Public Relations Manager at Bloomex and Ellen Roseman in contact to assess some of the past complaints, and give Bloomex an opportunity to correct situations where they made mistakes. Michelle Robitaille has reviewed each complaint seriously, extracting all order details from the Bloomex system to determine accountability and try to rectify them. This has initiated customer refunds, credits, discounts and re-sending of products where Bloomex has taken the initiative to regain customers that have had unsatisfactory dealing with Bloomex, as well as ensuring these concerns do not arise in the future.

“Our goal is to address the issues of past Bloomex clients, and offer them reasonable compensation where we made mistakes. Due to the nature of our business, and human error, we do make mistakes, but we always try to resolve these as quickly as possible to maintain customer satisfaction.” Says Michelle Robitaille. “We have made several changes to our website so that our policies and guarantees are easily visible in numerous locations across our website, eliminating unjust expectations. Bloomex’s business model continually permits them to provide the freshest flowers possible at the lowest price.”

 

New Wedding Flower Division June 4, 2008

Wedding Flowers, a division of Bloomex, was launched in September 2007, when Bloomex management found there was a large market for wedding flowers.


The core strategy behind Bloomex Weddings is similar to that of Bloomex.ca, in that it offers a vast variety of freshly cut flowers, bouquets and flower arrangements at up to 80% off market prices. The site is specially designed to enable the consumer to view numerous styles, colors and arrangement of flowers for their special day. The Wedding Flowers website is easy to navigate, very user friendly, which included a wedding flower image gallery and related information. The site also included advance features such as Designer Collection packages, live support and free flower design consultants available to help in the selection and cultivation of the perfect arrangement.

The Bloomex management team found that in the past the majority of these consumers would purchase from local florists that would offer a modest discount for large orders of flowers, and depending on the size of the order, the traditional florist often would be unable to service the consumer, and certainly would be limited to custom arrangements at such a high volume. As well, many small local florists would deal with several wholesalers for their flowers, some wholesalers being American, which would have the flowers in transit for many days, losing its freshness. As well, traditional florist often require up to a years notice for wedding flower collections.

Wedding Flowers from Bloomex is able to create and deliver your custom orders in as little as 30 days, directly from the fields, to our floral design specialist to your door, just one more way that Bloomex is revolutionizing the floral market to better serve the consumer.

ABOUT BLOOMEX


Bloomex is a national Canadian based floral company, offering various floral and gift arrangements throughout Canada and the U.S. via its online computerized sending system. The Bloomex website acts as a storefront allowing consumers worldwide to place orders online themselves, chat with a live agent or place orders through
a 1-800 number. Bloomex is the only Canadian floral company that offers same day delivery to almost any location in Canada, and orders can be placed 24 hours a day.


”Through its harmonized network of growers, and company owned facilities, Bloomex is able to provide fresh cut flowers at significantly reduced costs to the consumer”, says Dimitri Lokhonia, President of Bloomex Inc. “Since Bloomex is Canadian owned, the flowers being shipped to their destination would be in transit for hours instead of days, keeping their freshness and longevity. Wedding flowers have traditionally been a large expense and many couples could not afford real flowers. With Bloomex’s combination of fresh cut flowers, exceptionally low prices and new wedding program, anyone can enjoy premium floral arrangements for that special day and not break the bank.”

Bloomex’s national brand name is able to offer exceptional customer service and quality products that are 100% guaranteed, working directly with the consumer to create the perfect ambiance for their event. Bloomex’s customer centric business structure allows the consumer to deal with one contact, from placing their order to its delivery, reducing the margin of errors associated with middlemen. Bloomex has already launched new and innovative approaches to further ameliorate the growing floral market, by adding such product lines such as wholesale flowers and weddings.

For more information, or to view our selection of assorted products, visit our websites at http://www.bloomex.ca and http://bloomex.ca/wedding/

For further information, contact:

Michelle Robitaille
PR Manager
Bloomex Inc
613-216-0969
publicrelations@bloomex.ca

 

Is my home killing me? June 4, 2008

How Typical Houseplants Can Help

Almost all plants act as air cleaners, they filter out the pollutants from the air and convert it to pure oxygen through a process called photosynthesis. In our homes, there are several harsh chemical pollutants that inhibit us humans from breathing in fresh clean air, commonly found in today’s homes are benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene (TCE).

Benzene:

Benzene is a colorless gas and is one of the many chemicals that make up gasoline and is found in tobacco smoke, gasoline, inks, oils, paint, plastic, and rubber. A known carcinogen, benzene can cause drowsiness, dizziness, headaches and vomiting. Leukemia is the form of cancer most commonly associated with benzene exposure. About 90 percent of airborne benzene results from gasoline.

Plants that remove benzene are: Bamboo Palm, Gerbera Daisies, Peace Lilies, Chrysanthemum, Snake Plant, etc.

Formaldehyde:

Formaldehyde has been used in construction and manufacturing for more than 100 years, but only in the last decade have studies linked the gas to nasal cancer in laboratory animals. Formaldehyde is found in virtually in all indoor environments. Many cleaning products also contain formaldehyde. Formaldehyde fumes can also cause chronic respiratory problems, dizziness, rashes, lethargy and nausea. According to Dr. Bill Wolverton, senior research scientist at NASA, ”About 15 to 20 plants should completely remove the formaldehyde from an 1,800-square-foot house.”

Research from NASA show that the leaves of certain plants reduce formaldehyde gases up to 80%. Some of these plants are Spider Plant, philodendrons, Peace Lilies, Snake Plants, etc.

Trichloroethylene (TCE):

Trichloroethylene has a wide variety of industrial uses. It is used in inks, paints, varnishes, and adhesives. Plants that remove trichloroethylene are: Peace lilies, Gerbera daisies, Chrysanthemum, Bamboo Palm, etc.

The easiest and most effective way to reduce these harmful pathogens from our house and office air is to have fresh plants throughout. Plants have a much larger role in our world other than “looking pretty”, with the growing increase of cancers and cancer related illnesses, it is our responsibility to take what Mother Nature has given us to combat detrimental airborne gases and solvents from affecting our health further. Let’s all pollute our houses and offices with plants, while helping the environment!

Author:

Michelle Robitaille

Sources: http://bloomex.ca

http://www.wolvertonenvironmental.com/

Ottawa Ontario Flowers
9 Capella Crt., Unit 1,
Ottawa, ON K2E 8A7