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.

National Florist Gives Hope With Christmas Charity Gift November 21, 2008

On August 15th, 2008, Bloomex announced the launch of the Give Hope Collection, a corporate initiative to support the fight against cancer. For the duration of this campaign, 10 to 15 percent of the sales of 12 individual bouquets will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society to support cancer research. Since its inception, only three months ago, Bloomex is proud to report that $10,500.00 has been raised through the sales of the Give Hope Collection.

“We are very pleased with the success of this campaign, still in its infancy. Over $10,000 raised for cancer research is an incredible feat which all of us at Bloomex are proud to be a part of,” says Michelle Robitaille, Public Relations Manager for Bloomex. “We anticipate the remainder of our partnership to be monumental in terms of contributions for cancer research.”

“The staff and volunteers of the Canadian Cancer Society are grateful for the generosity of Bloomex and its customers,” says Lesley Ring, Director, Corporate Development, Canadian Cancer Society. “Progress against cancer is made one donation at a time and the proceeds from the Give Hope Collection will help support Canada’s best cancer research and make a real difference in our efforts in the fight against cancer.”

Bloomex projects that the holiday season will yield an increase in sales of the Give Hope Collection, resulting in an increased donation to the Cancer Society. Bloomex has been so impressed at the consumer response to the Give Hope Collection, that it has introduced a special gift basket for the holiday season. The newly designed basket, named Give Hope Basket, will feature an assortment of premium quality cookies, candies and holiday snacks. Bloomex has announced that 20 per cent of the sales of the Give Hope Basket will be donated for cancer research. The Canadian Cancer Society and Bloomex have introduced a way for Canadians to make a difference while sending their holiday gifts. The entire give hope collection can be found at bloomex.ca/give-hope. The Give Hope Basket will officially be launched on November 20th and end Dec. 31st, 2008.

About Bloomex

Bloomex is a Canadian Online Flower Delivery company, offering various floral and gift arrangements throughout Canada and the U.S. via its online computerized 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 has same day delivery to almost any location in Canada, and orders can be placed 24 hours a day. Bloomex Canada has production facilities located in major metropolitan areas such as Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver. Bloomex has 2 new divisions, Flowers Wholesale which offers flowers in bulk to the general population and Bloomex Wedding Flowers, where they have wedding consultants to help with wedding flower selections.

About the Canadian Cancer Society

The Canadian Cancer Society is a national community-based organization of volunteers whose mission is to eradicate cancer and to enhance the quality of life of people living with cancer. When you want to know more about cancer, visit our website www.cancer.ca or call our toll-free, bilingual Cancer Information Service at 1 888 939-3333.

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.

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.”