BLOOMNET 'FLORISTS FOR FORESTS' OFFERS POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL DIFFERENCE

BloomNet, a preferred wire service provider and single destination for products and services for retail Florists worldwide, and wholly-owned subsidiary of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, has introduced a new program whereby BloomNet Professional Florists can make an important difference in the effort to protect and preserve the environment.

To take part in Florists for Forests, BloomNet Florists simply send an email to BloomN and request that they not be sent the quarterly printed BloomNet Directory by mail. As an environmentally-friendly alternative to the printed directory, BloomNet has created the floral industry's first and only "digital" Directory Online, which contains all the information included in the printed directory without the paper and provides BloomNet Florists with the convenience and ease of being able to find the best-qualified florist to fulfill their orders with just a click of their mouse. As part of the "Florists for Forests" program, BloomNet will make a donation to the American Forests not-for-profit organization to plant a tree on behalf of each BloomNet Florist who foregoes the printed Directory. Furthermore, BloomNet will match this donation and plant a second tree, thereby doubling the benefit to the environment.

"BloomNet is proud to play a role in preserving and sustaining vital natural resources for future generations," said Mark Nance, President of BloomNet. "We urge all BloomNet Professional Florists to join us in this effort, working together to 'turn over a new leaf' and lead environmental change throughout the floral industry."

To date, American Forests has planted over 25 million trees in more than 500 projects in every state and territory in America as well as 21 countries worldwide. These efforts will help keep the planet cool and offset the impact of global warming.

BloomNet Professional Florists who participate in Florists for Forests will receive a certificate and logo which they can display in their stores and on their websites. Participating BloomNet Florists will also be acknowledged in the BloomNet Directory and on the new MyBloomNet.net web portal.

at&t loves its customers

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner the world’s largest communications company, AT&T, is teaming up with the world’s largest florist, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM (which is also a major multi-channel retailer) to form the Cupid Goes Wireless campaign. AT&T wireless subscribers can use this program to order flowers via a mobile web application. Customers can also use AT&T’s Multimedia store to send loved ones free animated floral displays.

AT&T wireless subscribers may use the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM store to place flower orders through AT&T’s Media Net Mobile Web service. Free special occasion flower-ordering reminders may also be received through text messaging to subscribers, who may also send the animated floral displays via the Multimedia store. All customers are invited to enter a drawing that will give away 100 $50 1-800-FLOWERS.COM gift cards.

The campaign kicked off on Friday, February 1, and is AT&T’s first integrated mobile marketing agreement with an unrelated advertiser. The Vice-President for Consumer Data for AT&T’s wireless unit Mark Collins explained why the two companies collaborated on this innovative, fun program.

“Through our agreement with 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, AT&T is making it easier than ever for customers to create a special Valentine’s Day for their significant others, family and friends. With the ability to easily order flowers from wireless handsets while on the go, and receive text message reminders about special occasions, this program provides a new and convenient way for customers to blend their daily lives with their mobile appetites--at no extra cost,” he said. “Additionally, the innovative, animated floral bouquets are a great way to let others know you are thinking about them whether you want to impress a new love interest or simply tell a friend or family member that you care.”

Monica Woo is president of Consumer Floral Brand, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. She is enthusiastic about how the new program is a first step in improving overall service permanently to both companies’ customers as well as winning new subscribers.

“Our partnership with AT&T is a great way to reach new customers with a convenient mobile shopping experience that helps them connect and express themselves to the important people in their lives,” she said. “Also, we are excited about engaging younger consumers with the immediacy and easy access to our store, as well as a whole new offering of fun, animated floral bouquets that can be sent over the wireless handset. The mobile platform is important to our business, and we are thrilled to team with AT&T to leverage our merchandising experience in a direction that fits so naturally with our customers’ interests.”

Besides ordering flowers, customers can send animated flower greetings which include personal messages. Users can employ the AT&T free service My Veepers Messaging to create animated and personalized talking messages. Customers may choose from a gallery of flower greetings, or create personal characters by uploading images from their personal computers.

is the bloom off at ftd?

BusinessWeek.com
By Christopher Palmeri

The flower giant, burdened with debt, faces newly aggressive challenges from its two main competitors
With Valentine's Day nigh, the big flower merchants have slipped into marketing overdrive—creating bouquets with names like Petal Poetry, Love's First Bloom, and Butterfly Kisses. Behind the scenes, though, it's war.

FTD, burdened with debt following a stint in the hands of private equity, finds itself in a squeeze play between its two main rivals. Both 1-800-Flowers.com and Teleflora have entered retail and wholesale businesses FTD has long dominated. To make matters worse, the $19 billion industry is slowing along with the economy.

Four years ago, Los Angeles buyout shop Leonard Green & Partners paid $420 million for FTD Group (FTD). It's not hard to see what the private equity guys liked: FTD has an outstanding business model. It takes orders—say, for a dozen long-stemmed roses—and sends them to a network of 20,000 florists that, in exchange for the business, pay about $300 a month in membership dues. FTD doesn't pay for the flowers, arrange them, or deliver them but collects at least 7% of the purchase order. So the company throws off a lot of cash. Plus, CEO Michael J. Soenen has kept a tight rein on expenses, lifting profits.

Trouble is, revenues are flat (thanks in part to discontinued products, says Soenen) and might be shrinking if, in 2006, it hadn't acquired a British floral network. Even worse, before relisting the company in 2005, Leonard Green loaded up FTD with $250 million in debt. Add $50 million borrowed for the acquisition, and you have a company that may be loath to spend at a time when its rivals are muscling in.

The biggest thorn in FTD's side is 1-800-Flowers.com. Founder James F. McCann transformed the industry by allowing people to order flowers by phone. Last year, 1-800-Flowers took in 11.6 million orders for flowers, candies, and gift baskets in the U.S., vs. FTD's 4.6 million.

For years, McCann used FTD's florist network to complete orders. Then, two years ago, he decided to take on FTD, forming his own network, called BloomNet. McCann has been offering florists rebates to persuade them to use his network. He says 9,000 have signed up so far. And though his network's revenues are a quarter the size of FTD's, BloomNet is growing much faster.

Presumably, Teleflora is also giving Soenen heartburn. For years the privately held company mostly handled orders between florists. But now it's making a bigger play for FTD's (and 1-800-Flowers') consumer business, too. Teleflora says its online store, launched in 2004, is growing at a double-digit clip.

BIG-NAME BOUQUETS
Given the competitive pressure, Brean Murray Carret analyst Eric Beder figures Soenen should do two things. One is cut florists' membership fees to prevent him from losing business to 1-800-Flowers.com. Beder also thinks Soenen should spend more on advertising. By contrast, Teleflora says it has stepped up ad spending. It is sponsoring NBC's America's Favorite Mom contest on Mother's Day and is offering Valentine's Day rose buyers a chance to win a $50,000 diamond necklace. Not to be left out, 1-800-Flowers has teamed up with Martha Stewart to create a line of bouquets that will debut this spring.

FTD isn't exactly sitting around watching the grass grow. The company has signed up Vera Wang and Todd Oldham to create bouquets. It is offering flowers grown sustainably and arranged in vases made from recycled glass. And Soenen says FTD can afford to spend more. But he is profit-obsessed—and handily beat Wall Street's expectations last quarter. Plus, since this is a cash-flow play, the stock, now at about 13, would probably suffer if he started throwing money around. Not that this will be Soenen's problem much longer. Sometime after Mother's Day, he is stepping down as CEO (though he will remain chairman). His successor won't inherit a bed of roses.

BusinessWeek.com
By Christopher Palmeri

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