With nearly one week until its equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube comes to an end, online florist marketplace, Floom, has successfully secured its initial £390,000 funding target from nearly 240 investors. As previously reported, Floom was founded by Lana Elie and is designed to solve the problem of finding and sending a quality bouquet of flowers. The company stated:
“We are bringing technology, e-commerce and design to an industry that is run by archaic processes and systems. Our research suggests that very few independent florists have e-commerce websites, and have found the large conglomerates that do offer flowers online to have mundane bouquets and a confusing online experience.”
Floom also revealed all florists on its website are vetted for quality, listing photography standardized, bouquets listed based on the florist’s chosen delivery areas. Ordering is simple: customers visit the site, enter their post-code, and choose a bouquet that suits their needs. The company’s platform also operates a commission revenue model and takes 20% on gross transaction value, minus the delivery fee, which goes to the florist. Customers currently pay £6.99 for delivery, £9.99 for the same day.
In a recent update, Floom announced more details about its expansion:
“Did you know we’ve been offering nationwide delivery on an ever-growing selection of inspiring Floom blooms? We’re also steadily growing our partnerships with local florists in key areas outside of London. We’re thrilled to announce that we are now bringing the very best florists in Bristol to a new audience of flower lovers! Our M.O. remains essentially the same wherever we branch out to in the U.K.: bring the quality flowers and artisanal sensibilities of our partner florists to the audience they deserve. With Floom’s unique platform, beautiful aesthetic, dedicated audience and easy-to-use UX we offer something that the individual florists could never achieve on their own. It’s been an absolute delight seeing the wilderness and beauty of Bristol florist Megan Lily appear on the site. Likewise the colourful creativity of her fellow Bristolians at The Wild Bluebell, Poppy Sturley and Belle de Jour.”
Funds from the campaign will be used for to test and implement digital marketing strategies as well as updating the company’s marketplace software for both supply and customer side experiences. The initiative is now set to close on April 15th.
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