Free Flower Delivery - An On-Line Hoax!

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Free Flower Delivery!

Or so claims many a online florist website. Sound too good to be true?

Unfortunately it generally is. The cost of delivering flowers is a hard cost incurred by every flower retailer, in fact it can often be as high as 1/3 the value of the flowers. Frankly, there is no way to avoid it, particularly in the last decade or so with the rising cost of vehicles, insurance, fuel, and labour.

So how do some of our competitors offer free flower delivery?
Simple... the cost of delivery is removed from what you paid online by the retailer actually filling the order. In turn the amount of flowers that the recipient of your order receives is reduced accordingly. This often results in the product that is delivered looking little like what you intended to send. The math is simple

	Where Does The Money Go?
	Product Value	$44.99
	Free Delivery	$0.00
	Total Price	$44.99
	Actual Delivery Cost	<$13.00>
What you ordered and expected delivered	Retail Value of Flowers Delivered To Recipient	$31.99	Not quite what you ordered?

So why do some on-line flower retailers do it? Because it generates sales. Lets face it, who really wants to pay a delivery charge? Most consumers if given the choice would prefer not too.

"Numerous research firms and studies have confirmed that free shipping is a customer favourite and we would not expect to see any change in this area. Thus it’s no surprise that 89% of shoppers found free shipping very to extremely helpful."

The reality with flowers that are ordered online is that the sender of the order often never actually sees the flowers that are delivered. Add to that the fact that when most people receive flowers as a gift they never know what the sender actually ordered or what was paid for the product. Needless to say, this allows a less than scrupulous on-line flower retailer to take advantage of the situation. Unfortunately far too many do!

At Grower Direct we refuse to play this game, the price we show for an individual product is for the product only, delivery is always extra. The delivery is always transmitted to the local florist that is filling the order on our behalf. This ensures that you as the sender receive good value for what you paid and that the recipient receives what you ordered.

Is charging a Delivery charge good for our business? We think so as we believe that most consumers prefer to deal with an honest retailer. But more importantly it is good for our customers, people like you who simply want to send an affordable gift to someone in their lives and at the end of the day know they weren't taken advantage of when doing so.

So next time you see an online flower retailer advertising "Free Delivery" ask yourself......
Is it really free?