Where you should look online to find a reputable local florist

Thanks to the internet, sending flowers anywhere in the world today is a quick and easy process. But not everyone is comfortable ordering flowers online. It seems there are a lot of people who don’t know how or where to look online to find a good local florist.

Here are the search tips and sites I use, as well as some money-saving advice, that will make you a confident, flower-ordering pro in no time.

Locating a florist

There are a lot of floral directory sites out there, but there are only two I regularly use: FTD Florists Online, or Find A Florist, which is the Teleflora equivalent. Both of these can be searched by city, state, and zip code, and will return a list of local FTD or Teleflora member florists that deliver to the recipient’s address. I usually try to select a shop in the same zip code.

My personal preference is the FTD site, because I like the user interface better. On the other hand, Teleflora seems to have more members. But I do search both, because many florists only are members of one wire service, not both.

You will notice that most FTD and Teleflora member web sites look pretty much the same, and even feature the same arrangements, but don’t let that fool you. The similarity ends there. Each FTD or Teleflora member is a local, independent florist, and so they are free to set their own prices for each item in displayed on their site.

I’ve seen prices vary as much as $20.00 or more for the same floral arrangement between different florists in the same city. So it does pay to shop the price if you find an arrangement you like.

There may be times that FTD or Teleflora will not have a member florist in the recipient’s delivery area. It most often happens when the delivery address is in a remote or rural area. Also, a growing number of florists do not send or receive enough orders to justify the expense of belonging to a wire service. But it’s easy to locate almost any florist by using your favorite search engine.

I wrote an article entitled “How to find a local florist”, that explains the methods I use for tracking down a florist almost anywhere. I do recommend calling the florist to be sure they do deliver to the area. If not, most are happy to give the number of another florist who does. A little digging and you’ll find a florist that will help.

Order online or by phone?

Personally, when I transfer a floral order on behalf of a customer, I call. The web is a great research tool, but impersonal when it comes to ordering flowers. In our case, only a small percentage of the orders we receive are placed online, the majority are placed over the phone. I pretty sure this is the case with most local florist web sites. Although the web offer 24/7 convenience, remember you are still dealing with a local business that sets its own business hours. If you do place an order online after hours, I would suggest following up by phone the next day during regular business hours.

Service Fees

Most florists charge a service fee when they transfer your order to another florist who will fill it and deliver it. If you order directly from the delivering florist, you will only be paying for the flowers, the delivery charge, and sales tax. It’s important to recognize that if you are being charged a service fee, you are not dealing directly with the local florist who will be delivering your flowers. You are dealing with a middleman, paying them to do something you can just as easily do yourself with a few mouse clicks or a quick phone call.

The majority of order-related complaints stem from placing an order with a third party site. If you have a problem with an order, you want to deal directly with the delivering florist, not a third party middleman. They are just the messenger. Trust me, any problem you have will be resolved quickly when you contact the delivering florist directly.

International flower delivery

This is one area where ordering online really has its advantages. For most people, in my opinion, the easiest site to use is Fleurop.com. It takes care of the most common issues involved with ordering flowers for delivery outside of the United States, namely language, currency conversion, and most importantly, local customs.

It’s the only site where I waive my “no service fee” rule, because it’s worth paying for the convenience.

These are the methods I use to find good, reliable local florists to deliver flowers for my customers. Use them and you’ll find you will be able to find, select, and order from any florist with confidence every time. If you have other tips you care to share, I’d love to hear them.

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