I can no longer sit in silence on the sidelines. The past week saw florists all over the world experience the busiest peak in our annual flower calendar. In South Africa we have an online company that has just let masses of their customers down, and their customers break up with them on twitter. I need to emphasize that florists are not affiliated to this online company, we are independent small businesses, creating jobs in our communities. In Gauteng, most of us experienced load shedding and rain, yet we delivered. We also have no- delivery issues that we deal with as well, but we deal with this, if we don’t it will cost us our customer. What is most shocking is seeing the quality and the dead flowers that were delivered, I really feel for those that received these shocking tokens of love. The dead flowers were not addressed by the MD of the online company only the non-deliveries. The non-delivery, wilted flowers and not responding to e-mails or social media is giving the flower industry a bad reputation and will have a negative impact on florists as small business owners and the flower industry as a whole. Our business is flowers, this is every florist’s bread and butter. We don’t have big budgets to advertise on the radio as the online company has. It is a general assumption that all florists belong or work for this online company. How many men have already said that they will buy alternate gifts next time round. Local florists are more than capable of creating your flower gift and delivering it with love. Flowers are a gift of emotion, it should not be a disappointment, not something that has come out of a warehouse, that has been in cold storage for some time due to the volumes that need to be processed. For most of the 38 Valentines days, I have experienced @erosflorist we work through the night to ensure the recipient receives fresh blooms on Valentine’s day. Please note there is an alternative to this online company that has let so many customers down – use your local florist. Most florists have their own websites. We all guarantee same-day delivery – we have always offered same-day delivery. We even deliver on Saturdays, even when it rains, or we have load shedding. Your local florist is proud of what they create and have delivered from their shop, and best of all you get personal service.
Through our own florist networks, we can arrange flowers to be delivered in another town or city.
Please join us in supporting local florists – we won’t let you down.
Beatrice Archer. Eros Florist Pretoria. #wedeliver #comerainorshine #loadsheddingnoexcuse #supportlocalflorists #happyflowers
