Indeed, a hack you can use as a customer is to call up the local florist directly and order: you get the exact same product you would through Teleflora etc, but get to cut out the middleman, and the florist will usually give you lower prices.
Indeed, a hack you can use as a customer is to call up the local florist directly and order: you get the exact same product you would through Teleflora etc, but get to cut out the middleman, and the florist will usually give you lower prices.
Ideally the prices would essentially be the same (since you are driving business to the florist) but the service should be able to add enough value (by saving time, offering subscriptions, etc) to be able to display the florist info but still attract orders via the site/service.
Flower ordering has the same problem as weddings, funerals, job searches, ordering a plumber, etc: it's an event that you do maybe once a year, max. When you need the product that infrequently, it slips out of the consumers' mind, and they don't remember brands. So you can only build a viable business when the product costs enough that you can spend large sums on brand advertising (eg. cars, clothing, divorce attorneys, diamond rings) or large sums on search advertising (eg. [flowers], [mesothelioma], [digital cameras], [bingo cards]). Indeed, one of the main reasons Google has become huge is that they function as an aggregator for all the "infrequently needed, but too cheap to buy superbowl ads" products.
You're welcome to give it a go, though. The local florists would love you; many aren't terribly thrilled about Teleflora stealing all their customers and treating them as a commodity backend provider. It's just that you'll likely find customer acquisition costs way more than you bargain for.