People’s Champion finalist 2017: Floom

Start-up name: Floom
Founder:  Lana Elie
Started in: February 2016
Based in: London
Business description: Online marketplace for independent florists

Shortlisted category:

Crowdfunded Business of the Year

The Floom story:

Bringing technology and e-commerce to an industry often run by archaic processes and systems, Lana Elie’s online marketplace for independent florists was borne out of her own frustrations.

A former PA at Burberry, Elie was often tasked with the job of buying and sending flowers to clients and was repeatedly frustrated with what she saw as an overly time-consuming process.

Often left disappointed with the bouquets bestowed upon her by larger florists, Elie began to think about how many small independents were potentially offering a unique and crafted service – but had no online presence to showcase their offerings.

Launching Floom in February 2016,  Elie’s Etsy-like marketplace for flowers vets all listed florists on its site for quality with all photography on the site standardised so as to give consumers the best possible impression of exactly what they’re ordering.

Florists on the site are given access to a dashboard that allows them to add products, set prices, and publish to the website, while shoppers simply enter their post-code, and choose what bouquet suits them.

Acting as a middleman (or woman) between consumers and small florists, Floom’s business model means it holds no risk with what is otherwise a rapidly perishable product, as well as no large warehouse and frozen storage costs.

With over 350,000 unique visitors, and with return purchases averaging at 40%, Startups 100-listed Floom has achieved an average growth of 23% each month.

Taking 20% commission from each sale, Floom has already helped the likes of the BBC, Jamie Oliver Ltd and ITV with all their flower needs and recently raised £580,000 from the crowd to improve its tech capabilities ahead of national and international expansion.

Why Floom made our shortlist:

With the aim of doing for flowers what Deliveroo have done for takeaways, Floom is bringing both quality and choice to consumers while simultaneously supporting small independent businesses.

Operating within the $50bn global flower market dominated by the big boys, Floom’s passion for championing independent florists is matched by its popularity among consumers and ‘the crowd’ alike.

Where to find out more about Floom:

Website: www.floom.com
Twitter: @FloomOfficial