Providing direct access to local florists, a relatively new floral marketplace, BloomNation offers consumers a chance to see their floral arrangements before it is delivered.
According to Gregg Weisstein, co-founder and COO of BloomNation, the difference between BloomNation and companies like 1-800 Flowers and Proflora is that these companies provide stock catalog images of the arrangements with the idea that every florist can make the arrangement the consumer wants when that may not always be the case.
“The difference between BloomNation and other floral companies is that others are mass market middlemen,” said Weisstein.
BloomNation provides direct access to the top local florists throughout the country, according to Weisstein.
With Bloomnation, consumers get a localized feel and pricing. BloomNation will send a picture of the arrangement before it goes out to the consumer, the company calls it “Bloomsnap” and it ensures that what you see is what you get.
Why not go straight to the florist? Because rather than spending 30 minutes looking for a local florist, consumers are given a list of the top florists on one page, according to Weisstein.
When payments go through, BloomNation processes all the transactions and when it is delivered the funds are released to the local florist.
“Everyone wants to shop locally, when it comes down to is the value of your purchase, we’re going to give you the best value for your money,” said Weisstein.
According to Weisstein, the florist gets the majority of the money, BloomNation gets a small cut of each transaction. BloomNation facilitates the transaction and it allows the consumer to pay localized prices in the area the consumer are ordering.
“We have seen tremendous traction, the site launched over a year ago with more than 2,000 florists,” said Weisstein. The company relies heavily on the word of mouth of local florists when it comes to get their name out.
Aside from other forms of payment, BloomNation consumers are able to use Bitcoin. He said at the heart of it, BloomNation is a technology company.
“Our idea is to disrupt how the current floral industry works, we’re trying to get rid of the middle man, Bitcoin fits into that,” said Weisstein.
Bitcoin is much cheaper and they are at the forefront of technology, with Bitcoin you don’t have that same issue with fraud as you do with credit cards, according to Weisstein.