Fleurop–history – the delivery network once and today

Why were people looking for a way to send flowers to other cities or even countries?

Simply because there were more and more individuals whose friends or relatives did not live so close that they could have delivered the flowers to them personally.

You could put them in a box and send them by mail. But since flowers did not necessarily survive long journeys, one began to think about sending only the order to the florist at the place of delivery.

Fortunately, telegraph and telephon developed at that time.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a number of resourceful individuals in the flower trade decided the time was ripe for a flower delivery network.

The originator was Berlin florist Max Hübner, who introduced the so-called «Deutsche Blumenspenden-Vermittlung» (German Flower Gifting Service) in Germany in 1908. He discussed the idea with his colleagues, who swiftly grasped the potential inherent in a service of this kind. A total of 98 flower shops joined up within the first year.

A short time later, the idea came to the attention of florists in the United States who, in 1910, founded the Florists' Telegraph Delivery (FTD) network.

In 1925, the FTD expanded its network to include an international service, the Florists' Transworld Delivery network.

A few years after its establishment in the USA, the FTD decided to reinvent Mercury, the Roman messenger god, as the symbol of swift floral deliveries and official corporate logo.

Today, the Mercury Man is a global presence and has become - even if somewhat modernized - one of the most iconic company logos worldwide.

The British flower trade embraced the idea of transmitting flower orders by telegraph in the 1920s. An innovative florist in Glasgow and a tree nursery owner in Essex applied for membership in the American FTD as foreign members.

Their request was granted, and by 1923 no fewer than 17 British florists had become FTD partners, enough for the US organisation to decide to set up the British Unit, a branch organisation operating under the umbrella of the FTD. The name was changed to Interflora British Group in 1953.

In the meantime, Max Hübner - the florist who had launched the first flower gifting service in Berlin in 1908 - was living in Zurich.

He had met, courted and married a Swiss woman, Klara Krämer, and was running the Krämer flower shop there. The shop is still doing business today. Hübner was determined to expand the flower delivery network further.

By 1927 he had secured the collaboration of 3,064 florists in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium. In the same year, Fleurop (the name is derived from «flores Europae», meaning the flowers of Europe) was founded as an internationally oriented organisation at a gathering in Zurich's Kursaal.

Max Hübner was unanimously elected as the first president of the European Fleurop organisation, and Zurich was chosen as the location of its first head office.

Interflora Inc. was founded in Copenhagen in 1946 to boost business in the wake of the Second World War.

This floral delivery network with its global operations was created through the merger of Fleurop (for continental Europe), the Interflora British Group (for Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) and the FTD (for North and South America and Japan).

The fleurin was introduced at that time, an in-company currency created to simplify the internal payment system. Initially based on the Swiss franc, the fleurin has been pegged to the euro since November 2003.

The founders also decided to establish the Mercury symbol as the company logo; it has become a familiar sight all over the world, albeit with some graphical modifications. Interflora Inc. operates from its headquarters in Southfield (Michigan, USA).

In 1990, the Swiss Fleurop association was reorganised into a joint-stock company.

In the nineties of the last century, webshops were rare because one did not know how they would develop. Therefore, many companies hesitated. Sometimes with terrible consequences.

In the USA, for example, long-established flower agencies provoked more aggressive competitors to enter this market with their skepticism towards e-commerce. These competitors profited from the growth dynamics in this distribution channel and eventually achieved a dominant position on the US flower delivery market.

The Swiss Fleurop organisation was determined to prevent similar developments from taking hold on its market, and in 1996 the company became the first and only Swiss flower delivery network with an online shop. It was not a straightforward process, internal obstacles had to be overcome:

The first step was to convince the Swiss Fleurop partner shops of the benefits of this new marketing channel, then they had to be equipped with the necessary computers and software. Today, the webshop is Fleurop's fastest-growing sales channel. Currently, almost nine out of ten Fleurop orders are placed via the Internet.

It offers all Fleurop services and sells all additional articles. It is also responsible for testing the products and services of Fleurop and the florist trade as a «laboratory», improving them if necessary and obtaining answers to important questions.

Fleurop makes the knowledge gained accessible to its partner stores. In the meantime, the flagship store under the name «The BLOOMERY» is located in the Glatt shopping center in Wallisellen.

The MyFleurop Customer Club includes Fleurop partners: whether customers order directly from Fleurop via the Internet or telephone or from a Fleurop partner, they always enjoy the benefits of the Customer Club and collect points with every order.

In addition, corporate clients now have a special online store at their disposal that offers many benefits, such as personal advice, corporate discounts and tailor-made invoices.

So that users can follow Fleurop on the hottest communication channels to find out about the latest trends and exciting decoration tips, the project «Social Media» is launched. In the meantime, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are among the everyday communication channels.

In the same year, Fleurop's Wedding Anniversary commercial won the award for the best ever Swiss television spot (vote Publisuisse).

Fleurop Switzerland and Fleurop Austria decide to collaborate and found Fleurop-Interflora Austria GmbH with headquarters in Vienna.

Reason: the Swiss market is saturated, in Austria there is great growth potential. As Switzerland is constantly investing a lot of work and capital in the latest technologies and effective marketing measures, a joint approach creates a win-win agreement.

The internationally renowned flower delivery network has modernized its logo.

This change is part of a decision by the international Interflora-Fleurop group to unify the global presence of its national companies and thus give the brand a stronger global expression.

The independent brand «Männerpflanze» » is created. With its easy-care plants, the attractive presentation and the idea behind it, it revolutionizes the gift market for men. In the meantime, the «green guys» have taken Switzerland by storm.

With Fleurop Young however young consumers receive a separate Web appearance with adapted product selection on Fleurop.ch. Since many Fleurop employees belong to this target group, they are involved in decision-making processes and design some of the products.

While Fleurop.ch positions itself for the gift market, Fleurop-Home addresses consumers who want to order flowers, plants, decoration articles, accessories or luxury goods such as wine, Prosecco, sweets and much more for themselves.

Orders are placed online, delivery is made 1 to 3 days later by mail.