SA Florist: Delivery in the dawn of the on-demand revolution

18 Mar 2016

Same-day, all-day delivery? Yup, SA Florist launched it's revolutionary, Uber-style Zoom Bloom delivery service in response to the On-Demand Economy and consumers becoming increasingly focused on immediate satisfaction facilitated by technological developments. Here is what SA Florist co-founder, Fraser Black had to say about it.

SA Florist co-founders Fraser Black and Nicholas Wallander

What is your definition of the On-Demand Economy?

Fraser Black: The On-Demand Economy is defined as the economic activity created by technology companies that fulfil consumer demand via the immediate provisioning of goods and services.

In what way have consumers changed and how has this influenced the SA Florist model?

Black: Many sectors are witnessing the dawn of the on-demand revolution. In the local florist industry, SA Florist has pioneered on-demand services via offering Uber-style geo-location for customer orders which means no more 12 o'clock cut-offs and no more wondering when your flowers will arrive…

Order between 9am and 4pm and SA Florist will have your order where you need it before you can say Phalaenopsis! This is made possible through our sophisticated geo-locating software that enables a vastly more efficient delivery and shorter delivery distances. SA Florist operates a decentralized model where our 250 local partner florists execute the order via the accredited florist that’s geographically closest to the recipient. This model also means that your important orders don’t sit in delivery vans for half the day whilst the van “does the northern suburbs route”. i.e. the centralized distribution model.

What is the biggest headache regarding same-day, all-day delivery?

Black: We don’t really have any headaches! The technology works and our florists have fully adopted Zoom Bloom across our network. In fact, some florists even got rid of their delivery vans and use our service for deliveries on an exclusive basis. Right now, we are delivering our Zoom Bloom orders in major centres across SA in 1hr 42 mins so that’s well below our two-hour window.

From the warehouse to the consumer’s door, how transparent is the delivery service? Do you experience any challenges with this?

Black: The beauty of the SA Florist model is that we have no warehouses. Our network of partner florists executes our customer orders according to stringent guidelines. The customer is kept in the loop throughout the transaction via email and we get all our customers to review and rate their customer experience which we capture in our Customer Experience Barometer and published in real-time on our site.

Plus our platform runs on a series of rules and exclusion logic. If the system raises a flag, then one of our customer service staff is notified and we immediately pick up the phone and call the client directly.

What is the biggest benefit?

Black: By far the biggest benefit is that our technology allows SA Florist to provide a far superior customer experience than our biggest competitor currently offers. We researched this!

We can do this because our technology streamlines the delivery process and automatically keeps everyone in the loop as to where the order is in the chain. Delivery times are shortened, flowers are fresher when they arrive and most importantly our customer orders are executed by a career florist who takes time and attention to do the order. They get reviewed and rated on every order they do for us so we keep them on their toes! This means that our customers are getting hand tied bouquets and arrangements produced with heart and soul.

Why implement Zoom Bloom now? What was your biggest motivation behind it?

Black: Our platform is built with geo-location in mind so the logic is the same as Uber. Why wait 45 mins for your taxi to leave the depot when you can call an Uber in 4 mins?

We launched our Zoom Bloom product once we had stress-tested it fully and got all our partner florists to support it. It was the next logical step. And to offer what we believe was a world-first in the online florist industry.

How has your competition responded to this?

Black: It took our main competitor about four months to launch their same-day product. But it doesn’t compete head-to-head as it’s not a pure same-day, all-day service. And when they do deliver same day, they aren’t delivering their customer orders in 1 hour and 42 minutes…