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Interflora is a flower delivery network, associated with over 58,000 affiliated
flower shop Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related s ...
s in over 140 countries. It is a subsidiary of
Teleflora Teleflora is a floral wire service company which brokers orders to local florists for delivery.Teleflora Web ...
, a subsidiary of
The Wonderful Company The Wonderful Company LLC, formerly known as Roll Global, is a private corporation based in Los Angeles, California. With revenues of over $4 billion, it functions as a holding company for Stewart and Lynda Resnick and as such is a vehicle for th ...
.


History

In 1920 a florist, Joe Dobson, of Leighton's Seedsmen and Florists in Glasgow, and a nurseryman, Carl Englemann in Saffron Walden,
Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Gr ...
were looking to increase their business. They knew of the Florists Telegraph Delivery Association (now known as Florists' Transworld Delivery) which had existed in the US since 1910, and applied to join as foreign members. In 1923 the UK arm of the FTDA was formed with 17 members. One of the straplines used in advertising was ''Flowers by Wire'' when the
telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
was actually used to communicate between florists. Later, telegrams were sent from member to member requesting deliveries to be made in the recipient florists area. In the original Interflora Directory, used by members, the longest established members could be recognised by their
telegraphic address A telegraphic address or cable address was a unique identifier code for a recipient of telegraph messages. Operators of telegraph services regulated the use of telegraphic addresses to prevent duplication. Rather like a uniform resource locator ( ...
es. This would be the only
telegraphic address A telegraphic address or cable address was a unique identifier code for a recipient of telegraph messages. Operators of telegraph services regulated the use of telegraphic addresses to prevent duplication. Rather like a uniform resource locator ( ...
in that city to include the name Interflora. In the case of the founding members, their telegraphic addresses were "Interflora Glasgow" and "Interflora Saffron Walden", respectively. In 1953 the name changed to Interflora and the slogan ''Flowers Worldwide'' along with the ''Mercury Man'' roundel became well known. "Say it with Flowers" became the subsequent and most famous slogan associated with Interflora. When telegrams became obsolete the most used method for requesting deliveries was by telephone. Following that Interflora brought in messenger1 in the mid to late 1980s, this system was very similar to sending a fax. In the late 1990s messenger2 was introduced, that used the internet to transmit orders. In the early 2000s, Interflora brought out a system called Rose, this used the internet but instead of a dial-up connection a broadband connection was used. This enabled orders to be transmitted in real time. In 2011 Rose was updated to ROSEGold which provides a real time service between the call centre in
Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to th ...
, Lincolnshire and the Interflora members around the United Kingdom. In 2005, the Interflora British Unit moved from being a trade association to a private equity ownership under investment company, 3i. 3i sold British Interflora to US-based FTD Group, the successor to Florists' Transworld Delivery, in 2006. In 2008, United Online Software Development acquired Interflora and FTD. In 2012, Interflora bought the Gifts Division of Flying Brands. In November 2013, United Online spun off its floral delivery subsidiary, FTD, which became a separate NASDAQ-traded company called FTD Companies, Inc., under the symbol FTD. In June 2019, the FTD Group sold Interflora British Unit in a $59.5 million deal to another US-based flower delivery network,
Teleflora Teleflora is a floral wire service company which brokers orders to local florists for delivery.Teleflora Web ...
, a subsidiary of
The Wonderful Company The Wonderful Company LLC, formerly known as Roll Global, is a private corporation based in Los Angeles, California. With revenues of over $4 billion, it functions as a holding company for Stewart and Lynda Resnick and as such is a vehicle for th ...
since 1979.


See also

* Floral industry *
Cut flowers Cut flowers are flowers or flower buds (often with some stem and leaf) that have been cut from the plant bearing it. It is usually removed from the plant for decorative use. Typical uses are in vase displays, wreaths and garlands. Many gardener ...


References


Further reading

*Lewis, Geoffrey (1986).''The Interflora Story''. Interflora British Unit Ltd, Sleaford, UK.


External links


Interflora UK
{{Authority control Florist companies British companies established in 1923 Retail companies established in 1923 Former co-operatives of the United Kingdom Demutualized organizations Retailers' cooperatives Companies based in Lincolnshire Floral industry