This Valentine’s Day, 1-800-Flowers.com expects to deliver “more than 18 million stems,” says CEO Chris McCann. He declined to give actual sales projections.
Valentine’s Day is on a Friday this year, which McCann says is a good thing. “Having that full week to grab that demand is a benefit. So, Thursday and Friday are the better days for Valentine’s Day,” he says.
To better serve its shoppers that come through via desktop or the mobile web, the flower retailer revamped its website and added new features to the mobile web. “These enhancements are part of our ongoing commitment to continually elevate the shopping experience for our customers,” McCann says.
Over 2019, 1-800-Flowers.com increasingly noticed that more shoppers came from mobile. Thus, McCann estimates that 45% of its revenue leading up to and during Valentine’s Day will come from mobile shoppers, with 65% of traffic to 1800Flowers.com coming from mobile.
“With customer engagement continuing to grow on mobile devices, we wanted to ensure these shoppers have a rich experience,” he says. “As new and existing customers experience all the ways we are making it easier and more convenient to shop with us on-the-go, we expect this number to continue to grow.”
On its mobile site, the retailer added product visualization tools, which allow shoppers to preview Valentine’s Day arrangements in 3D from all different angles. Shoppers can then tap the AR button at the top of their screen and place the flower arrangement in their own space using their mobile device’s camera via augmented reality.
“The new 3D and augmented reality product visualization tool helps shoppers… better understand the size and other specifications of our products, ensuring they select the perfect gift for their loved ones,” McCann says.
To develop the AR tool, 1-800-Flowers.com relied on a mixture of in-house expertise and technological capabilities of its third-party vendors to build, launch and iterate on new features, McCann says without naming the vendors.
“Our team did a phenomenal job in collaboratively building this [AR and 3D] capability and enabling us to… offer this tool to consumers,” he says.
Also, 1-800-Flowers.com added a Gift Finder tool to its mobile app. Shoppers can use a drop-down menu to tailor flower arrangements and gifts, such as gifts for a relationship, birthday, anniversary and more, and add the delivery address and preferred date for the gift’s delivery. The Gift Finder tool is also available on its website and mobile website, prominently placed at the top of its homepage.
Plus, its redesigned progressive web application (PWA) desktop site loads faster and has a full-width display, compared with its previous site that was more condensed, McCann says. PWAs are specialized mobile web pages or websites that act like mobile apps and don’t have to be installed by consumers the way apps do.
Last year before Valentine’s Day, 1-800-Flowers.com added SmartGift. The tool allows shoppers to purchase a gift from 1800Flowers.com and then the recipient receives a message via email or text that the gifter sent her something. The recipient can then view the item the gifter selected. She can then decide whether to select something else, as well as where and when to have it delivered. This ensures the recipient likes the gift she receives, and it arrives when it is convenient for her. The tool is good for last-minute shoppers, McCann says, as the recipient knows she received a gift on the holiday, even if it is delivered later.
“We’ve received extremely positive feedback on [SmartGift], which has become highly popular among our shoppers, as it empowers the recipient within the gift-giving process,” McCann says. The retailer plans to continue updating the SmartGift feature but did not reveal specific plans.
The flower and gifts retailer also reported its earnings last week. 1-800-Flowers.com Inc.’s total revenue for its fiscal second quarter 2020 ended Dec. 29, 2019 increased 6.0%, reaching $605.6 million, up from $571.3 million in the comparable period last year. 66% of its revenue for the fiscal second quarter was from repeat customers, McCann said on an earnings call transcribed by Seeking Alpha. Plus, the average order value was up 1% for the fiscal second quarter, the retailer reported.
For fiscal 2020 year-to-date, the retailer’s total revenue increased 7% to $792.9 million, up from $740.8 million in the comparable period last year. It did not break out exact ecommerce figures.
1-800-Flowers.com Inc. is No. 79 in the 2019 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000.