COVID-19 – Florismart delivery update

March 26th, 2020

Dear Florist,

I cannot believe it is only 4 days since Mother’s Day, it feels like a month ago and so much has changed in our flower world since then that it is beyond recognition right now.

The world and the UK are changing on an hourly basis and it is quite hard to keep up with everything in every sector that is going on. What we do know is that this week everyone is still shell shocked and trying to use up any left-over flowers and fulfil any orders that have been placed. Florismart has tried to keep the supply line open if we can to help florists to achieve this.

There seems to be a split in the industry on what is allowed and moral. We do not want to get involved in these discussions apart from saying what we are doing and what is allowed:

• Transport companies have strict methods in place for accepting flowers.

• Transport have strict warehouse policies for sorting and loading vehicles.

• Drivers are adhering to government guidelines on how to deliver safely.

• We will only deliver to premises that are meeting the government guidelines and are closed to the public.

We are not looking for loopholes in the law and will only deliver within the guidelines, despite the ‘’call to stay at home’’ official government departments are encouraging small business who have the facility to safely operate contactless by phone or online to do so. The gov.uk website clearly states ‘’Online retail is still open and encouraged and postal and delivery service will run as normal.’’

Everyone needs to make decisions for themselves and their business and we will be here to deliver the service for you for as long as the supply chain from Holland and transport is available.

We will be open in some areas for deliveries, as yet we have not secured deliveries for all areas. If your area is not yet open to shop, please be assured that we are working behind the scenes. Please make sure if you are placing an order and have an alternative delivery address that we create a basket for you with the correct delivery address before you start shopping.

Interflora, Eflorist, Bloom & Wild, Freddie’s flowers, Serenata, to name a few are all delivering bouquets from online orders made in factories, which makes me unsure why retail florists working from behind closed doors are getting such a hard time. The flowers for their orders are coming over to the UK and the supply chain is still open.

We would like to assure everyone that the grants being offered by the government have nothing to do with you doing any online orders, they are only to do with rateable value.

Here is a link to up-to-date information on help and support that you can access: https://www.smallbizassist.co.uk/pages/blog-budget-2020

Florismart is here to support your business and you, whatever you decide.

The whole Florismart team sends their best wishes to you all and your families,

Lesley Rutter