At the start of 2015, Freddie’s Flowers had 200 customers. Today, they have 170,000 in the UK and Germany. CEO Ted Bell finds it hard to say how much further the number of online flower subscriptions can grow, since this is a completely new market. ‘We have just started knocking on people’s doors, but I believe that our turnover can become 6, 7 or 8 times that of today over the next four years.’
British online flower webshop Freddie’s Flowers sells boxed bouquets for GBP 25 each. They are not targeting the gift market, but have chosen a market niche instead. Their clients have a subscription to Freddie’s, and the flowers are meant for personal enjoyment. ‘We are like the old-fashioned milk man. Our customers can choose how often they want us to deliver flowers. On average, we deliver a bouquet once every three weeks.’
Freddie’s Flowers’ history reads like an adventure novel: founder and name giver Freddie Garland started in his backyard after having gained quite some experience in online sales, Bell recounts. ‘So Freddie is real. He used to work for me and my business partner, Keith Abel, in our previous business, Abel & Cole, which sold organic food subscriptions online. When we sold the company, Freddie started Freddie’s Flowers in 2014, thinking: “Why not do for flowers what we did for fruits and vegetables?” His parents were florists.’