Local florists have a new opportunity to drive additional orders into their shops by featuring their own, truly original floral arrangement designs and gift and gourmet products on the 1-800-Flowers.com website. 1-800-Flowers.com, the world’s leading florist and gift shop, and BloomNet, an international wire service and world class business solutions provider, have created the Local Exclusive Florist Designed Program as a way of showcasing the creativity of local florists to millions of consumers online.

For local florists, particularly smaller shops with limited marketing budgets, the Local Exclusive Program can be a shot of adrenalin that enables them to gain huge exposure for their design capabilities and generate widespread sales opportunities for their products without having to compete with the marketing resources of large online floral and gift retailers. In essence, the Local Exclusive Program levels the playing field, providing a local florist and their product designs with the same exposure as 1-800-Flowers.com offerings in the florist’s home delivery zip code. BloomNet is the first and only wire service to support their network of florists with such an innovative and value-added program specifically developed to broaden the sales potential of retail flower shops by spotlighting their locally-designed products to millions of consumers.

“We’re excited to provide a world stage where the incredible design talents of local florists can be enjoyed and appreciated by an enormous audience,” said Mark Nance, AAF, President of BloomNet. “In addition to celebrating the creativity and artistry of local designers, our Local Exclusive Florist Designed Program can deliver tremendous incremental sales possibilities to flower shops large and small.”

Participation in the Local Exclusive Florist Designed Program is free. To participate in the program, florists can go to http://tiny.cc/localexclusive to upload a recipe and description of their truly original product design as well as a product photo and the design inspiration behind the product. If chosen, the product will be featured on the 1-800-Flowers.com website along with an image, a video (if available), and a story about the designer and their local shop. What’s more, if the florist participates in the BloomNet Hosted Website Program, a link to the florist’s website will be provided on their Product page.

The ideal products to submit for the Local Exclusive Florist Designed Program are those that are fresh, unique and have a local artisan look and feel. Product categories include: everyday floral arrangements, plants, corsages and boutonnieres; personalized sympathy and tribute arrangements and forms; baskets for fruit, candy, spa, baby and corporate themes; fruit/gourmet bouquets, arrangements and gifts; and other unique gifts or wreaths.

“The 1-800-Flowers.com Local Exclusive Program has proven to be a huge success for our shop,” said Margaret Fleegal of 1-800-Flowers Twinbrook Floral Design. “The program gives us the opportunity to showcase our designer’s creativity and skills with a dash of our local flair! To date we have delivered over 450 of our unique arrangements thanks to the 1-800-Flowers.com Local Exclusive Program. Our designers love seeing their special creations on the 1-800-Flowers website.”

Cheryl Denham of 1-800-Flowers Phoenix added: “Thank you for launching the 1-800-Flowers.com Local Exclusive Program! It has been a great addition to our product offerings and a wonderful opportunity to highlight the creativity of our designers. We developed three designs that are only available in our local market and are exclusive to our shop. We were able to utilize hard good inventory we already had on hand to create arrangements that focus on our regional landscape.”

Complementing the extensive exposure and sales potential that local florists will receive, the Local Exclusive Florist Designed Program will also include exciting contests, florist spotlights and social media consumer engagement campaigns.

For further information about the Local Exclusive Florist Designed Program, visit http://tiny.cc/localexclusive, email localexclusive@bloomnet.net or call 1-800-BloomNet (1-800-256-6663).

About BloomNet®

BloomNet® (www.mybloomnet.net or 1-800-BloomNet) is an international wire service and a world class business solutions provider offering quality products and diverse services to a select network of professional retail Florists who utilize BloomNet’s resources to grow their businesses profitably. Professional Florists who are part of the BloomNet network can take advantage of several key benefits including the highest published rebate in the industry with the easiest rebate qualifications, tiered membership costs, state-of-the-art technology solutions, and a complete suite of value-added products and services. BloomNet has established and maintains the industry’s most stringent business standards for participating Florists. BloomNet, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.