FTD and From You Flowers, a large floral ecommerce company, announced a merger last month.
Last month FTD and From You Flowers, a large floral ecommerce company, announced a merger — a business move that was considered years earlier but didn’t work out — until now.
Michael Chapin, CEO of From You Flowers and FTD
Michael Chapin, who founded From You Flowers in 2002 and is now CEO of both companies, says the merger will nearly double order volume for FTD’s florist network and give both companies the revenue to continue investing in technology and find cost savings that will benefit FTD member florists.
In the days following the May 24 announcement, which was initiated the first time in 2019 but fell apart because of a lack of agreement on terms, reactions from FTD members on social media groups ranged from neutral to negative. Many florists commented that they didn’t understand how the merger could help brick and mortar florists, others expressed a distrust of From You Flowers, and some threatened to drop their FTD membership.
Zac Powell, FTD’s member florist division executive
Zac Powell, FTD’s member florist division executive, says the merger has been “quite positive for the network.” In conversations with the FTD’s top 1,000 members, 85 percent were positive or neutral about the change, Powell said. He reported that five members dropped, 75 members have unblocked From You Flowers’ orders, and that FTD has about 155 new member prospects.
SAF NOW talked with Chapin and Powell about the merger and what it means for FTD member florists.
SAF NOW: What prompted the merger, and why now?
Chapin: The merger makes a lot of sense for many reasons. The main reason is to combine the fantastic florists that FTD has with a lot of order volume — this is going to nearly double the order volume. This merger instantly creates a much better value proposition for FTD members because of the increased volume.
SAF NOW: How did From You Flowers fulfill orders before the merger and how will that change now?
Chapin: We were members of all three wire services: BloomNet, Teleflora and FTD. Historically, ships a very small percentage of orders in a box, unlike some of our competitors. Now, we are really focusing on getting as many orders as possible to the florist.
SAF NOW: Many florists are investing in SEM marketing and see From Your Flowers as their biggest competitor. What do you say to members who feel threatened by this?
Chapin: With Mercury Online and Florist Online powered by Shopify, we’re really giving the florist the best opportunity to compete locally, with both paid and unpaid search marketing, so we don’t view it as competing whatsoever. is actually a tiny, tiny percentage of our overall traffic. If From You Flowers or FTD doesn’t show up — if we were to back off on — all we’re doing is making room for a competitor to fall into that place and then ultimately those orders will end up going through a different network. So, our overall goal would be for the florist to show up there first — and that’s what we are giving them the tools to do with Mercury Online — and if they don’t, From You Flowers or FTD would show up and ultimately funnel that order back to them. That being said, we never, and we will never, advertise on a florist brand. We may bid on “Dallas, Texas, florist,” but we’d never bid on that if it was the florist’s brand. The goal is to show up for cities, not to show up for florists’ names.
SAF NOW: How might the merger benefit FTD member florists — and how might it hurt them?
Powell: The merger should be nothing but beneficial to our florists. We don’t think this will hurt them. They’re our partners in this. order volume alone will be incredibly powerful to the network. One main reason From You Flowers has been successful over the last couple of decades has been because of a constant flow of investment into new technology. We will continue to do so, as well, but focusing primarily on the florist network first, florist software and florist websites. They are our partners — our lifeblood. We think that this relationship only works if it’s mutually beneficial. We know that there’s a little bit of apprehension with , but that’s not our intent with this. We think the power of the two companies combined really is a win for both us and our network.
SAF NOW: How does the merger help FTD and From You Flowers?
Chapin: It really just reduces the reliance on third-party wire services and solidifies our delivery capabilities. We won’t have to rely on a relationship with competitors anymore . But it really comes down to both companies just having complementary and unique strengths. FTD’s got the incredibly talented, hardworking florist network delivering incredible bouquets on a daily basis, and From You Flowers and FTD have an incredible amount of order volume. It really keeps the flower network strong and growing, and that’s what we have a history of doing.
SAF NOW: What was the reasoning for Chapin taking over as CEO for both companies?
Chapin: The biggest reason is just that I’ve been doing this for a long time. What I don’t know about the florist side, I’ll learn quickly with Zac and his team, and most importantly, from florists. I hope to do a lot of speaking to florists and reaching out to florists, and I hope florists will reach out to me. Another reason is that I have a track record of growth and profitability and I plan to bring that to FTD and FTD members. I believe that there’s no one better to do this. I hope I end up proving that to FTD and FTD members. But the other thing is, we’ll be around for a long time. FTD has been through four CEOs in the past five years.
Powell: offers a different level of stability that we desperately need and I think our members want to see as well.
SAF NOW: How will the merger affect FTD’s technology in the long and short term?
Chapin: One of the things we realized pretty quickly in the last week or so is that Zac and the florist side of the FTD business have a really good road map to put the florist first and put florist technology first. We’re not going to change that road map at all. All this does really is solidify FTD’s balance sheet to invest further and faster.
SAF NOW: Is FTD’s fee structure and profitability on orders going to change? If so, how?
Powell: There is nothing slated to change immediately. As we start to realize more benefits of the merger, we’ll look to share those with our members. We’ve already started looking at SKU profitability. I’ve been renegotiating some of our hard good prices to members. We plan on sharing savings with our members as soon as I get it in place with our vendors. Our commitment to our members is that this is going be a mutually beneficial relationship. We’ll continue to look at ways to leverage the scale of the new organization to help both us and them. It won’t be one-sided.
SAF NOW: What do you hope the company looks like three years from now?
Chapin: We only succeed if the florists succeed. So we hope to have more order volume spread across more florists, ultimately producing both happy florists and happy consumers.
Amanda Jedlinsky is the managing editor of SAF NOW.
