Bloompop, the online floral delivery service for artisan flowers that was born in D.C., has moved from 1776 into Disruption's space in Arlington and has expanded local delivery service to include Reston, Ashburn, areas in Montgomery County and Baltimore.
"We're national now," Shavanna Miller, Bloompop's CEO, says. "We have [floral] partners in 20 states."
Conceived as an
alternate to national chains, Bloompop gives consumers artisan floral arrangements created by local florists at fixed price points with a flat $10 delivery fee. The arrangements currently run $69, $99 or $129 each; Miller says in the coming weeks, she is adding choices at the $49 and $149 level.
"Florists still have to go through an application process" to work with Bloompop, Miller says. "We have to turn florists down if they don't meet the standards." There are 14 Bloompop florists serving the broader D.C. area; Miller feels she has to be selective. "We don't want 10 florists delivering to the same zipcode."
The company has spent the last year building out wedding services and B2B strategies to serve subscription clients in retail spaces. "The demand was there," Miller says. "We work with property managers, caterers, event planners and hotels."
Companies like The Bozzuto Group, one of Miller's clients, subscribe to Bloompop for floral arrangements for their retail spaces. Bloompop provides central account management and invoicing, "but they get to work with local florists. The most exciting thing for us is the recurring revenue."
On the wedding side, Miller is offering an "in-between" service for brides who want custom florals at the wedding but might not have $3,000 (the going minimum rate for local florists dedicated to weddings and events, according to Miller) to drop on them. For a minimum of $400, brides can choose "unique wedding solutions [for their event] and order them online for a much lower price point," Miller says. "It's less expensive than a custom solution, and it cuts down the time required for florists" who often have to schedule multiple in-person consultations with brides.
Miller says she needs to hire several more corporate sales people. Bloompop will be announcing a seed round before the end of the year, which will allow her to hire more hands as needed, among other things.