The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) used Valentine’s Day yesterday (14 February) to highlight a growing issue in the floristry industry of customers being misled by large national suppliers.
Deputy Chair of the ACCC, Delia Rickard urged people to ask where their flowers were coming from and make sure they were not being misled into thinking large ‘order gatherers’ were locally-based florists.
“The ACCC is investigating the floristry industry and looking closely at the operations of online order gatherers, and reports that some large national suppliers are making misleading representations online that they are local florists, or that their business has a local presence, when that is not the case,” Ms Rickard said.
“These large businesses either create floral arrangements themselves in large distribution centres or outsource orders to local businesses after charging undisclosed commissions,” she said.
“Consumers are often willing to pay premium prices at local florists in the hope they will get fresh flowers, a direct point of contact and reliable delivery.”
Ms Rickard said when national order-gatherers used suburb specific information in their online digital marketing, it could mislead a consumer into thinking they were dealing with a small local business.
The Deputy Chair said when gatherers had a business relationship with a local florist, they should make that relationship clear to consumers, including if a commission was taken from a consumer’s payment.
“Hidden commissions can reduce the overall value of a customer’s order and can undermine small businesses that often operate on small margins,” she said.
“Ordering indirectly through an order gatherer may also reduce a consumer’s ability to determine the quality or the origin of the flowers they are buying.”
Ms Rickard said industry reports suggested that many consumers did not know their flowers were not locally grown, but had instead been cut days earlier and treated with chemicals before being imported into Australia.
She recommended when ordering flowers online or over the phone, that consumers check for a physical address when searching online and ask the business where their operations were physically located; search for reviews on external review websites; check a local business’ social media pages; and ask where the flowers were grown.
