Archives for 2009

Ah, flower deliveries. The sun shining on your face, the wind rushing through your hair, fresh air filling your lungs… no, really! Since we’ve introduced our bicycle delivery trailer, deliveries to normally stressful or difficult locations have become, well, a breeze.

Boulder Blooms' Flower Delivery Bicycle

Our customers are becoming more and more conscious of the environmental impacts of their purchases. This is especially true of the demographic we call “Generation Y”. At our shop, we are lucky enough to be located right across the street from a college campus filled to the brim with Generation Y-ers. Our latest delivery system has been an attempt to catch the attention of these consumers and to be a little more considerate of our environment at the same time.

Delivering flowers on a bicycle not only reduces the carbon output created by driving a delivery vehicle around, but also becomes a powerful marketing tool in the right area. In our case, the frustration of finding a parking spot (scarce), paying parking fees (expensive), and still having to walk long distances to deliver flowers has been alleviated by using a bicycle rather than a car.

When we decided to purchase a delivery trailer, we assumed we’d be able to purchase something pre-fabricated to suit our needs. Unfortunately, we were not able to find exactly what we needed (what do you mean you don’t sell flower-delivery-bicycle trailers?), so we decided to make one ourselves. The closest we were able to find we purchased from www.wicycle.com; a landscape trailer with no cover to shelter arrangements. We are lucky enough to have a friend who was able to fabricate a customized, hinged cover for the trailer (I saw the inside of this guy’s toolbox once- he travels with his own fire extinguisher. This is a good friend to have.) and we finished the cover with brightly colored decals of our logo, phone number, and website. The inside of the trailer will be lined with a customized foam delivery system to help with stability, although the design of the trailer is deceptively stable as-is.

Our bicycle will be used primarily to deliver campus deliveries, arrangements to the mainly pedestrian downtown area, and to other areas with high levels of foot-traffic. In such a bicycle-friendly city, the marketing possibilities are endless- we can hand out free stems with our contact info before holidays and we are looking into a mobile vendor license so we can tote wrapped dozen-rose bouquets to sell on campus. The visibility and marketing impact we get from the trailer was well worth the small expense- two fringe benefits from what began as an environmentally conscious idea.

Flower Shop Network:  This article was written by Jerrica Park, co-owner of Boulder Blooms, an incredible flower shop in Boulder Colorado with a 100% eco-friendly attitude. Thanks for your contribution, Jerrica! View a video of the new delivery bike in action at YouTube.com.