Uber Direct, Uber’s white-label delivery solution, has agreed an on-demand delivery partnership with London-based florist Floritta.
The partnership agreement follows a successful test period, which saw Uber Direct provide support during one of Floritta’s busy periods of the year – Mothers’ Day and Easter. A scalable solution, Uber Direct’s delivery service will now enable Floritta to meet on-demand and pre-scheduled needs for bouquets, hampers, balloons and gift sets throughout the year.
The arrangement will provide Floritta with access to the same technology and courier network that supports Uber Eats – providing customers with both fast delivery and real-time tracking.
Oleksandra Kosharna, director at Floritta, said: “Customer expectations have grown. The anticipation is that flowers and gifts should arrive just as fast as when someone orders food. When customers send something special to people, they also want to choose the precise time it arrives. Uber Direct gives us the capacity to do that.
“We have previously trialled other ways to achieve this, but we’ve found Uber Direct to be the most robust, scalable solution. Following a successful test period over Mother’s Day and Easter, we were pleased to agree this partnership that will help us reach our long-term ambitions for the business.”
Mia Yamaguchi, retail development lead at Uber Direct UK & Ireland, added: “We’re excited to welcome Floritta as our latest partner in a sector where interest in on-demand delivery is blooming.
Interest in rapid flower delivery is evident in the UK. This follows a similar pattern to the demand for last-minute gifting that we are also seeing in France, where we also work with a number of florists.
“Based on the insights from recent consumer research, it’s also clear the demand for rapid delivery is a trend that is only set to grow – and it will be the industry leaders that are able to provide rapid, reliable delivery that stand to gain the advantage.”
Research with more than 2,000 consumers, commissioned by Uber Direct, found that 77% of shoppers want the option to receive flowers on-demand, with 69% saying they would be willing to pay extra for the convenience. More than half (56%) also said they would be more likely to buy from florists that gave them the option to select a 60-minute delivery timeslot the next day.
