LONDON, UK: UK’s online flower delivery service Bloom & Wild has bought Dutch rival bloomon, creating the largest online business by deliveries in Europe’s market for flowers and houseplants.
Both companies will continue to operate under their existing brandnames with bloomon further bolstering its market position in Benelux and Denmark. Bloom & Wild will continue to serve its home market while also venturing into Ireland and Germany.
In November 2019, Bloom & Wild’s chief operating officer Paul Burton joined Union Fleurs’ annual conference Floriforum as keynote speaker explaining how the company is a champion in the world of metrics, marketing and branding.
Bloom & Wild, which made a name with bouquets that can fit through a letterbox, has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception in 2013. Co-founder and chief executive Aron Gelbard announced just over £100m in sales in the year ending March, compared to £29m two years earlier.
The new company hopes to deliver 8 million online bouquets of flowers and plants in the next year and has forecast a €250 million turnover.
Bart Troos, Koen Thijssen, and Patrick Hurenkamp founded bloomon in 2014. Using its famous Dutch tagline ‘Geen Bloemen, Maar bloomon’ ( ‘No Blooms, But bloomon’), the company differentiates itself by its signature look. For that, the company’s floral designer Lucinda van der Ploeg uses a creative eye to compose arrangements that capture both the look of a fresh field bouquet and the elegant beauty of cool new flower varieties. A style that has since been copied multiple times.
In June 2020, bloomon added the Bio-bos (organic blooms) to its product portfolio. The new arrangement includes a mix of seasonal, hand-picked, and organically grown flower, underscoring the company’s willingness to tackle environmental issues.
The company says that it delivers its flowers directly from local growers to consumers and is as such shortening the supply chain. This approach, bloomon says, reduces product loss and waste while significantly increasing the vase life of flowers.
“We are highly complementary businesses; both in geographic presence and in products and services. Bloomon, for example, has a lot of experience with the subscription model and buying flowers for yourself, while Bloom & Wild excels with a wide range of gifts such as one-off sales and a strong app. Through a cross-fertilization of expertise, grower relationships and technology in the supply chain, we will strengthen each other across the board,” says Troost.
The partnership is expected to realise a turnover in the region of 250 million euros in the fiscal year ending in March 2022. In January, Bloom & Wild raised a further 75 million British pounds – some 88 million euros – in a new round of investment led by General Catalyst in which Index Ventures also participated.
Aron Gelbard, Bloom & Wild’s co-founder, will remain CEO, bloomon founders Bart Troost and Patrick Hurenkamp will become Chief International Officer and Chief Innovation Officer respectively.
“We combine two strong players with disruptive characters and shared values. Both organisations have the ambition to continuously improve the customer experience through the application of technology and data. With our knowledge, experience and network, we have everything in-house to further strengthen our position as the market leader in Europe”, comments Gelbard.
Bloomon was originally a flower subscription business that has now expanded into one-off deliveries.
Bloom & Wild says the deal was financed by cash reserves, further terms were not disclosed
