Arena Flowers
 | |
Type of site | Limited liability company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
| Founder(s) | William Wynne Steven France |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Flowers |
| URL | www |
Arena Flowers is a flower and gifts retailer based in the United Kingdom. Arena Flowers’ first website was launched in 2006. Arena Flowers is an e-commerce company that sells flowers originating from England, the Netherlands and Africa as well as through bilateral fulfilment agreements worldwide.
Background
[edit]Arena Flowers, based in Worcestershire, was launched in August 2006 by William Wynne and Steven France. France and Wynne are friends from the University of Oxford.
Ethical flowers
[edit]From inception Arena Flowers supplied ethically produced flowers. Arena was the first UK member of Fair Flowers Fair Plants, an important ethical flowers standard, in 2008 Arena Flowers won the IMRGËs Online Green Awards for small retailers and, in 2013, Arena Flowers was formally accredited as a Fairtrade UK flower supplier (as of February 2014, one of only 8 UK organisations to be so accredited.[1]
Arena Flowers is one of only two specialist UK florists with a Fairtrade certification.[2] In 2020 the company came top of the Good Shopping Guide's comparison table of ethical flower delivery companies with a 100% rating,[3] and was rated number one by Country Living UK for ethical flower deliver services.[4] Arena Flowers has a Butterfly Mark from Positive Luxury, which is a third-party accreditation mark that recognises that the brand meets the highest standards of verified innovation and environmental performance, based on their use of environmentally friendly packaging, energy efficiency, and worker's welfare programmes.[5]
Partners
[edit]Commercial
[edit]Arena Flowers has a partnership with US florist ProFlowers.[6]
Charitable
[edit]Arena has a number of charitable partners:
- The British Heart Foundation[7]
- Cancer Research UK[8]
- Crisis[9]
- Women's Aid[10]
- Sue Ryder (charity)[11]
- The Lullaby Trust[12]
Innovation
[edit]Arena has repeatedly innovated, in particular in the areas of video messaging (with partner Vzaar)[13][14] and in producing a patented gift product, AmazeBox.[15][16][17] Arena has also won praise for its non-traditional approach to social media.[18][19]
Controversy
[edit]- Arena was falsely identified as sending out phishing emails by MessageLabs.[20]
- Valentine's 2013: Arena failed to deliver a reported 5% of orders for Valentine's Day 2013 and attracted a social media backlash, in particular from the Money Saving Expert community.[21]
References
[edit]- ^ "The Fairtrade Foundation". Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ Fair-trade - Flowers. Fairtrade.org.uk
- ^ Ethical Flower Delivery Companies Ethical Comparison Table. The Good Shopping Guide.
- ^ Ward, Charley (Feb 6, 2020). 5 best ethical flower delivery services. Country Living.
- ^ Positive Luxury – Arena Flowers. PositiveLuxury.com
- ^ "ProFlowers.com (US) Selects ArenaFlowers.com (Europe) to Offer International Flower Delivery Service to Americans". Arena Flowers. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ "We are delighted to be working in partnership with our friends at Arena Flowers to raise over £5,000 for National Heart Month". British Heart Foundation. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ "Charity Flowers Delivery". Cancer Research UK. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ Arena Flowers support In This Together. Crisis UK Website.
- ^ Hatton, Hebe (August 14, 2020). Best flower delivery UK: where to order beautiful bouquets to your doorstep. RealHomes.com
- ^ "Our Charity Partners". Arena Flowers.
- ^ "Our Charity Partners". Arena Flowers.
- ^ "Arena Flowers adds video messaging to its bouquets". Internet Retailing. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ "Arena Flowers add video messages to bouquets". Tamebay. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ "AmazeBox website". Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ "Diary Of A Start-Up: Will Wynne, Amazebox.Co.Uk". Management Today. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ "Patent for Flower gift kit". Espacenet. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ Bulkley, Kate (24 September 2007). "The digital persuaders". Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ "The power of a titter on Twitter". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ Leyden, John (20 December 2008). "Florist kicks up a stink about false phish alarm". The Register. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ Anker, Guy (14 February 2013). "Flower firm fails lovers on Valentine's Day". moneysavingexpert.com. Retrieved 10 February 2014.