A Better Florist is a self-funded online floral retail start-up based in Singapore, founded by ex-Google employee Steven Feiner in May 2015.

Booming floral retail industry

According to the founder, the global flower market is worth $60 billion, of which $2.5 billion is attributed to the still-emerging Southeast Asian market. With a sizeable 600 million population in Southeast Asia, A Better Florist plans to expand to neighbouring countries after firming its foundations in Singapore.

Opportunity for disruption

Online florists are riddled with problems, including exorbitant prices, stale products and a dizzying array of boutiques and arrangements. A Better Florist plans to disrupt the online floral market by introducing giving and receiving flowers as a simple, affordable and beautiful experience. Leveraging on Steven’s expertise in data analytics, A Better Florist is equipped with a just-in-time inventory management system that ensures quick delivery of fresh flowers sourced from sustainable farms in Cameron Highlands. Customers simply choose from its boutique selection of only 7, indicate the delivery time/place and add a quick note. A Better Florist delivers within 90 minutes and confirms the order with a personalised photo (check out its Instagram account here). Prices are also comparatively cheaper due to a complete cut-out of greedy middlemen shrinking profit margins.

Research question: How can we increase A Better Florist’s engagement with the community through leveraging on social media platforms?

In the business of selling products with strong emotional values, we believe that active community engagement is a key success driver. In addition, close engagement with the wide community allows A Better Florist to increase involvement of its existing target customers and discover growth opportunities by tapping on new customer segments.

Despite its enticing value proposition, A Better Florist has yet to fully utilise social media platforms to engage with the community. This can be induced from a quick glance of the contents on its Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest accounts, which are largely undifferentiated from competitors’. As such, we aim to propose social media content strategies that will improve A Better Florist’s brand awareness and perception, provide A Better Florist and its customers with an effective feedback loop and increase the retailer’s social media following significantly. Further research will be done through surveys, focus groups, interviews and an evaluation of the engagement and reach of selected current social media platforms.

Cheers,

Annabella Tan | Dorab Baria | Francesca Ooi | Melissa Mak | Sandra Teng