The largest wire services are FTD and Teleflora. They have been around for almost 100 years and have over 30,000 florists in their networks. In recent years they have focused more and more on using the Internet for their marketing and business infrastructure.

For most consumers, wire services are the best way to order flowers. They are very reliable and in independent tests, flowers ordered through wire services were of the highest quality. Local florists are going to make sure that wire service orders are correctly filled. The reason? Florists with too many complaints are dropped from the wire service's network. This is a disaster for most local florists, so they avoid it at all costs.

While local florists often complain about the fees charged by these wire services, the modern floral business wouldn't exist without them. After all, FTD was the service that first made it possible to reliably order flowers in California for delivery in Australia.

The conflict between florists and wire services is the source of a good deal of controversy in the floral business. It might seem strange that there is conflict between the two groups because they clearly need each other. However, the fees charged by wire services are a substantial part of the price consumers pay for the finished product.

Some florists argue that the wire services don't do enough to earn their fees. Of course, the wire services say they do plenty. The real source of the conflict is the changing market.

Until recently, fees that a given local florist paid to the wire service for orders received through the service were offset by commissions the florist received when they took an order to be filled by a florist in a different location. So long as consumers ordered through local florists most of the time it was a wash for florists.

Since the Internet has become so popular for ordering flowers, fewer consumers order from local florists and more order through the wire service web sites. The result has been that even though sales of flowers are up the number of local florists has decreased significantly.

The bottom line for consumers is that you can save some money by ordering directly from a local florist. However, you get what you pay for and wire services provide consumers with convenience, quality assurance and standards. Even if you are ordering directly from a local florist, make sure they are affiliated with a major wire service!

Wire services provide consumers with:

• The most convenient way to buy flowers and have them delivered
• A reliable way to order flowers for delivery almost anywhere in the world
• Style guides to standardize arrangements and prices
• Quality assurance for the quality of floral arrangements and delivery reliability
• A procedure to resolve problems with delivery or the floral arrangement itself

Wire services provide florists with:

• A majority of orders nationwide
• Marketing services
• Training and standardization
• A clearinghouse service where florists who take orders and the florists who fulfill orders are both compensated
• Quality assurance and certification

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