Relay Company Florist Shops in Ireland

Interflora is a flower relay company that began in the USA almost one hundred years ago when just two florists got together and agreed to co-operate via the telegraph system. In the 1920's the concept of florists co-operating in the filling of each others' long distance orders had taken hold in the UK. In the 1950's the name Interflora had be settled upon and the first florists in Ireland had joined the now international network.

The flower relay concept is based upon the fact that elaborate flower arrangements do not travel well via conventional post or courier methods and it is not financially practical for flower shops to deliver over long distances. The answer was for a florist to accept an order locally and to relay the order electronically to a florist outlet near the end-recipient.

For example, John from Maynooth who is dating Carol in Tallaght, wants to send her flowers for her birthday. He doesn't know the number of any florists in Tallaght so he goes into his local Maynooth florist at 10am and places his order to have a flower arrangement to be delivered to Carol in Tallaght. The Maynooth florist enters the order into the relay company's electronic relay system. The system identifies an member florist near Carol's address in Tallaght. The Tallaght florist then receives the order via the same electronic system and ultimately delivers a beautiful flower bouquet to Carol that afternoon.

The Maynooth florist takes the full payment from John and retains a portion for accepting and relaying the order. The relay company receives a small portion of the payment as an intermediary or brokers fee. The bulk of the fee ultimately goes to the Tallaght flower shop as it was the florist that actually fulfilled the order.

Interflora is Ireland's largest flower relay network and has outlets throughout the island of Ireland.

List of Relay Company Florists in Ireland