How an insight helped Bloomon bloom.
I am a big fan of the company Bloomon. And happily, it seems that many, many other people are fans of this Dutch online flower delivery company too. Since launching in the Netherlands in 2014, Bloomon has gone on to launch operations in the UK and in Germany and has made no secret of its ambitious targets. You could say, business appears to be blooming.
Now, I have no connection to Bloomon whatsoever. But I am a curious Marketer and a loyal Bloomon customer, which got me thinking. What is secret of their success? How has Bloomon built a brand and an army of ambassadors in a relatively short space of time? Especially given that the Netherlands is already a nation renowned for its flower selling.
Now Bloomon might have us believe (if you read their website) that their success is down to the fact that they are “revolutionising” the flower business, “designing a brand new supply chain from the ground up.” I am sure that this is true, but I don’t think that is the reason why consumers love Bloomon. Nor do I think their success has anything to do with price, quality or convenience, even though Bloomon excels at all three. All this might answer how they are successful, but it doesn’t answer why.
I believe the reason Bloomon is winning, is simply that they have done a brilliant job of tapping into a genuine consumer insight.
In their story, Bloomon talks a lot about happiness. Sure, getting flowers makes us happy. But there is more to it than that. Bloomon also talks about “an experience” and “surprise.” And this is where things get really interesting. Bloomon has managed to recreate the exhilarating feeling of unexpectedly receiving flowers - even though you have sent the flowers to yourself. Imagine that!
So, today is Thursday. I got a text message yesterday to remind me that my Bloomon flowers will be delivered today and I will get a follow up text later today to tell me what time they will arrive. I also pay for these flowers myself. So basically, I am fully aware that these flowers will arrive. It’s not a surprise.
And yet it is a surprise.
I get my Bloomon flowers delivered every two weeks. Every single time I am genuinely excited to see what flowers I have “received”, because, the clever bit, is that you have no idea what you will actually get. Just like when someone sends you flowers, Bloomon surprises you with different flowers every time. It helps that their flowers are gorgeous of course, but I think getting the same gorgeous flowers every week wouldn’t have the same impact. It’s the element of surprise that gives you the same powerful feeling you get when you receive flowers unexpectedly. It’s the element of surprise that keeps us hooked.
As a Marketer whose company is passionate about insight-driven Marketing, it’s great to see success stories like this. Bravo Bloomon for creating a brand built on such a powerful consumer insight.
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