Morrisons flowers

Morrisons hopes to make its new online flower delivery service the largest in the UK

Morrisons has launched an online flower delivery service in a bid to take a larger slice of the UK’s £2.3bn cut flower and indoor plant market.

Using methods such as cryogenic cooling and a “flower gym”, Morrisons hopes its new premium site flowerworld.co.uk will make it the largest florist in the UK.

The site offers hand-tied bouquets from a starting price of £19 and free delivery on every order.

This marks the first time Morrisons has taken its Flowerworld business online. The supermarket acquired the independent business - which has 17.5 acres, 400 florists and orders of up to 900,000 bouquets a week - in 2011 and its bouquets are available in 491 Morrisons stores.

In its new online offering, Flowerworld will pick and ship all flowers in under 36 hours and adhere to rigorous quality measures.

The company will stress test a small sample of every batch in air conditioning chambers known as a “flower gym” to ensure it uses the most robust blooms, and feed the flowers “sophisticated diets” to ensure they survive for the maximum time possible.

Flowers that can only be grown overseas will be cooled in a state of “sleep” during transit - in temperatures of just below 6C - and warmed on arrival to ensure freshness.

The NFU estimates British-grown varieties account for £2.3bn of the cut flower and indoor plant market.

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