Tributes.com and 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Launch Integrated Online Sympathy Floral Program for Funeral Homes
BOSTON, MA – October 24, 2011 – Tributes.com, the online resource for local and national obituary news, has teamed with longstanding floral partner 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLWS), the world’s leading florist and gift shop, to launch a new online floral program for Tributes.com Premier funeral home partners. Customized 1-800-FLOWERS.COM sympathy floral shops can now be seamlessly integrated into the online obituaries and websites of funeral homes, where flower purchases are prepared and delivered exclusively through 1-800-FLOWERS.COM.
The 1-800-FLOWERS.COM online floral shops featured by participating funeral homes will offer an extensive variety of sympathy floral arrangements and gifts at a wide range of price points to fit any occasion; including hand-designed floral gifts arranged from the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM network of florists. In addition, each 1-800-FLOWERS.COM online floral shop will be co-branded, featuring the contact information for participating funeral homes.
“At 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, we have spent the last few years expanding our focus and resources in the Sympathy and AfterCare areas to better serve the funeral service profession, including the formation of the Expressing Sympathy Advisory Council,” says Jim McCann, CEO and Founder 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. “We are excited to further extend our relationship with Tributes.com into the funeral home channel to offer an integrated online sympathy floral program.”
1-800-FLOWERS.COM has served as Tributes’ exclusive floral provider since the launch of the highly visited obituary news site in September 2008 and powers the Tributes.com Flower Shop.
“A core mission of Tributes is to help our funeral home partners leverage their online presence and in particular their online obituary programs as a way to deliver a new generation of products to their families while simultaneously driving new revenue streams, traffic, brand awareness and leads,” said Elaine Haney, President, Tributes.com. “Floral and sympathy gift sales represent an important new business opportunity for funeral homes as their obituaries gain wider visibility across the Internet on their websites, on Tributes.com and on the Tributes.com Obituary Distribution Network, and we are happy to be able to team with 1-800-FLOWERS.COM to enable them to begin to take full advantage of that opportunity with a leading and reliable provider of the highest quality merchandise.”
For more details about the new program please visit http://www.tributes.com/sales.
About Tributes.com
Tributes.com is the online resource for current local and national obituary news, lasting personal tributes and online community providing support during times of loss and grieving. Through one centralized national web destination, with over 90 million current and historical death records dating back to the 1930s, Tributes has made obituary and online memorial service information easily accessible so people can come together online and offline to remember and share the treasured stories of the important people in their lives who have passed away. Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor officially launched Tributes.com in the fall of 2008 and in 3 short years the site has experienced rapid growth, and is now relied on by thousands of funeral homes and 2M unique consumers each month to publish and locate obituary news. For more information about Tributes.com, please visit our website at http://www.tributes.com or contact us at media@tributes.com.
About 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.
1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. is the world’s leading florist and gift shop. For more than 35 years, 1-800-FLOWERS (1-800-356-9377 or www.1800flowers.com) has been helping deliver smiles for our customers with gifts for every occasion, including fresh flowers and the finest selection of plants, gift baskets, gourmet foods, confections, candles, balloons and plush stuffed animals. As always, our 100% Smile Guarantee backs every gift. The 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Mobile Flower & Gift Center was named winner of the 2010 “Best Mobile App for E-commerce” by DPAC (Digiday’s Publishing & Advertising Awards) and the 2010 Mobile App of the Year Award in the “Best Shopping” category by RIS (Retail Info Systems). 1-800-FLOWERS.COM was also rated number one vs. competitors for customer service by STELLAService and named by the E-Tailing Group as one of only nine online retailers out of 100 benchmarked to meet the criteria for Excellence in Online Customer Service. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has been honored in Internet Retailer’s “Hot 100: America’s Best Retail Web Sites” for 2011 and was one of only five retailers to receive the 2011 Customer Innovation Award from Avaya for transforming the business through innovative use of business communications and collaboration technologies. The Company’s BloomNet international floral wire service (www.mybloomnet.net) provides a broad range of quality products and value-added services designed to help professional florists grow their businesses profitably. The 1-800-FLOWERS.COM “Gift Shop” also includes gourmet gifts such as popcorn and specialty treats from The Popcorn Factory (1-800-541-2676 or www.thepopcornfactory.com); cookies and baked gifts from Cheryl’s (1-800-443-8124 or www.cheryls.com); premium chocolates and confections from Fannie May confections brands (www.fanniemay.com and www.harrylondon.com); gift baskets and towers from 1-800-Baskets.com (www.1800baskets.com); and wine gifts from Winetasting.com (www.winetasting.com). The Company’s Celebrations brand (www.celebrations.com) is a leading online destination for fabulous party ideas and planning tips and FineStationery.com (www.finestationery.com) is the premier site for unique, customizable invitations, announcements and greeting cards. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. is involved in a broad range of corporate social responsibility initiatives including continuous expansion and enhancement of its environmentally-friendly “green” programs as well as various philanthropic and charitable efforts. Shares in 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, ticker symbol: FLWS.
