THE dawn of the internet has meant there are now three ways to arrange a delivery for that special or sad occasion from a Manchester florist - by phone, over the internet or in person.

Interflora is still one of the biggest names in the business and has utilised the internet's powers by creating a website, which links up all of the shops that use its service so when an order is placed in Manchester for a flower delivery, it turns to the florist nearest the required destination to provide the product and then make that delivery.

A number of other companies have also seen the value of such a service so now the likes of Tesco and Marks and Spencer's have entered the online market to provide healthy competition to Interflora.

Of course, there is still nothing like the personal touch and a number of customers still prefer to call, or better still, pop into their local Manchester florist and find out more about/inspect the goods themselves before purchasing them.

As well as the rise of the internet the increasing popularity of buying flowers from the supermarket, often much better value for money than from a florist, is also another option.

But when the occasion arises many still prefer to use their local Manchester florist via the phone, internet or in person to arrange that special birthday, anniversary or memorial delivery.

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Uprooted florist plans rosey future

GRAHAM Heap's Manchester city centre flower shop is in full bloom as it celebrates its centenary in new premises.

Dingleys Florists was based on Oxford Road for virtually its entire history until it was forced to move just weeks ago because of a refurbishment programme.

Now Graham, aged 40, is planning a rosy future for the business on Brazennose Street, near Manchester Town Hall.

The shop was founded in July 1901 by florist and fruiterer William Dingley. It changed hands several times before Graham's father Geoffrey bought it in 1959, and his son took over seven years ago.

Before then, married father of three Graham, of Knutsford, served in the Royal Navy for seven years after qualifying as a nuclear engineer, and spent a year selling double glazing door-to-door.

Today the business employs 10 staff and turns over £400,000. About a third of its income comes from contract work - supplying flowers and plants for offices.

A significant proportion of Dingleys business also comes from Manchester's Chinatown district, supplying restaurants, family funerals and weddings.

When Graham took over, Dingleys had shops - some loss-making - in towns around Greater Manchester, in Cheshire and on the Wirral. He decided to shut them and concentrate on the city centre operation. As a result, turnover has grown by about 15 per cent a year.

Now he is planning to expand again, probably by opening a branch in Liverpool. Dingleys is used to unusual requests - a casino once ordered a wreath shaped like a roulette wheel for one of its biggest punters, while a driver's family ordered one shaped like a truck, 4ft long and 2ft tall.

''We also get asked to pop engagement rings inside a flower arrangement which contains a marriage proposal,'' said Graham.

Virtual world growing profits

David Thame
 
FLOWERS: Russell Hirst

THE virtual world is making real profits for Manchester's e-businesses. The dotcom bubble may have burst, but the north west's entrepreneurs are still finding plenty of ways to make money from the internet.

From florists to marketing agencies, new retailing ideas are finding cyberspace a successful environment in which to grow.

Manchester-based Valueflora.com was launched in 2003 as a supplier of low-cost, high- quality flowers, and now boasts more than 30,000 loyal customers.

Being online and dispatching direct from the growers allows Valueflora.com to be ultra-competitive when it comes to price, says the company.

It currently supplies flowers to 120 countries.

Valueflora owner Russell Hirst started his first internet business in 2000, aged just 17. Today the company has a growth rate of 725 per cent.

Simple

"It sounds simple actually," he said. "We've always offered exactly what our customers want - fantastic flowers at the lowest prices. Therefore, we've always had a winning foundation and we're constantly evolving.

"We're always improving, always looking at what else we can do to make the business better, and that's why we've seen such strong growth over the past three years.

"I've learned from my past experience after the dotcom bubble burst exactly what can go wrong with this kind of business, so for this brand we're actually set up as a flower delivery company first and a dotcom second. That has made all the difference to us, both from an operational perspective and as a direct result on our sales."

Salford-born Jason Zemmel, 35, is behind an internet perfume business now reporting annual growth of around 35 per cent.

A pharmacist by training, Mr Zemmel weathered the 2000 dotcom crash to create Altrincham-based website halfpriceperfumes.co.uk.

The site served its millionth customer in 2004, and has more than 60,000 regular customers throughout the world, 22 staff, and sales topping £1m. He is now branching out into the corporate gifts market, also online.

"Working via the internet not only improves the efficiency of our relationships with customers, it has also revolutionised our buying power, and made purchasing in Italy or Germany as easy as purchasing from UK suppliers," said Mr Zemmel.

"Despite being an SME working from a Manchester suburb, we have direct access to worldwide markets via the internet. That means we have access to better-priced products from companies which are often more progressive than those in the UK. As a result, we get shipments quicker from Germany than from the UK.

Access

"We also have access to a worldwide consumer base, and our ability to retail 24 hours a day means we have as many customers in Australia as in Altrincham."

Mr Hirst and Mr Zemmel are not alone in making the most of the internet.

Digital communications agency Code was set up five years ago by three friends - Tony Foggett, Wini Tse and Louis Georgiou. The company now employs 30 people and clients include the Victoria and Albert Museum, nappy giant Huggies and booksellers Waterstone. Turnover last year was £1.8m. Managing director Tony said: "The primary reason Code has grown is because the internet has grown and we have responded effectively to that need.

"Our clients have gone from asking us to design a brochure site to wanting us to teach them how their website can be integral to their business, whether this be acting as a primary sales channel or incorporating key business processes into the site and in doing so, saving costs.

"Everyone at Code loves online and what we do - that is integral to the agency's success.

"These days clients demand a lot from the internet and we're confident that, whatever the objective, we can help them achieve it."

Flower show is off the wall

SPRING may be well on its way, but in the heart of Manchester it's being given a helping hand by a team of artists who have decorated a wall with a stunning array of flowers.

The colourful artwork, in the heart of Piccadilly Gardens, features 25,000 fresh pink flowers and has been mounted on the garden's curved wall in the shape of three enormous flowers.

Called Wall Flowers, the creation - which features roses, gerbera, trailing amaranthus, carnations, oriental lilies and dyed pink eucalyptus - has been designed to launch the Manchester International Arts Spring to Summer programme.

Stunning

It will be the centrepiece for Manchester in Bloom and has already been stunning passers-by and visitors to the city, who have been struck by the sight and the scent of so many flowers. The vibrant display has been put together by local artist Jo Vickers and an army of volunteers.

Anne Tucker, of Manchester International Artists, said: "Jo Vickers has developed all sorts of fascinating ways to work with flowers, so we were really keen to work with her on Manchester's first event of the season."

Today Piccadilly Gardens was also set to host a Chinese Flower Workshop and over the weekend an organic market and flower market.

£4.6m for NW Romeo abd Juliets

MANCHESTER'S lovesick romantics will lavish £1.6m on saying it with flowers on St Valentine's Day.

And another £2.35m will be spent on wining and dining, followed by a Bridget Jones-style night of passion in a love nest hotel.

Yorkshire Bank has been sounding out the intentions of Manchester's would-be Romeos and Juliets and discovered that a total of £4.6m will be spent on love tokens ranging from boxes of chocolates to items of jewellery.

"We undertook the research to see how much people were planning on splashing out on their loved ones this Valentines Day and we were amazed to see how much people in Manchester spend on flowers for just one day," said Yorkshire Bank's Alexander Wright.

"I think we can safely say that, while they may not almost show it, when it comes to the big day, Manchester is definitely full of romantics."

Egg, the Prudential's online bank, has also been researching the amorous intentions of Mancunians for Valentine's Day and has discovered that many feel cash can buy you love. "Our findings show that when it comes to dating, the colour of money speaks volumes," said Egg's Nick Cross.

"It seems that at the moment, people are happy to go out and get what they want from life - and if that means paying for it, then they will."

Crusade to save woodland flora

THE RACE is on to save the region's vanishing woodland wild flowers.

Red Rose Forest, Greater Manchester's community forest organisation, is working to establish and preserve colonies of flowers under threat.

Research shows that about 10 species are being lost from each county in the north west every 10 years.

And a spokesman for Red Rose Forest said: ''We are aiming to nurture and preserve what we have left.''

The flowers are disappearing because of changes in land use and land development. Although tree-planting to set up new areas of woodland can help bring new wildlife habitats, woodland ecosystems require more than just trees to reach their full potential.

The project will enhance new woodlands as a natural feature capable of supporting fauna including butterflies.

Ancient woodlands are the origin of many of the area's many beautiful flowers, which have been able to replenish themselves for centuries.

But newly planted woodlands need help to prevent them from becoming bogged down with weeds. Twelve community forests in England are taking part in the wild flowers project and each has been awarded cash over four years by local heritage initiative.

The forests cover an area of nearly 1,200,000 acres. Among the flowers in the programme are the bellflower species, the foxglove, red campion, hedge mustard, hedge parsley and the native British bluebell.

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