1-800-Flowers announces record breaking Mother's Day sales; Internet and online transactions up more than 300% over last year; More than one million calls serviced by nation's largest florist.

WESTBURY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 1996--1-800-FLOWERS today reported that its Mother's Day sales increased 31% from the previous year.

The nation's largest florist reported a record one million phone calls over the week leading into Mother's Day, the busiest holiday of the year for the floral industry. Jim McCann, founder and president of 1-800-FLOWERS, said that sales and order volume was up across all three of the company's sales platforms - retail stores, telephone and interactive - but pointed to a remarkable 314% increase in interactive sales over last year as evidence of the ongoing explosion of consumer interest in interactive retailing. Overall, the Mother's Day sales period accounts for approximately 16% of 1-800-FLOWERS yearly revenue.

"It's our best Mother's Day ever," said McCann, "because we're fortunate enough to be positioned to benefit from significant shifts in consumer behavior that we're seeing in the marketplace. Not only are our sales and order volume up, but we're seeing a greater number of multiple transactions per call, and this incredible boom in interactive purchases is nothing short of astounding."

The Mother's Day sales period began one week before the holiday and will run until three days after. For 1996, the average order was priced at $44.50 and the typical order was for a fresh flower arrangement, most often in a basket as opposed to a vase.

McCann cited a number of broader trends as contributing to the growing importance of Mother's Day to his business and the floral industry as a whole.

"This year we saw a marked increase in the number of calls that resulted in more than one order," said McCann. "In fact, 28% of calls resulted in two separate orders, while calls that resulted in four or more separate orders accounted for 5% of the total. That tells us that we're seeing more and more customers with `multiple mothers' in their lives."

McCann observed that as the baby boom population age, there are more multiple mother relationships, whether it be a scenario where a couple with children has two mothers-in-law, or increasingly, older parents seeing their children enter the ranks of parenthood and having two or more generations of mothers in one family. The aging population means that there are more families with living grandmothers, as well as increasing step-mother/step-child relationships, all of which indicate that the world of Mother's Day gift recipients continues to grow to the benefit of the floral and gifting industries.

In addition to these sorts of trends, McCann noted that more orders are being placed earlier than in previous years. There seems to be less focus on the actual Sunday, which is Mother's Day, with orders being delivered throughout the week.

"And we're seeing a growing number of orders being delivered to the work place for working mothers," said McCann. "Whether that is because the ranks of working mothers continue to grow, or because it is increasingly acceptable to celebrate Motherhood in the workplace, the fact is that the number of deliveries to offices in particular continues to go up."

Customers can purchase 1-800-FLOWERS products by visiting one of the company's retail stores, calling 1-800-FLOWERS (1-800-356-9377) 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, or via the Internet (http:\\www.800flowers.com), American Online (keyword: flowers) and CompuServe (GO: FRESH). 1-800-FLOWERS is the world's largest florist and the florist to guarantee the freshness of its floral arrangements for one week.

CONTACT: DeVries Public Relations 

Bill Reihl, 212/891-0494

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