Florafax Announces Gerald Stevens Completes Acquisition of FlowerLink.com.

VERO BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 1999--

Becomes Leading Internet Floral Company

Florafax International, Inc. (NASDAQ: FIIF), a leading flowers-by-wire provider, announced today that Gerald Stevens, Inc., a privately-held retailer and marketer of flowers, floral-related merchandise and gifts based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with which Florafax has agreed to merge, has completed its acquisition of Internet Services, LP, the parent company of FlowerLink (www.flowerlink.com), a leading Internet commerce site for flowers. No terms of the transaction were announced.

The acquisition allows Gerald Stevens to serve floral consumers across the country by giving them direct access over the web to nearly 1,000 florists covering nearly the entire U.S. FlowerLink is one of the oldest internet floral services, having been started 4 years ago. With limited marketing and advertising, FlowerLink's orders for the first six weeks of 1999 were up almost 60% over the same period in 1998; orders for Valentine's week were up more than 100% over last year.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gerry Geddis, President of Gerald Stevens, said, "FlowerLink is the equivalent of an online Yellow Pages for floral shops. It makes ordering flowers for anyone, anywhere, very simple. The key to its success as an Internet floral company, however, is the quality of its member florists. We look forward to greatly expanding this business and becoming a dominant online floral and gift retailer. The growth in order volume we will achieve in our Internet operations will benefit the members of the Florafax wire service and all of our other wire service partners."

At FlowerLink, customers can order flowers for delivery nationwide from the member florist of their choice. A visitor to FlowerLink merely enters the City, State or Zip Code of the person to whom he or she wishes to send flowers and is presented with a list of florists available in the recipient's hometown. The consumer is then able to view the product offering and prices of each local florist and place the order directly with that florist on the web site. In addition to a large selection of standard arrangements, member florists typically offer their own custom arrangements.

Unlike traditional floral ordering, FlowerLink allows consumers to see the product they are sending in living color, track the status of their order and read one of more than 75 flower and plant care tips written by floral industry experts. FlowerLink also offers a free reminder service to consumers. This service notifies customers of any special event (birthdays, anniversaries, graduation dates, etc.) he or she chooses to enter into the FlowerLink database. As an additional service, FlowerLink covers each order with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Many internet floral companies do not offer a choice of local delivery by professional florists. They fill orders by shipping loose flowers via overnight mail, requiring the recipient to unpack the box and arrange the flowers in a vase or other container. Same day delivery is not an option for consumers of a number of these internet floral services. FlowerLink, on the other hand, gives the internet consumer the ability to shop at the local flower shop and have talented designers arrange and deliver the product directly to the recipient. It is the same-day delivery option and the quality of professional design by the member florist of choice that distinguishes FlowerLink from its on-line competitors.

Order processing and customer service are handled easily and securely by FlowerLink's internet processing technology. However, should customers wish to speak directly with a FlowerLink representative, they can call FlowerLink directly at 1-800-GO-2-LINK and speak with a floral expert.

FlowerLink is also a turnkey e-commerce solution for florists, with FlowerLink providing all the services necessary for a florist to do business on the internet. Florists submit information on their product offerings, pricing, logos, and delivery areas to FlowerLink's web design team. This team then creates and maintains the florist's internet site for free. Florists have the flexibility to promote as many of their own products as they want and can change both pricing and selections throughout the year. There is no membership fee for florists to join FlowerLink. In fact, florists are paid by FlowerLink for each sale generated on their site.

From a marketing perspective, FlowerLink member florists benefit from FlowerLink's national advertising and promotional efforts. FlowerLink is regularly engaged in sweepstakes, contests and promotions. It is also a frequent purchaser of banner ads on many of the major internet portals, including Yahoo!, Netscape and Lycos. FlowerLink plans to aggressively expand its marketing efforts in 1999. Florists also have ability to, and frequently do, advertise their own URL, or internet address in their markets, to direct local consumers directly to their web site.

Florists interested in joining the service should call 1-800-605-4651 or e-mail FlowerLink at [e-mail].

FlowerLink was launched in May 1995 by Royer's Flowers, one of the country's largest florists and a member of the Gerald Stevens family of florists, and is part of the operations of Internet Services, L.P. On October 1, 1998, Gerald Stevens acquired a 49% limited partnership interest in Internet Services, in connection with its purchase of Flower Franchising, Inc., the owner of Royer's Flower Shops.

In addition to operating FlowerLink, Internet Services provides Internet access to over 2,800 customers in Central and Eastern Pennsylvania. This ISP is among the largest internet service providers in the region. Gerald Stevens intends to continue to expand its subscriber base in 1999.

Gerald Stevens is a leading retailer and marketer of flowers and floral related merchandise and gifts. The Company currently owns 94 stores in 13 markets in the U.S., including 62 free-standing retail florists and 32 supermarket locations.

Florafax International, Inc., is principally engaged in the business of generating floral orders from consumers and providing floral placement services to retail florists. The company's wholly-owned subsidiary, The Flower Club, forms mutually-beneficial corporate partnerships with nationally recognized companies to market flowers and gifts directly to customers. Florafax's internet operation, Flowerclub.com (www.flowerclub.com), allows customers to make purchases directly on the internet and earn frequent flyer miles with Alaska Airlines, America West Airlines, Aviators TWA, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Northwest, and USAirways. Flowerclub.com's sales for the first six weeks of 1999 were up over 300% over the same period in 1998; orders for Valentine's week were up 225% over last year. Florafax is the fourth largest flowers-by-wire provider in the U.S., serving more than 5,300 member florists in all 50 states, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is also a third party processor of credit cards. Florafax expects its merger with Gerald Stevens to be completed in late March, 1999.