Florist ordered to pay $1 million for misleading online star ratings

[Orlando Sydney]

FYI - This was recently listed by our ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission)

Online florist ordered to pay $1 million for misleading online star ratings and price representations

The Federal Court has today ordered Bloomex to pay $1 million in penalties after the online florist and gift retailer admitted that it had breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false and misleading representations on its website.

www.accc.gov.au

“Misleading online reviews and star ratings are an issue of significant concern to us because they can influence consumers into purchasing from a business, when they would not otherwise have done so,” Ms Carver said.
Bloomex had displayed products for sale on its website between February 2019 and March 2023 with a ‘star rating’ that remained static since January 2015, and included customer reviews for products prepared and delivered outside Australia, as well as ratings from people who may not have been Bloomex customers."


And another florist;

Business saying they are local businesses when they are not.

"Florists remove misleading 'local business' representations from web pages"

In December 2022, United Florists Pty Ltd trading as Lily’s Florist and Elysium Marketing Pty Ltd, provided the ACCC with a court-enforceable undertaking in relation to misleading representations that Lily’s Florist was a local florist. In addition, florist Fig & Bloom Pty Ltd has removed potentially misleading representations from 940 web pages that may have given the impression that it was a local business in a specific suburb.

In May 2023, the ACCC instituted proceedings against Meg’s Flowers Pty Ltd for allegedly making false and misleading representations that it was a local florist.

 

[GoLocal]

Wow! Thanks for sharing, this is interesting.

 

[Orlando Sydney]

Wow! Thanks for sharing, this is interesting.

Cool. I haven't seen too many times when a Federal Court passes this type of judgement.

Misrepresenting the star ratings can get expensive.
And if I understood it correctly the other business had local area pages when they didn't have an actual business there. And were an overseas supplier. Hopefully I haven't read it wrongly.

 

[GoLocal]

Cool. I haven't seen too many times when a Federal Court passes this type of judgement.

Misrepresenting the star ratings can get expensive.
And if I understood it correctly the other business had local area pages when they didn't have an actual business there. And were an overseas supplier. Hopefully I haven't read it wrongly.

I once did some work in that space here in Canada, FTD, Bloomex, etc. Incredibly spammy and anti-competitive for sure. One of the worst industries for that, very few independents left. Every Mother's Day I make sure to call the same small neighborhood shop directly and order by phone.

 

[Orlando Sydney]

I once did some work in that space here in Canada, FTD, Bloomex, etc. Incredibly spammy and anti-competitive for sure. One of the worst industries for that, very few independents left. Every Mother's Day I make sure to call the same small neighborhood shop directly and order by phone.

Now that's interesting.

Last century I had a florist shop above a busy railway station, all local foot traffic sales. No internet, websites and ranking jungle to foraged through.

Good for you supporting your local neighbourhood store. I bet it means a lot to them.

 

[GoLocal]

Most shops used to be like that. The work I did was for a middle level player, someone in between FTD and the shop owner/operators. They buy/recruit stores, keep the managers, and add the FTD ordering system. In Canada if you go to any floral website and click on order you get one of two pages, I believe it's FTD vs Bloomex but I could be wrong. Complete monopoly.

The tactics they use to keep it that way are up for question, and probably non-beneficial for consumers or store owners — but that's the playing field. I have no idea who runs FTD/Bloomex but if you look into it I would wager there's some kooky lawsuits and century+plus old anti-competitive stuff, the level of monopoly here is staggering. Never seen anything like it.

 

[Orlando Sydney]

Most shops used to be like that. The work I did was for a middle level player, someone in between FTD and the shop owner/operators. They buy/recruit stores, keep the managers, and add the FTD ordering system. In Canada if you go to any floral website and click on order you get one of two pages, I believe it's FTD vs Bloomex but I could be wrong. Complete monopoly.

The tactics they use to keep it that way are up for question, and probably non-beneficial for consumers or store owners — but that's the playing field. I have no idea who runs FTD/Bloomex but if you look into it I would wager there's some kooky lawsuits and century+plus old anti-competitive stuff, the level of monopoly here is staggering. Never seen anything like it.

Wow.
We used to use Interflora back in the day. Looks like not all is rosy in that sector

 

[GoLocal]

Indeed. Just took a quick glance at the Wiki, sounds about right.

Lawsuits​

FTD had obtained a near-monopoly position in its market. It has been sued several times by the United States Department of Justice to ensure it does not engage in non-competitive behavior, namely prohibiting members from affiliating with competing flowers-by-wire services.

 

[Orlando Sydney]

Indeed. Just took a quick glance at the Wiki, sounds about right.

Lawsuits​

FTD had obtained a near-monopoly position in its market. It has been sued several times by the United States Department of Justice to ensure it does not engage in non-competitive behavior, namely prohibiting members from affiliating with competing flowers-by-wire services.

Good to see my Government Dept. and yours trying to keep them in check.

Would be great if our Govs could do the same for other online monopolies.