BusinessMay 5, 2021
1-800-Flowers.Com stock surges with growth in personalized gifts and e-commerce
Retail Pivot
Victor Lei
Discover
1-800-Flowers.Com has a name you’d expect from the 80s. But don’t let that fool you, there’s no florist as technologically advanced as the 39-year-old retailer. (1-800-Flowers.Com stock)
1-800-Flowers, one of the largest flower retailers, is an example of a company that has successfully pivoted to e-commerce. It’s also excelling at product innovation with AI chat support, virtual shopping assistants and more:
But others haven’t been as lucky with their e-commerce transition, competitors like FTD failed and filed for bankruptcy in 2019 — with competition from Amazon and other retailers to blame.
On April 29, 1-800-Flowers reported a 70% sales growth in the first quarter of 2021:
Innovation ✔️ Growth ✔️ But there’s just one problem…
After experiencing rapid growth from 2010-2018, growth in the $5.1b US online flower shops industry stagnated over the past couple of years.
1-800-Flowers’ solution has been to expand beyond its namesake product, flowers:
With new product developments, growth finally picked up in 2019 after several years of flat/declining sales.
… A reasonably priced stock. While 1-800-Flowers is up 24% in the past month, its stock is still reasonably valued at a 17x P/E multiple and 1x P/S multiple.
But 1-800-Flowers could also find itself fending off competitors like Amazon, which’s taking on nearly every e-commerce category (except personalized gifts… For now) and Etsy, which has become one of the largest marketplaces for gifting needs.
To all the investing savvy moms, have a Happy (early) Mothers Day.
