John Lewis Flower Review

Review of valentines flowers ordered online from John Lewis

This is a smart looking website; exuding quiet classiness with simple dark grey wordings. The pictures are realistic and of good quality. I like the ‘show all’ option which allows you to scan all the selection at once within the category you have chosen. To see a larger picture, all you have to do is to double click on it.

It is clearly laid out, making it easy to buy from. You can choose the flowers by occasion (eg. anniversary, birthday, get well, new baby, romance etc.), by price range or if you like, just click on the ‘view all flowers’ and you can view all 49 selections on the same page. Simply scroll up or down to suit; easy! I give it a score of 4/5.

For the ethically-minded customers, they do offer ‘Fairtrade’ flowers (9 options to choose from with prices starting at £20).

Within their Valentine’s Day flowers, there are 20 options. At a starting price of only £18, you will be able to send your beloved 18 mixed tulips in various shades of glorious reds and pinks (delivery by post). Then there is the more extravagant option of 12 Grand Prix roses bouquet (complete with foliage) combined with a bottle of exclusive Waitrose champagne and a pair of champagne flutes which will set you back £95. I rather like the cute appeal of its ‘Bear Hug Dozen’ (12 red Kenyan roses complete with foliage, vase and bear) at only £45.

There are many add-on options to choose from to complete your gift. Anything from a vase (£7), bear (£7), chocolates (£7 or £12.50) or champagne (£11 for half bottle, £18.50 for 75cl). Included in the price is next day delivery via courier. Message option is to type your own.

I ordered the ‘Rose & Lily’ bouquet for £35 on 23 Jan 08. At 10.30am on 24 Jan 08 a Citylink van turned up with my delivery. The bouquet was wrapped in a clear John Lewis cellophane and packaged within a sturdy stand-up box. The stems were kept moist in a cleverly padded water-proofed plastic bag tied with a nice dark green John Lewis ribbon. As well as the obligatory packet of flower food, there was also a vase cleaner tablet; a really helpful idea and one that I had not encountered before.

I received 6 stems of Oriental lilies, 4 stems of red spray roses and 4 stems of pink spray roses. The flowers appeared a bit limp and tired-looking (not unlike some old stalks of celery kept too long in the fridge) although all the lilies were still in bud. I also found some damages to the stems of spray roses once I began to unwrap it.

The message was printed on a postcard size card, folded over, with a lovely picture of tulips on the front. Since putting the display into a vase, the flowers have all blossomed marvellously. The fragrance of the Oriental lilies are quite stunning.

In my personal opinion, the bouquet could have done with some extra stems of greenery to help lift it to a higher level of presentation and achieve the desired ‘wow’, however overall an excellent performance from a trusted high street name.

 

 

	Website & Ordering	Delivery	Romance & WOW factor	Overall
	The best we found. Excellent photographs	Great attention to detail	Classy and beautifully arranged	A truly delightful experience
	Quick and easy to use	Arrived on time and safely. Well packaged.	Great presentation	The best choice for roses.
	Wide choice, easy to use and great photos	Couldn't be bettered	Great looking flowers, just as promised	Sending flowers online as it should be
	Great website, photography and description	Well packaged, good printed gift card and delivered on time	Great bouquet with good mix of blooms all working well together	Anyone would be thrilled to receive a valentines bunch from Clare
	Fast, easy to use. Minor problem with typing gift message	Great packing, delivered on time	Beautiful roses, excellent condition	Your beloved will not be disappointed
	Unusual colours and interesting range.	Arrived safely, and the tissue paper was a great touch	Excellent impact, a valentines hit!	Overall a very positive transaction
	Worked well, but did not inspire	Missed delivery date, but kept me updated	Delightful bouquet	The flowers were the best part of the transaction
	Adequate, but did not excel	Good same day service	Ordinary, plain, uninspiring	Only let down where it really counts - with the flowers
	More descriptions would be appreciated	Well protected and delivered on time	Not the 'ultimate' which was described	Average service and flowers
	Limited photographs and descriptions	Packaging could be improved and flowers delivered with no water or moisture container	Might not have the romantic effect you were hoping for	A bad experience all round