Exclusive Q&A: FTD rebrands; partners with Shopify
Leading specialty floral and gifting retailer FTD is redesigning its omnichannel customer experience and migrating e-commerce operations to the Shopify platform.
Matt Powell, CTO of FTD, recently spoke with Chain Store Age about his company’s new complete creative rebranding initiatives. He also provided exclusive insight on FTD’s full-scale partnership with the Shopify e-commerce platform, which is the next step in its continuing effort to rethink its technology stack to better serve its customers and florist partners.
What prompted FTD to launch a rebrand?
FTD was founded over a century ago with the goal of modernizing the way people give and receive florals, and this rebrand marks a continuation in the brand’s evolution.
Over the last decade, the industry, and FTD in particular, have felt the impact of an increased consumer shift towards online purchasing. When our CEO Charlie Cole joined the company in March 2020 he immediately saw an opportunity to rebuild the brand with a renewed focus on quality, innovation and lifting up our network of local florist partners that make FTD a truly unique company.
Over the past year and a half, together with Cole and our new leadership team, we have implemented numerous impactful and exciting changes across the business. This rebrand, as well as the innovative partnership with Shopify powering both our consumer website and soon-to-launch florist partner platform, provides our customers and florists with an updated look and feel that reflects our future vision for FTD and commitment to modernizing the way people give and helping them give better.
[Read more: CSA Exclusive: FTD florist forecasting partnership blooms]
What are the major features of the rebrand?
Beginning on Sept. 30 and rolling out in phases over the next several months, consumers and florists will see a fresh look and feel across all brand touchpoints. The rebrand efforts were led internally by FTD’s chief creative officer Annelies De Rouck, with the FTD creative developed in partnership with leading brand agency Base Design and the ProFlowers creative built in partnership with strategic creative studio RoAndCo Studio.
The rebrand includes a redesigned version of our signature ‘Mercury Man’ logo and updated branding across packaging, as well as the debut of a new elegantly modern website that provides an intuitive and streamlined shopping experience focused on meaningful giving. In addition, we are excited to introduce a focused assortment of arrangements and revamped offering of non-floral gifts.
On the technology side of things, where my focus is as CTO at FTD, we’re also excited to announce the launch of FTD’s partnership with Shopify, marking one of the largest recent enterprise retailers to migrate into Shopify’s platform to-date. This integration will support the continued modernization of the FTD experience for both florists and customers, powering both the new customer websites and the launch of a new florist partner e-commerce platform.
What made FTD decide to partner with Shopify?
Our goal was to modernize the FTD user experience for customers and florists alike and partnering with Shopify, a fellow industry leader that continues to reimagine the e-commerce experience, was a no-brainer for us. Both companies are also rooted in a shared mission to empower small businesses and we are so excited to continue bringing this to life in the floral industry in a completely new way.
How does the Shopify partnership benefit FTD florists and customers?
There are two main elements to our partnership with Shopify that will come to life through this rebrand. First is the launch of FTD’s new consumer website, which is powered by Shopify’s e-commerce platform and will roll out to customers through a phased approach starting Sept. 30. Through this migration, FTD will be able to offer customers an innovative and even more seamless shopping experience.
The second part, debuting later this fall, is the launch of FTD’s new florist partner e-commerce platform powered by Shopify through a highly customized commercial arrangement. Stemming from FTD’s focus on empowering its network of florists and their businesses, this new offering will merge Shopify’s site customization and superior user experience with FTD’s operational capabilities into a single platform, creating a one-stop-shop for FTD’s florists to manage orders, access built-in market research tools, contact customer support, and more.
This new platform is another industry-first for FTD, providing our partners with more flexibility and customization than any other platform currently used in the floral space. We are so excited to officially announce FTD’s partnership with Shopify and look forward to continuing to lead the floral industry forward through this unique collaboration.