The popular floral and gourmet foods gift retailer and distribution company has enhanced its tech for Valentine’s Day.
Thursday is Valentine’s Day and consumers who use 1-800-Flowers.com to send gifts to loved ones will find that the American company has added AR messages to its offerings. It has also made improvements to its voice ordering, mobile app, and its website.
Customers can now place smart orders through Samsung’s Bixby and can use Samsung Pay to complete the purchase.
Among the upgrades 1-800-Flowers.com has introduced to its digital platform is the ability to place smart orders using Bixby, Samsung’s voice-powered digital assistant. Customers can also use Samsung Pay to make their purchases.
Users of Apple products haven’t been left out in the cold, either. Apple users can place orders over text with Apple Business Chat and Apple Pay. A personal concierge has also been added to the platform to help track orders or look up products or services.
Google Assistant voice technology is also supported and can be used to search and display across devices. It can also be utilized for delivery using Google Express and Google Pay can be used at checkout. This additional voice ordering tech joins 1-800-Flowers.com’s previous integration with the Echo voice platform from Amazon.
Plus, as a special touch, the company has thrown AR messages into the mix of its new upgrades.
Apple users can make their gifts even more personal with AR messages.
Since February 1, iPhone and iPad users have had an additional advantage when using 1-800-Flowers.com. The retailer has integrated Apple’s ARKit platform to offer its customers who use Apple devices the chance to interact with their loved ones by sending playful and thoughtful customized augmented reality (AR) Valentine photos or video messages.
“This is brand new for us,” said Amit Shah, CMO of 1-800-Flowers.com in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “We are obviously studying this space and trying to find the perfect use case for us, and we felt that especially in the gifting experience, the gift message is the most personalized aspect of that.”
Shah added that it provides the company with a rich “petri dish” to begin experimenting with this new technology.
“It really brings to life what was before a very two-dimensional message into something more three-dimensional and richer,” Shah said of the new AR messages feature
