Waitrose closing down online florists

[Twistybranch]

Does anyone work at John Lewis/Waitrose and know why they are shutting down their online florists?

I thought it was strange that they hadn’t put out their Christmas range yet then noticed they had a notice that they are closing down

Last day for delivery is the 1st November

Non-core business that's not making them enough money? Weirdly I had no idea and was looking to see what their Christmas designs were, thought it was odd there weren't any and didn't spot they were closing.

If you're looking for an online delivery service, Haute Florist have been consistently good ime.

It's not profitable. Same as Waitrose pet which went a while ago.

Another gift of Brexshit.

Most flowers come from The Netherlands - huge export business, including to the Middle East.

All the faff dealing with exporting to England now is basically not worth it for them, more expense, admin. etc.

I know from a beginner floristry class I do, that flowers at the markets are expensive at the moment. Was told that the Netherlands reduce their output in winter as it’s too expensive to heat the tunnels, glasshouses, hence the uptick in costs.

I wonder if this has anything to do with it.

Seemingly it’s mainly Columbia where the flower stocks come from at this time.

I have always used a florist local to whoever I was getting the flowers for, if not bringing them in person.