By Scott Wright

LIFE as we know it ground to a halt when the country moved into lockdown in March of last year.

Fortunately for entrepreneur Stephen Gorman, it did not impede his acquisition of Flowercard, the online florist, even though events were slightly hair-raising at the time.

The deal was officially rubber-stamped on March 17, with the florist’s headquarters shifting to Scotland from Guernsey just six days before the first national lockdown was announced.

“At the time when everything was kicking off and we realised it could go one way or the other, we were pretty panicked,” admits Mr Gorman, who also owns Pilot Fish Media, an Edinburgh-based digital marketing agency.

“It could have gone the other way against us, where flowers were not coming into the country and we were hit with that. We were lucky the coin landed on the right side for us.

“We managed to remain open and were able to still get our flowers, and work socially-distanced.”

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The acquisition was an opportunistic move by Mr Gorman, who does not come from a floristry background. Flowercard had been a long-standing client of Pilot Fish, with Mr Gorman having been brought on board to aid its transition from marketing via catalogue into the digital era. The idea of taking over the business percolated as its owners, who had run Flowercard for around a decade, sought a buyer as part of early-retirement plans.

“They brought me on board as a consultant to assist in taking it to 80/20 in favour of digital [sales[,” Mr Gorman said. “I did that for them for two years… then realised I felt I could grow the business.

“It was quite a lifestyle business for them (the previous owners). They both came from quite independently wealthy backgrounds and also did very well for themselves in other careers. This was almost an early-retirement type business.”

He added: “I put an offer in for the business and we negotiated for a considerable amount of time. Eventually, it ended in the purchase of it at the early stage of 2020.”

In retrospect, the timing proved fortuitous. With lockdown later forcing the closure of large tracts of the retail sector, it opened the door for online, delivery-based businesses to thrive.

“It turned out it was an ideal start because we got the luck,” Mr Gorman said. “Although Covid has totally ruined a lot of businesses, we were one of the lucky ones able to make something of it.”

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In common with the bulk of the UK floristry industry, Flowercard sources most of its products from Rotterdam, a major international distribution hub for flowers grown all over the world.

Kenya and Colombia are the ultimate countries of origin of many of the flowers ultimately sold in the UK. The orders registered with Flowercard are currently fulfilled in Hampshire, which has been the case for some time, though the firm is looking to develop fulfilment capacity in Scotland.

Despite its historic links to Guernsey, where Flowercard was originally established by an amateur florist,

Mr Gorman relocated the business to Scotland for practical reasons. It is now based at Mr Gorman’s head office in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, which was taken on just before lockdown, though in recent months the business has largely been run remotely. “Zoom has become our office,” he said.

“We have recruited quite heavily, and a good three or four of the recruits we have made we have never met face to face. We have only ever seen them on Zoom calls.

“We are looking forward to actually having everyone in the office one day, just meeting everyone. You obviously get to know people via video calls and all the rest of it, but there is no substitute for face-to-face really.”

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The company has 12 full-time staff  but Mr Gorman is confident of lifting that to 25 in anticipation of orders continuing to rise. Turnover grew to £7 million last year from £2.3m in 2019.

“Sales have been strong for us,” he said. “We’ve been lucky in so far as the lockdown has encouraged people to shop differently. We noticed, for instance, [that] Christmas was brought forward considerably.

“The reason I bought the business was because I always backed the online industry to eventually take over from the high street, [and] definitely in the floral space. There is a personalisation element, which is the way the industry is going.

“Because we offer personalisation printed on to the stationery, in your own words in various forms of handwriting, it gives people exactly what they want and in real time near enough.”

“I have always believed that is the way not just the floral industry is going, but a lot of retail, hence the reason for the purchase. I believe the growth we have seen will be sustainable to a large degree.”

Q&A

What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?

My favourite holiday destination is Palm Beach.

I love the lifestyle, it’s a very relaxed place with amazing beaches, restaurants and entertainment.

 When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?

From the age of five or six 6, I was adamant I wanted to become a lawyer. This didn’t change until my late teens when I studied law for a year and realised it wasn’t for me.

 What was your biggest break in business?

That came in 2013 when Pilot Fish Media won a marketing contract for one of Scotland’s largest FMCG companies, a relationship that led to us also winning the Marketing Society Award for campaign work we carried out.

And your worst?

2008 was a tough year, I had just started my first business and the economy crashed almost immediately, but we managed to weather the storm and make it through what was a really turbulent time.

Who do you most admire and why?

Being from South Africa, I have huge admiration for Nelson Mandela and what he did for my country of birth – he united a nation.

What book are you reading and what music are you listening to?

I’m reading The Professor, The Banker, And The Suicide King, about the richest poker game of all time. I am listening to a lot of Counting Crows, along with Bastille right now.