Until the internet, international flower delivery service was largely confined to the transport of large quantities of flowers from countries such as Holland, whose principal products include flowers, to consuming countries, such as the U. S., where the flowers would be distributed to major distribution points throughout the country. Even those who gave flowers as gifts to others in another country, did not actually send a bouquet of flowers on a plane (a ship would be impractical), flown to an airport on the other side of the world where the bouquet would be picked up and driven to its destination. Instead, a person could write to a florist in another country Dried flower bouquet , a florist in a city where the recipient lived, and request a list of flower products and prices from which they could choose the flowers they would give. They could then mail their order along with a money order, if that were acceptable, to the florist, and the florist could deliver the chosen flowers to the recipient. If money orders were not acceptable, the money could be wired. As you might expect, this form of international flower delivery service was time consuming, expensive, and highly impractical.

Just finding a florist in another country could cost a small fortune, unless you knew someone in that foreign country who could locate a florist for you. During the 1950s and early 1960s, large catalog ordering corporations included flower gift products in their catalogs that could be ordered and drop-shipped to the recipient, but only if the business had a store in the destination city, or contracting florists who would act as surrogates. The selections were limited - flowers that were grown in greenhouses and not dependent on seasons were the only feasible candidates - and catalogs had to be prepared far in advance. Most countries did not participate in these endeavors. International flower delivery service was not very extensive and the cost was exorbitant, so few took advantage of these services.

Even when national florist chains appeared both in the U. S. and other countries, there was no partnering between these chains to form an international flower delivery service. For such to occur, standard products had to be agreed upon by these national chains. An efficient technological infrastructure was also necessary, one that would allow a customer to place an order in one country and have it filled in another within a reasonable timeframe. That infrastructure did not appear until the internet came into being and was accepted by consumers around the world.

Once the internet was accepted and consumers began to buy products from other countries without ever leaving their homes, all that remained was for enterprising entrepreneurs to establish a network of florists connected together by the internet and agreeable to producing flower products that were cataloged and offered to anyone anywhere for the
international flower delivery service to become a reality.