KUALA LUMPUR: With dreams to change the way people get flowers for that special occasions, two German duo, Maximilian Lotz and Niklas Frassa, have set up Flower Chimp (https://www.flowerchimp.com).
The two men, who have been living in Southeast Asia for several years, saw the potential in selling flowers online as the culture of buying things over the Internet here is huge.
Combined with their stint in the Netherlands, a known epicentre of floriculture; they decided to dive into the flower industry and set a new standard for online florist services.
With the customers’ best interests at heart, Flower Chimp tries to create a difference by offering high quality flowers at affordable prices complete with nationwide free delivery.
They cater to people blooming needs from as low as RM89, covering a nationwide network of more than 80 districts across Malaysia, including in Sabah and Sarawak.
Such wide coverage makes the platform the preferred online florist among consumers who enjoy further benefits with its free delivery on all orders at no minimum spend. Consumers can also arrange for the same day delivery for any orders made before 1 pm to surprise their loved ones.
“Despite being a new player in the flower delivery business, we have grown into a household name in this industry. In less than two years, we became the No 1 choice in the online flower delivery service in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, recording five times growth compared to last year,” said its founder Lotz.
Prior to Flower Chimp, he has experience heading the Malaysia business of hear.com, a leading vendor of hearing aids, and years of experience in investment banking and venture capital.
As the business grows, the team continues to improve on its services and research and development to offer more variants of flowers to the growing market.
And following its promising performance in the online florist service, Flower Chimp has recently secured an investment of RM6 million from its investors including Asia Venture Group (AVG).
The same company has also invested in iMoney, Happy Fresh and iPrice.
“We aim to expand our reach to a new market in Singapore by the second half of August 2018, and other countries in Southeast Asia including Vietnam, Thailand and Hong Kong by 2019,” Lotz added.
Lotz and partner/chief operating officer, Frassa plan to utilise the funds received to strengthen their footprint in Indonesia and the Philippines and improve their technical infrastructure to offer better benefits to their customers with smart features including live order tracking.
“At the same time, we conduct our market research to come up with new products and promotions regularly to entice our customers to return to find what they are looking for,” said Frassa, who has a background in management consulting.
He also has gained vast e-commerce experience during stints in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia with Southeast Asia’s leading online fashion company, Zalora.
“With the power of online marketing and social media, we aim to enhance our branding and become the top-of-mind for our customers to look forward to as they become more tech-savvy every day. We are confident that in the 12 months, Flower Chimp will grow three times over with contributions from all four major markets namely Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines,” said Frassa.
Currently, Flower Chimp is operating in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In the near future, the two ambitious entrepreneurs will launch their platform in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries.