More and more businesses are choosing to trade online.
But many find it’s not as easy as they first thought.
Read the story of Marie Forster, Owner of Flowerssimply,
and the difficulties she faced when she started up online…

When you are a start-up business without any experience of online payments it is difficult to know where to turn. How do you find the necessary information and then identify the best option? Online florist Flowerssimply was facing these problems and struggling to find a payment partner that they felt comfortable with and that met their needs. After a couple of false starts with unsatisfactory payment service providers who delivered poor levels of service and technology the company is now happily settled with SecureTrading.

“We wish we had selected SecureTrading in the first place because they have made everything so easy and given loads of support. The customer service is second to none and so different to the other providers we dealt with. We can now relax and concentrate on what we do best – provide fantastic flowers.”
Marie Forster, Owner of flowerssimply.com

Background

Flowerssimply is an online florist that provides flowers for all kinds of occasions including Mothers Day, Valentines Day, funerals, birthdays and anniversaries, as well as hampers and baby gifts to addresses across UK. The company was launched at the beginning of 2008 and is the only flower retailer to offer a Welsh language version of its website. Challenge Initially, Flowerssimply worked with two separate payment service providers, but neither was able to provide the required levels of service and technology solution. Customer support was very poor and both shopping cart integration processes were totally inadequate. On top of this, pricing was often unclear and misleading, making it difficult to compare with other providers in the marketplace.

The company needed a solution that would quickly and easily interface with existing technology systems, without the need for complex and time consuming development work. Customer service was also important as the previous providers had only been available via email and response times had been slow.

Solution

Flowerssimply selected SecureTrading from a list of payment service providers supplied by Lloyds TSB. The company had originally been put off because of the upfront monthly payments required, but this has actually resulted in a better commercial deal than with previous service providers. The solution uses the SecureTrading Payment Gateway, which integrates with the Flowerssimply website to provide secure and easy-to-use payment for customers. It uses the very latest technology to process all major credit and debit card payments efficiently and securely, enabling Flowerssimply to effectively trade online. SecureTrading’s unique blend of high-quality technology solutions and customer support has removed the hassle of handling online payments for Flowerssimply. The ease of integration has meant the SecureTrading Payment Gateway seamlessly interfaces with in-house and other

third-party systems to provide a responsive, stable and efficient service with very high availability. This has enabled Flowerssimply to keep development time to a minimum and have total confidence in their e-payment solution.

In addition, direct telephone access to SecureTrading’s technical service team has given Flowerssimply added peace of mind and provided immediate response to any unforeseen difficulties. The speed and professionalism of this customer support function has ensured that any issues or enquiries have been handled quickly and efficiently.