InstacartlogoUber is to the taxi industry what Instacart is to … floral delivery companies?

Similar to how Uber has upended taxi companies, Instacart is aiming to take business from those that traditionally deliver flowers, with a little help from Whole Foods.

From Feb. 9 to Feb. 15, Instacart and Whole Foods are teaming up for Valentine’s Day to deliver flowers to your door in less than an hour, with prices starting at about $25. The offer is available in 15 U.S. cities, including Seattle.

https://twitter.com/wfmavalon/status/563033912260431874

The company calls it an “affordable alternative to traditional floral delivery.”

“What better time than now to offer customers a way to spend more time with loved ones, and less time running errands,” Apoorva Mehta, CEO and founder of Instacart, said in a statement. “Inexpensive delivery rates and Whole Foods Market’s higher quality flowers also mean customers are getting far more value for their Valentine’s dollar.”

You can order romantic products from Whole Foods, and Instacart will deliver the items to you.
Along with flowers, you can order romantic products from Whole Foods, and Instacart will deliver the items to you.

Customers will be able to pick from three bouquet options: a dozen red Whole Trade roses, a dozen non-red Whole Trade roses (colors will vary by region) or a 20-stem bouquet of tulips.

The roses are deemed by Whole Foods as “Whole Trade,” a program that places emphasis on farm worker and producer treatment, along with farms that are “taking major steps to protect air, soil, water and human health.”

Customers will also be able to add handwritten messages and other romantic products available at Whole Foods. They can choose a delivery window of one hour, two hours, or a scheduled time. Orders can be placed up to five days in advance.

Instacart said that prices will start at $25. If it’s your first time using the service, you will receive free delivery. If not, two-hour delivery will cost $3.99; one-hour delivery costs $5.99.

1-Instacart-Hero-620x620The first result for a “Seattle flower delivery” search on Google is Seattle Flowers. The cheapest Valentine’s Day item is $41.95 before tax. Delivery will cost you $18.95.

The second search result is for The Flower Lady. The cheapest Valentine’s Day bouquet is $29.99 without tax, while delivery added an extra $10.

The most reviewed Seattle flower delivery company on Yelp is Buckets, which also has a 5-star rating. The company’s website does not have pricing or flower information available.

Amazon Fresh, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to be delivering flowers — at least not in Seattle — and a search for “fresh flowers” comes up empty.

Unlike Amazon, which employs its own drivers and operates its own centralized grocery warehouse, Instacart taps into the existing grocery store network. Grocery customers add items to a virtual cart, and then choose a delivery window. Then, Instacart Personal Shoppers confirm incoming orders on their smartphones, shop for the items, and then deliver orders to customers in the designated delivery timeframe.

Instacart, which raised $44 million in venture funding in June, inked a deal with Whole Foods back in September to allow for grocery delivery in less than an hour and customer pick-up at selected Whole Foods stores.

Along with Seattle, here are the 14 other cities where people can order flowers from Instacart: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Boulder, Colorado, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, San Jose, California, and Washington, D.C.

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