MARKETING: 1-800-Flowers.com rethinks free shipping

Carle Place-based floral and gift retailer 1-800-Flowers.com did not get much lovin' on Valentine's Day, a Sunday, when consumers pulled back despite an offer of free shipping for all its products.

This Sunday, Mother's Day, is supposed to be the busiest single day of the year for Flowers; it's a key holiday for the company, which, like many consumer businesses, has been wilting in the bad economy.

Flowers has altered its strategy for Mother's Day, said investor relations vice president Joseph D. Pititto. Instead of offering free shipping for all products, as it did on Valentine's Day, the company will offer free shipping for only a select collection of flowers. (Consumers should check the company's website for what is covered.)

In the long run, Pititto said, the free Valentine's Day shipping for all products "did not pay for itself."

"For Mother's Day, we're using the free shipping more strategically," Pititto said. In addition, Flowers is hoping to boost sales with a new book that has recently come to retail stores written by company founder and chief executive Jim McCann. "Celebrating Mom" is a collection of Mother's Day stories sent in by customers.

Flowers had a losing fiscal third quarter, and with three-quarters of its year gone, the company says it expects to be down 5 percent to 10 percent in revenues, compared with the prior fiscal year.

The stock also has taken a big hit, trading at about $2, down from a 52-week high of more than $4. The stock closed up 2 cents Wednesday at $2.65.

But analyst Eric Beder of the investment banking firm Brean Murray Carret & Co. in Manhattan, said he expects Flowers to do better this Mother's Day. "Buying flowers is entirely discretionary," Beder said. "That kind of thing is slow to come out of a recession. It's slow, but it's getting better."