Delivering flowers in a flower business operation is probably one of the most important and most complicated parts, especially in Korea.
When I bought flowers for my wife, which was before Flower Gift Korea existed, I imagined the flowers being received by her with great joy. I imagined that she would be surprised and that the flowers would be beautiful, and that they would make her day. Since I know how it feels to get a good response and what is ideal for the delivery; I understand what must need to happen for the flower delivery to be successful.
But, it can be very difficult to ensure this, especially in Korea.
Often times, the customer does not want to leave their phone number because they do not want the person on delivery to call the recipient. I totally understand why a customer would do this, but it is a very bad idea to do so. For example, I received an address without any room number. So I thought it would be a small building because I have not been to every single building/room in Korea, so I would not know otherwise. In turns out it was a big building, a building similar to the size in the image below:
This is a huge building with hundreds of rooms and multiple floors. There is no way of locating one person in this building without a phone number. And what is more complicated is that some office buildings in Korea this big, do not let non-employees in past the first floor. So it is only possible to get in contact with someone in these buildings with a phone number.
Another problem is, there are a lot of “Spam” phone calls made by telemarketers, so the chance of an unknown number being picked up is slim, especially if the person is in a meeting. So this also is a hurdle that delivery people all over Korea have to jump over.
But a bigger problem are homes because most people in Korea do not live in unattached homes. Instead, people usually live in an apartment building or something similar. And in a lot of countries, it isn’t possible to get into the building without being let in by a resident. Also, some buildings do not even have a buzzer/bell option and the only way you would get in is if you call the recipient on their phone and they let you in.
Here is a picture of me calling someone to open the front door because their main entrance buzzer/bell wasn’t working. I have also been to buildings that do not have a bell at the main entrance:
So here are some tips to make sure your flower delivery is made on time and on the correct day:
1. Always, always, leave the recipients Korean phone number. Sometimes the recipient may not have a Korean phone number. At those times, please leave an email address or messenger ID. We have made deliveries with only an address and no contact info, but some deliveries were impossible to make.
2. Make sure to have the correct address, especially the room number. Even though you may not have the postal code, as long as you have the correct address, it is possible to find the address in Korea.
3. Understand that Seoul is larger than you think and traffic is really bad in most places. At times, it can take up to an hour just to travel 15 kilometers in Seoul (deepening on the area). So it is best to place an order 24 hours in advance.
In cases where we arrive at a building and there is no way to get in contact with the recipient or get to the recipients door, we leave the gifts at the main entrance. However, we are 95% successful in at least getting to the door of the recipient. And we leave the flowers there if we are unable to get through (on the phone) to the recipient. And we always leave a message that flowers have been left at the door, and they usually thank us for the flower delivery:
So please consider what you read in this article, so that you can ensure that your gift gets to the right person at the right time in Korea.