1-800-Flowers.com has been rolling out new online features that, the company says, make gift giving and delivery easier as the holiday seasons approaches.
CEO Chris McCann in statements that appeared on Advisor-Access.com outlined measures the company took over the past year to mix artificial intelligence and real flowers and foods.
“We launched an interactive, telephonic virtual assistant, integrating artificial intelligence and human understanding to reduce average time on hold,” McCann was quoted as saying.
The Carle Place-based company is using a feature known as SmartGift that McCann said lets customers notify those receiving gifts via text, e-mail, or any messaging platform that a gift is on the way.
The feature then “gives the recipient the option of modifying the delivery preference, further involving them in the total gifting experience."
McCann described “conversational commerce” with applications running on Apple, Samsung, Facebook, Google and Amazon.
“We continued to roll out progressive web app technology across our mobile and desktop platforms, significantly increasing site speeds and enhancing the customer experience,” McCann added.