United Florists Pty Ltd and Elysium Marketing Pty Ltd

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accepted court enforceable undertakings from United Florists Pty Ltd (United Florists) and Elysium Marketing Pty Ltd (Elysium Marketing) for false or misleading representations made on Lily’s Florist webpages in contravention of sections 18, 29(1)(k) and 33 of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) in Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (CCA).

Elysium Marketing is the trustee company for the Thomson Family Trust which is the registered business owner of the business name ‘Lily’s Florist’ and the website domain ‘lilysflorist.com.au’. United Florists, a related body corporate of Elysium Marketing, conducts the ‘Lily’s Florist’ business and operates ‘lilysflorist.com.au’.

Lily’s Florist is an online retailer of floral products such as bouquets and gift hampers, offering delivery Australia-wide. Lily’s Florist sells products to consumers through the website lilysflorist.com.au through approximately 1,500 associated desktop and mobile webpages, each targeting specific suburbs or locations around Australia.

United Florists has admitted that it represented that Lily’s Florist’s floral products were supplied:

• by a business called Lily’s Florist that has a premises in a particular suburb, postcode, town or location; and/or
• from a premises located in a particular suburb, postcode, town or location,

when in-fact, orders made through Lily’s Florist’s webpages were sent to third-party florists for fulfilment and delivery (collectively the Local Florist Representations).

The Local Florist Representations were also made in paid Google ads.

Elysium Marketing acknowledged that United Florists made the Local Florist Representations.

As a result of the ACCC’s investigation and in response to the ACCC’s concerns, United Florists and Elysium Marketing provided the ACCC with section 87B undertakings that they will:

• not make the Local Florist Representations for a period of three years; and
• implement and maintain a compliance training program for at least three years, which includes ACL training for their Directors and the development of a complaints handling system.