Cover Story: In Full Bloom

Growth Mode Inside & Out
While 1-800-Flowers.com doesn’t need to look outside its own walls for growth, it keeps that radar screen open as many companies turn to larger entities for shelter from the hard economy. But future acquisitions need to be two-way streets.

“We don’t need to make any acquisitions,” Jim McCann says. “But if we found the right group of people, the right product that would be beneficial to our customers and that we can help ‘Webify’ and take costs out of their operations, we’d give it a serious look. But all of those things have to line up: the right team of people who have the right visions for growth, the right product line that would be embraced by our customers, and our belief that we could genuinely benefit them by having them on our platform. Of course, this is all contingent upon the right risk profile, meaning price and
capital requirements.”