DISRUTPIVE innovation is not a phenomenon readily associated with traditional business such as floristry.

But that is exactly what businessman David Costa is trying to do with Flowers Unlimited by shaking up the industry.

With an established shop in Hove, as well a recently opened store in Southampton and one soon to launch in Croydon, the business looks like a traditional florist.

But it is online and in taking on the big names where it is seeing its strongest growth.

Yet it was never David’s plan to make a disruptive florists.

Originally a taxi driver with City Cabs, he taught drivers the Brighton Knowledge, drove kids to school and has owned fashion shops in Brighton.

It was after his wife retrained in floristry at Plumpton College that she got a job at the shop on Portland Road and an opportunity cropped up to buy the business.

It was a way to get some security and keep their income ticking over as the driving jobs dried up.

But when he joined the local Albion chapter of business networking group BNI it transformed the way he thought about the business.

“I realised I could go to a meeting safe in the knowledge that I wasn’t going to meet another florist”, he said.

It got him thinking that there was an opportunity to win business in an unrivalled environment.

“Instead thinking ‘we’re a florist, we do nice flowers’, I started looking at what we could do differently”, he said.

The business has scooped up big-name clients, becoming the preferred providers for The Grand, and Brighton and Hove Albion FC, while winning a contract with American Express to supply flowers for its Platinum concierge service.

One way it has won customers and high-end clients is by taking on multinational distributor Interflora, which can take up to 48 hours to respond to an order. This inspired Flowers Unlimited to find quicker routes of supply, and develop a global network of trusted partners, which have in turn found it business.

“It’s one aspect of the business that’s grown and grown”, David said. “You look for opportunities and ask questions.”

Customer service is crucial, because “if you let people down, you’re not going to last very long”. Customers get an email confirmation after placing their order and a picture of the flowers and personal message from the driver. Three days after delivery the recipient gets another letter with flower food and after care. The approach has won it 9.4 rating on Trust Pilot, impressive for a perishable product.

“The approach is not ‘buy now, but now,’ it’s about relationship building", David said. "It’s a long game.”

The online approach is an increasingly big part of the business, with money spent on Google ad words.

But there’s a strong sense of satisfaction to be found in delivering flowers.

“It’s a nice business to be in”, David added.

“We deliver happiness, people are usually pleased to see us.

“Even in the case of funerals the flowers are representative of the person

“We follow people’s journeys through marriage to having kids.”