Everyone agrees that the online sales of flowers and plants will increase greatly over the coming years. In a prediction report by the Rabobank, it could even be up to 30% in 2027 (compared to 7% now).
"We just don't know who will win this 'game'. Bloomon, someone from our own ranks, or maybe even an outside player? I have spoken to various parties who said they will be a part. Most of them don't work with decorative cultivation at all at the moment, coming from a different background and introducing this knowledge, for instance from IT or Big Data."
Right: Arne Bac and Ruud van der Vliet of Rabobank lead the discussion
This was said by Arne Bac, sector specialist in decorative cultivation at Rabobank, at a meeting of entrepreneurs in the new World Horti Center in Naaldwijk. He illustrated the prediction report recently published on the decorative cultivation over the next decade by the bank, in which 'online' is one of the big themes.
In the report, put together in collaboration with entrepreneurs and knowledge partners from the decorative cultivation chain, they go into the main themes: growing and declining markets, changing consumption patterns, changing chains, increasing sustainability in production and environment, etc. Main themes indeed, which may be hard to predict, but are also useful, precisely by looking at them. And this is why this meeting (and others) was held.
So: what does it mean for your company that the European and North American market will only grow slightly in 10 years, whilst that of Asia is almost doubling? How can you see sustainability and government and NGO interference not just as a task, but as an opportunity for your earning model? And if chains are shifting and links are being skipped, can I anticipate this now with my product, in my market?
Thinking ahead
The main themes, once again, that invite one to think about far reaching consequences. If online sales is going to increase this strongly, who will take up the task? If the Asian market grows, will I take my product there, or my neighbour's products, or my knowledge? If 'green' isn't just trendy, but necessary, a real, demonstrable need for those in cities, do I leave the model of the skyscraper from Shanghai, with plants growing through the windows and streams flowing through the canteens, for what it is, or do I anticipate a 'green city supplier' together with partners? And, adds Ruud van der Vliet, company director of Rabobank Westland: if everyone is talking about collaboration - improving sustainability together, using new techniques together, organising a fair price together - should we not also be sharing funds and leaving our egos at home?
So: what does it mean for your company that the European and North American market will only grow slightly in 10 years, whilst that of Asia is almost doubling? How can you see sustainability and government and NGO interference not just as a task, but as an opportunity for your earning model? And if chains are shifting and links are being skipped, can I anticipate this now with my product, in my market?
Thinking ahead
The main themes, once again, that invite one to think about far reaching consequences. If online sales is going to increase this strongly, who will take up the task? If the Asian market grows, will I take my product there, or my neighbour's products, or my knowledge? If 'green' isn't just trendy, but necessary, a real, demonstrable need for those in cities, do I leave the model of the skyscraper from Shanghai, with plants growing through the windows and streams flowing through the canteens, for what it is, or do I anticipate a 'green city supplier' together with partners? And, adds Ruud van der Vliet, company director of Rabobank Westland: if everyone is talking about collaboration - improving sustainability together, using new techniques together, organising a fair price together - should we not also be sharing funds and leaving our egos at home?