On the left: Xavier Beltran holding the Novelty of the Year award that they won with their varieties Moonstone and Pink Mondial at the FlowersExpo Moscow 2016. On the right: pictures of the packaging area.
Expand customer base, assorted boxes and fresh flowers
Before Florecal decided to sell through Komet Sales, they first had some talks with their wholesalers to explore the benefits of using this platform. "First of all, we noticed that many US wholesalers are using this platform", said Beltran. "So, it is a great opportunity for us to expand our customer base and, quite important, without many risks involved. Everything is paid through the platform. Besides, we can offer our customers fresher flowers. After receiving the order online, the flowers will be in Miami within three days. On top of that, instead of us sending out a daily offer, they have access to our live online inventory consisting of over 120 rose varieties and compose their own order. So, we do not have to choose what to offer." And this seems to be a major advantage for the wholesaler too. According to Beltran, if a wholesaler needs some last minute extra products, they usually need to buy them at an importer in Miami. "When they buy an assorted box often they do not know what varieties and color they will receive and from what grower it originates from. Now through this platform, they can make their own mix box. So for the wholesaler, there is a way to guarantee fresh product, to buy only the varieties they need and always with the guaranteed quality of Florecal."
Komet Sales
Fresh and new varieties on US market
Florecal's existing customers are also pleased to hear that the company is now on Komet Sales. "It is a platform that allows the user to switch back and forth among the vendors, and it makes buying there very easy. About a dozen of our vendors post inventory there", says Lou Farrell of Import Flowers Nashville, who has been using Komet Sales for several years and also has been buying flowers directly from Florecal for a couple of years.
"I was tremendously pleased to hear Florecal would be on Komet and I am impressed with the way they made use of the online platform. Their offerings give American wholesalers the rare opportunity to buy direct at 'farm level'. Florecal has an impressive lineup of reasonably priced garden roses, and that variety of product at those prices has not been available in the USA. The farm management is very good about bringing on new varieties, both regular roses and garden roses. Additionally, because they ship worldwide, they offer a lot of varieties popular in Europe and Russia which are new to the USA wholesalers."
Time to eliminate roadblocks
Florecal recently started to manage their online inventory through Komet Sales, on June 19. "June is the perfect timing to try out something new like this", says Beltran. "Flower sales are usually low due to the holiday season and hot weather, so we can quickly correct, adjust or eliminate any roadblocks before the high season, that will start in September."
For more information:
Florecal
Xavier Beltran
Email: xbeltran@florecal.com
www.florecal.com
Import Flower Nashville
Lou Farrell
Email: lou@impfl.com
www.impfl.com
Komet Sales
www.kometsales.com