Winfried Peters, Lukas Klimesch and Tom Biondo of Royal Flowers at the IPM Essen in Germany.
Advantages
By supplying directly, Royal Flowers can deliver fresher flowers. According to Peters, the shelf life of the flowers will be extended by a minimum of two days. Besides that, the communication with their customers will also be 'clearer' and their preferences can be more easily ascertained. "As there is no trader in between anymore, the communication is direct, so there will be less confusion," says Peters.
Challenges
However, supplying directly does not only has advantages, it also entails challenges. According to Peters, making the logistics direct to the customers is the main challenge. "Discovering the ways to supply the customers directly takes time, therefore we will expand slowly in Europe. Fortunately, Royal Flowers already has its own cargo service, with modern state-of-the-art techniques," says Peters.
Royal Flowers consists of three large farms in Ecuador, with a total acreage of 120 hectares under greenhouses. Roses, hydrangea, sunflowers and kalanchoes are grown at the farms.
Experience in direct supply
Royal Flowers already has experience in supplying markets directly. For years now, they have been supplying the US market directly. Roughly 60% of their exports go to the North American market. Therefore, they established a distribution company in the United States in 1994. The Sales, Marketing and Accounting headquarters, as well as the North American distribution point and warehouse are located in Miami, Florida, USA.
Start in April
From April 2016, Royal Flowers will start supplying directly to Europe. "We will start to supply the wholesale customers in Germany, Austria and Hungary directly. When everything runs smoothly in these countries, we will slowly expand to the the Eastern part of Europe and will enter countries like Slovenia," says Peters.
For more information
Royal Flowers
Winfried Peters
Email: winfried.peters@royalflowersgroup.com
www.royal-flowers.de