Avrora at the Flowers Expo in Russia.
Limit drop in sales
According to Alexander, their drop in sales is not as significant as many other exporters'. "Fortunately, we could limit the drop in sales to only 10 per cent, thanks to the type and quality of our products and our strategy," he says. "We mainly supply fillers and at the moment, these are more often being used in bouquets instead of flowers as they are less expensive. Besides that, Russians are keen on high quality products and this is what we keep delivering. Also our strategy contributed to limit the decrease in sales as we support our clients in Russia by lowering our prices and provide them with special offers," he adds.
Eyeopener
This small drop in sales enables them to look for new opportunities. "The sales volumes of many flower exporting companies increased significantly and are therefore forced to find other markets, but for us it has been a conscious decision. Our slight drop in sales opened up our eyes and let us see more opportunities to increase our sales volumes in our existing, but also new markets," he says.
Expanding markets
One market in which they would like to increase their sales is Ukraine. "We already work with Ukraine, but only with small volumes. At the moment, the economic situation in this country is still bad, but we believe it will get better, even though it might take some years. Besides that, they have the same mentality as the Russians and flowers are deeply rooted in their cultures. By attending the Flowers Expo Ukraine, which will be held in Kiev from April 12-14, 2016, we hope to increase our volumes to this county," he says. Besides Ukraine, they also want to increase their volumes to other Eastern European countries.
Entering new markets
Alexander is also eager to enter new markets. "We have more than 20 years of experience in delivering flowers to Russia. It is well-known that the Russian client is not the easiest as they demand constant high quality flowers. As our foliage meets the needs of these 'picky' clients for years, we think it would be easier for us to enter new markets in countries like the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom."
Avrora Flowers
Avrora Flowers is an Israeli company that mainly supplies Israeli and Ethiopian foliage. "Most of the volumes are from Israel. The growers we work with exclusively grow the flowers for us. Besides that, we also cooperate with an Ethiopian grower and we have our own gypsophila brand," says Alexander.
For more information
Avrora Flowers
Alexander Groisman
Email: [email protected]
www.avrora.co.il