Royal FloraHolland promises to make image auctioning more manageable

The cooperative is alive, as proven by the special General Members' Meeting (GMM) held last Thursday night (September 21) in Naaldwijk, the Netherlands. Extra chairs had to be found to accommodate over 500 attendees, including members (290), staff and customers.

After contributions from the Keep the Plant Clock group, Plantform and customers, the chair of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board opened up the floor to give members the opportunity to voice their opinions about the implementation of image auctioning of plants.

Jack Goossens, chairman of the Board of Directors

Plant grower Jos Kester, initiator of the group Keep the Plant Clock (Behoud de plantenklok)

During the discussion, it became apparent that the members broadly support Royal FloraHolland's digitalisation strategy and that it is not a subject of debate. But for the implementation of digitalisation, representative product photos and the correct supply information for the product are essential. Currently, the photos and the supply information are not of good enough quality. That is why all parties recognised that it is too soon to stop displaying plants at the physical clock.
Support with implementing image auctioning

From left to right: Jack Goossens, chairman of Board of Directors; Jos Ten Have of nursery J en P ten Have and chairman of growers group Plantvorm; Lucas Vos, CEO FloraHolland and Steven van Schilfgaarde, CFO FloraHolland

Jos Ten Have of nursery J en P ten Have and chairman of growers group Plantvorm

"The lively discussion during this GMM and the agreements reached last night provide an additional stimulus to the way we work in our cooperative. What I understood was that the members need better and clearer communication from Royal FloraHolland," said Lucas Vos (CEO). "The necessity for digitalisation was agreed by everyone. Within our existing consultation structure, we are going to support the implementation of image auctioning of plants for all those who need it and make it manageable."
Aids

Steven van Schilfgaarde, CFO FloraHolland

Royal FloraHolland is going to support growers and their customers with aids. For example, a photo app and a review app will be created to help with making representative product photos and providing the correct supply information. We shall also be examining together with the Strengthen the Plant Clock sounding board group:

making the starting times of the auctions uniform
possibility to support reviewing better
auction speed
simplification of photo rules

Azalea grower Paul Barendse

Lucas Vos, CEO FloraHolland

Members of the Keep the Plant Clock group will also participate in this sounding board group.