"Until now, others influenced the trend. Now the florists can make their own choices", says Juan Rodriguez of Hacienda Santa Fe. This Ecuadorian rose grower now also offers his flowers through the Fresh-o-Fair group and for him, this is one of the major surprising changes he notices when using this online platform that was established last year, connecting growers and florists.
Ricardo Kohn, Juan Rodriguez of Hacienda Santa Fe, Esteban Munoz and Fernando Munoz of Fresh-o-Fair at the IPM Essen 2020 in Essen, Germany.
Florists deciding own trends
Fairer prices for both farmer and florists and supplying fresher flowers are advantages for growers and florists using this platform. However, Rodriguez notices an additional surprising advantage: Through Fresh-o-Fair, he offers all his rose varieties and for some varieties, he notices an unexpected demand. "In the past, we supplied to importers, not directly to florists. Now, as we supply floral designers and specialized retailers directly, we see that others were the ones who decided on the trends, not necessarily the professionals in the floral industry. Floral designers only saw the assortment available at their provider and made their decisions out of this assortment. Now, as we can show our entire assortment to the world, they have more to choose from during the whole year. And then we see other products getting more attention than expected, which is great."
Direct trade
Fresh-o-Fair serves as a channel for direct trade between South American farms and qualified specialized retailers in Europe and the US. "We want to be a tool to embrace the direct contact between the floral professional and the Ecuadorian and Colombian floriculturists. We help the farms manage their customer service and we help on destination with custom duties as well as with the international payment", says Esteban Munoz, CEO of this online platform. Currently, 23 Ecuadorian and 5 Colombian farms joined and are all together offering a wide range of flowers, including roses, summer flowers, tropical and preserved flowers. Their services and products are exclusively offered for professionals in the floral and cut flower industry.
Expanding reach
Fresh-o-Fair was established last year and is gradually expanding its reach. Initially, they only connected Ecuadorian growers with the German floral designers, but now, they also supply florists all over Europe as well as qualified specialized retailers in the US with Ecuadorian and Colombian products coming directly from their producers. In Ecuador, Germany and the US, they have offices and soon, they will also open an office in Dubai. On top of that, increasingly more growers are joining the platform, which looks forward to uniting those producers with high-quality standards and to contribute to the progress of small producers.
In the next ten years, they are eager to become one of the main contributors in the transition of the cut flower market to a fresher, more direct and transparent one.
For more information
Fresh-o-Fair
Esteban Munoz
Email: emunoz@fresh-o-fair.com
www.fresh-o-fair.com