"I don't believe in selling, but in making customers want to buy your products." A nice one-liner, of course, but one that instinctively seems to fit the men of Floramotion immediately. From a spacious box at the auction in Naaldwijk, they serve a select group of retail customers primarily in France, Ireland, Germany, England, and Poland. The company has been in existence since late 2015 but, following the acquisition of Gro4U in 2019, is set for substantial sales growth.
Toine Loran between carts in the box
We speak to Rob Zwinkels and Toine Loran, who, together with Jasper Zwinkels (son of Rob and currently on holiday), make up the management team. Rob has decades of experience in several branches of the sector, but within the flower trade was a director at Noviflora and Floreac, among others. Toine, although perhaps not even half his age, has nevertheless also gained more than a decade of experience at B.J. van Duyvenvoorde, Wematrans, and the then Zyon, among others. Jasper has also been working at Floramotion since 2018. The team currently consists of 12 people in commerce and six permanent colleagues who organize the execution in logistics. In doing so, Floramotion works with a loyal team of mainly Polish employees who produce bouquets every day and prepare all flowers and plants for delivery to all customers. Turnover last year was around 15 million euros.
Foundation laid
The idea of having a grip on sales themselves, i.e., with more direction from production, prompted a number of pot plant growers to start Floramotion in 2010. Until 2019, the focus was on the sale of indoor and garden plants, in July 2019, all activities of Gro4U were taken over, and flowers were added. This acquisition offered the opportunity to grow in range and sales, which would make the company stronger as a whole. In 2021, they moved to a larger location, thus ensuring a pleasant working environment and (more) efficient logistics processing of all flowers and plants. This move has, they say, helped enable sales growth.
Hands-on mentality
But of course, that is not the whole story, what is the secret behind the success? Phrases like 'good management,' 'investing in people and equipment,' 'providing service,' and 'knowing the customer's market' comes to mind, but what perhaps matches most are the 'low profile' and 'hands-on.' Of course, it has to be sustainable and efficient wherever possible: in terms of purchasing, Floramotion works closely with a select group of growers, and more than 90% of plants and 80% of flowers are purchased directly from the growers in the correct grading and packaging, thus avoiding the unnecessary use of plastic sleeves and other packaging.
Also important is having consideration for the employees. The men give a nice example. "We employ a Polish lady who is a great cook. She provided a great lunch for the whole team on a Friday afternoon at our request. It was lovely to be able to enjoy her great cooking together with about 45 people at such a time."
Regularly working ahead for the next day, these trolleys are ready and waiting
Floramotion's brand awareness has so far been on somewhat of a backburner, but more work is being done on that now. The first trailer with the Floramotion logo on it is already driving around Western Europe daily. From the team's side, they also want to start sharing products and market information a bit more and more often via social media channels. "This is to raise awareness of our specialism as a supplier of beautiful hand and band bouquets and the complete range of indoor and garden plants."
FreshCap
Besides buying and selling flowers and plants, there is a collaboration with FreshCap. FreshCap is the largest producer of cut flowers in South Africa. Floramotion handles, among other things, the unpacking and watering of these exclusive products such as Proteas, Nutans, and many other types of flowers. In its own words, these activities fit in well with the daily handling processes within Floramotion.
Service above mass
FloraMotion expects substantial growth in the coming years. "In five years' time, turnover will have doubled," Rob confidently prognosticates. Working smarter, serving customers better, expanding the team, and catching the eye of some serious prospects should ensure this. In addition, the men have another principle that reads: 'service above the mass.' "As tempting as it may be, you should not necessarily want to go for the extremely large numbers in the promotions but rather want to contribute to ensuring that you fulfill the demand well for your customers year after year at all possible times. If you do that well, you can grow and naturally make the customer who currently buys elsewhere curious."
For more information:
FloraMotion 
Toine Loran - toine@floramotion.nl
Rob Zwinkels – rob@floramotion.nl
www.floramotion.nl
