"We started locally and gradually expanded into Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and southern Europe"

As a breeder and specialist in seeds and young plants, Evanthia is a well-known player in floriculture. Commercial director Louis Kester talks about the aspiration and ambition to grow and how they are using Floriday to achieve this.

In 2013, Evanthia started out as a company. He brought experience and some of the products with him from the business Combinations. This formed the basis for the breeding of cut flowers, pot and bedding plants, as well as seed optimization and the propagation of tropical plants such as for example, the coffee plant, monsters, and strelitzias.

From local business to Europe
On an annual basis, Evanthia produces some 35 million plants on a cultivation area of 6 hectares. With 80% of their offering coming from seeds and 20% from tissue culture, they supply young plants to major growers such as Bunnik and Van Geest Potplanten. Louis: "We started locally and gradually expanded into Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and southern Europe. We are now the largest supplier of young plants in Europe."

A new customer base
In order to sell the young plants, Evanthia also uses Floriday, some 70,000 young plants are sold through this medium. "For a large proportion of the young plants, we have fixed agreements with local growers. To guarantee that we can supply them with the right quantities, we make sure to produce in excess of the order."

"We offer the remaining young plants as stock. Previously, that was only done through Excel lists by email. However, for several years now, we have also offered this stock through Floriday. With that, a whole new customer base of exporters in particular has emerged."

More efficiency, less risk
"A major advantage of Floriday and our connections there with exporters is that our stock trays will go alongside pre-established distribution lines in Europe. Parties like Javadoplant or Hamiplant have an extensive distribution/sales line to large parts of Europe," explains Louis.

"Now we are managing this sale through Floriday, not only do we run less risk of having too much surplus, but we also save time in terms of additional arrangements. The same applies to the exporter. It no longer has to retype anything."

Moving with the distribution flow
Evanthia's foreign customers include many garden centers with production greenhouses. Because of their large and diverse product range, they require finely tuned distribution. "Big exporters like Javado, for example, can supply those. Our young plants also fit extremely well in these distribution flows. On the one hand, they are interesting for foreign garden centers because they can let them mature in their production greenhouses, and at the same time, for some customers, they are a nice finished product," explains Louis.

Fast track fine-tuned delivery
Because exporters have linked their online shops to Floriday, it is much more efficient to track their usual logistics flows. Louis: "And this is necessary if we want to fast-track fine-tuned delivery across Europe. Logistics, ICT messages, and financial settlements can then also automatically run alongside it."