" We ’re back at 90 % of our normal bulk " , tell Marco van Zijverden , chief executive officer of Dutch Flower Group ( DFG ) . With 33 item-by-item company , they furnish flowers and plants to all distribution channel , importing wholesalers and the with child - scale retail sphere all over the world , and when look at the past , present and future of the COVID-19 crisis , they notice that the bloom industry is pick up quite quick , with a current extremum in online floral sales agreement , he explained during thePMA Virtual Town Hall meeting * yesterday .
Marco van Zijverden .
From Covid-19 outbreak till nowAfter China , several other authoritative export countries for DFG , like Germany , the UK , Italy and Switzerland went into lockdown mid - March . It had a major wallop on the floral industriousness , with 50 % of the auction bulk being destroyed on March 16 . fortuitously , over the last hebdomad , more and more countries open up a bit and are now open or partly open for trade , and DFG ’s gross sales increase . " In China , we are again back at the volumes we were before COVID-19 , and we see Switzerland , Italy , France , and Spain picking up slowly , and Germany faster . Also out of the US , the need for flowers is increase again , but airfreight restriction and the increase cost ( doubled ) make it challenging to embark the blossom from the Netherlands to there . The same goes for Kenya , where only 25 % of airfreight is usable . This drives freight costs up and as a result the pricing of , for example , rose wine . "
Online sales skyrocketingIn all channels , DFG is almost back to normal book , except for on-line sales agreement . " At garden centers , DIY stores and wholesale , we are back at 80 % , aggregative retail at 90 % , but online is about 4 to 5 times higher compare to last year . Bear in psyche that online is of path still a circumscribed part of the total line of work . "
On the left field : lease Hope Bloom campaign .
Campaigns during COVID-19n the thick of the pandemic , DFG did not sit still , doing their utmost to keep flowers ( and industrial plant ) top of mind in Europe . On March 27 , they launched the campaignLet Hope Bloomtogether with the Flower Council of Holland , and they joined force out with breeders and cultivator to convey 150 K bouquet to elderly people in the Netherlands on Good Friday ( April 10 ) . In the meanwhile , the Dutch floriculture industry was function heavily to receive support from the government , and they are now receive two way of financial support , namely a labor cost compensation and an emergency fund for flower gardening , he explains .
exchange in assortmentVan Zijverden sees that consumers continue to bribe flush and plants . " They keep their signification and even with a more cocksure impact on people . " However , the mixed bag at the sweeping business concern has changed a bit in this moment of meter . " As there are no events , there is less demand for the exclusive bloom and plants , but as there is more focus on domicile use , palm and the garden , the mass prime and plants are in higher demand . In turn , this is reflected in the prices : luxury flower are presently crummy in price and the mass flowers receive good prices , and masses stay purchase them . "
Expectations post COVID-19When looking at the post - COVID-19 situation , DFG expects that floral retail will keep growing at a mellow pace , with “ discounters ” even quicker than supermarkets . And as more people will stay home , it is expect that industrial plant and flower are in higher demand . But will there be enough flowers ? That might become a question , due to the current situation at the growers .
Employment is expected to become a challenge as well . " On the one bridge player , unemployment will be eminent , but on the other hand , many labour immigrants currently have go forth , which leaves jobs open . "
Also it is expect that companies within the flowered industriousness will go belly-up , but Van Zijverden accentuate that those will only be the companies that were n’t in a good situation before the pandemic . They expect 10 % of these blossom businesses to go bankrupt .
Last but not least , they expect that logistic alternative pick , like seafreight , will grow . " Now , we already initiate to ship more flowers by ocean from Colombia to the UK , but also from Kenya . And still then , after 20 to 25 days move around , our flower still have a guarantee vase life of 7 twenty-four hours to consumers . "
For more informationDutch Flower GroupMarco van ZijverdenEmail:[email protected]www.dfg.nl
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© FloralDaily.com/Elita Vellekoop
