In run to Mother’s Day member of FloraHolland realized € 6.5 million more turnover via the auction than last year. The week before Mother’s Day was exciting and colourful. But even with ‘all hands on deck’, the logistics service provision of the auction was not up to the task. A shortage of trolleys led to trouble and complaints. We need to do better.
In the week before Mother’s Day, the total turnover was € 137 million, an increase of € 6.5 million. Around the world, millions of mothers were honoured with:
254 million cut flowers
20 million houseplants and 15 million outdoor plants.
“Business keeps booming”
It’s a tense period because the demand for trolleys at FloraHolland increases precisely in the peak period. As Marcel Claessen described it, “The trend of buying small quantities has been around for some time. But recently, it became evident that trolleys are handy for more and different parties in all types of flows. Royal FloraHolland was also surprised by this departure from the trend. The situation is made worse by the fact that business is booming. Thus, while the clock is declining, the demand for trolleys is increasing.”
Processing and end times unexpectedly under pressure
The increasing use of trolleys and the small scale of purchases put the processing and end times unexpectedly under pressure. What has Royal FloraHolland done to fix this undesirable situation? At several crucial points, the process at the three export locations has been adjusted. This makes more trolleys available, but extends the processing time and makes the end time later. We have also periodically imposed Internal Overnight Hiring. It did make more trolleys available but led to more work and expense for the trade.
Facing the next peak together
That it can be better and different is a fact. Once this peak is over, the auction shall evaluate the process. For the long term she shall explore where the need is acute and how she can respond to that.
Source: FloraHolland
