A lot of uncertainty remains about the strategic course which flower auction FloraHolland plans to take in the coming years, according to industry powerhouse the Dutch Flower Group. In light of the group’s dependency on the auction for realizing its ambitions of further international expansion, DFG CEO Marco van Zijverden highlights three key areas in which it would like to see FloraHolland do better.
Those three issues are the handling, the ambitions and the modest international position of the auction, the chief executive suggests. The handling of the goods is often unnecessarily slow, he feels, primarily due to a lack of modern market systems: “many needless transport steps remain; from the Westland auction to Aalsmeer and vice versa, for example. All of that costs time”.
Regarding the ambiguous ambitions of FloraHolland, he pointed to the uncertainty as to whether the flower auction plans to start supplying to supermarkets and other large buyers directly for example; a rumor that has seemingly been going around for a while. If that indeed happens, the current system revolving around the auctions, wholesalers and exporters will completely collapse, van Zijverden warns: “were the auction to indeed go that route of seriously strengthening ties with retailers, if will find the DFG in diametric opposition”.
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