The flower market is changing rapidly. Growers are merging, digitalisation is increasing and the way of purchasing is shifting. Joey Valstar, head of procurement at Celdomy, sees this development every day. His approach: use technology smartly, but keep personal contact central.
From grower's son to head of procurement: moving with the market
Joey Valstar grew up in the world of flowers. His father was a grower, with cultivation in the Netherlands and later Portugal. That is how he ended up at Celdomy. “My father supplied Celdomy and that's how I got an internship here. After that, I stayed — first in the box and pretty soon in procurement. I have been working here for almost 10 years now, and I am head of procurement. “That background still helps Joey in his work. “You understand the whole chain better. That makes it easier to make choices.”
During those years, he saw the market change rapidly. “A lot has happened in a short time, especially on the growers' side. Some have merged into larger groups or even stopped. That directly affects how you procure.” Where previously the auction was completely central, the balance is shifting. “When I started, procurement was heavily auction-oriented, now direct trade is becoming increasingly important. The auction remains important, even if you can't come to terms with conditions or agreements, for example. Good relationships with suppliers make all the difference in this regard.”
Digitisation that makes your procurement faster and smarter
Bij Celdomy is Florisoft de basis, gekoppeld aan Floriday. “Wij halen via de Floriday-API alles op in ons eigen systeem. Daarnaast gebruik ik Floriday Explorer om te zoeken en te ontdekken - kwekers, variëteiten, aanbod. Dat werkt snel en overzichtelijk en helpt zo om slim in te kopen. Je selecteert alleen wat je nodig hebt. Zo voorkom je dat je systeem volloopt met aanbod waar je niets mee doet.”
For auction procurement, RFH Pre-Auction - an app on Floriday - plays an important role. “With it, you can very specifically set what you want to see. Each buyer has their own product group and can set filters on, for example, growers or suppliers. As a result, you only see what is relevant to you in the morning.” That, according to Joey, makes all the difference in practice. "You no longer have to search through everything. You start your day with a selection already available to you. That saves time and makes it clearer.”
Digitisation also reduces fragmentation in communication. “Where you previously got a lot of separate emails and apps, you now see more and more going through one platform. That provides peace of mind and overview.”
Fast and efficient procurement in practice
Celdomy operates entirely demand-driven. Customers — mainly flower shops in France — order via the webshop. “Customers can order until 3am for next-day delivery. So in the morning, everything has to be arranged quickly.”
A flower buyer's working day starts early. “These start around 3am or 3.30am. Then they look at the orders, the supply and make choices: do we buy from a grower or on the auction?” The logistics are set up accordingly. “With robots and set-up stations, we make sure everything is processed efficiently. The system knows exactly what should go where.”
Automation is also continuing on the procurement side. “We are in the process of automatically matching customer orders and procurement. That saves a lot of manual work and makes the process faster and more reliable.” This is not only efficient, but also necessary. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to find people who are willing to start so early. Automation helps to compensate for this, so that flower buyers can also start later and have more time for other things, such as visiting growers”.
Technology and relationships determine the future
Despite all the digitisation, personal contact remains essential. “We therefore encourage buyers to visit growers. In the greenhouse, you see things you would otherwise miss.” It is precisely there that opportunities arise. “If you hear what a grower is working on before it becomes visible to the rest of the market, you have a head start.” That's ultimately what it's all about. “You don't want to react to what everyone already sees. You want to be ahead of the market and digitisation in particular creates more time to visit growers”.
According to Valstar, the future lies in balance. “Digitisation is only going to continue. But you don't want it to happen jonly behind a screen butalso through personalcontact. The combination of data, systems and strong relationships makes all the difference.”
Joey's advice to other buyers: “Get with it, try things out — and above all, stay close to the market.”
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