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How can we ensure that stickers are delivered on time, are available in the right format, are invoiced correctly and meet clear quality requirements? Plantform growers, buyers and Floriday discussed these issues again on 14 January during the third joint session on stickers. Following earlier exploratory meetings, this session was entirely devoted to making practical decisions about a workable and scalable process, particularly for the plant trade.
Timeliness of sticker information
One of the key issues is when to include sticker information. In Floriday, it is possible to specify that you want to add stickers to an order request through additional services.
The first difference is that the buyer must add the additional service for stickers within the 5-minute cancellation period. Once these 5 minutes elapse, this can only be done by submitting a correction request. There are then two options for submitting the sticker information.
The grower can indicate which of these two options applies through a trade setting in Floriday:
● Adding stickers directly: the buyer has 5 minutes after placing the order to add the stickers.
● Adding stickers later (exceptional situation): the buyer can add the stickers up to the last stage of the order.
During the meeting, it was discussed that the preferred method is for buyers to add the stickers within 5 minutes. This ensures that the grower receives the information in a timely manner and helps to speed up delivery. This trading setting can be configured per buyer. This creates scope for different ways of collaborating, such as day trading (faster response times) versus forward trading (more preparation). Of course, it is still possible to deliver the sticker through another portal. The parties present indicated that this is feasible for almost all exporters.
Sticker format: fixed proportions for simplicity and clarity
The preferred sticker format is a fixed 1:1 ratio, while the actual size can vary. The minimum size is 35 × 35 mm. The grower ultimately determines the sticker format. This allows for flexibility for different applications, but makes the design and processing simpler, more consistent and easier to automate.
The grower remains responsible for the legibility and quality of the sticker. In this phase, the work group is focusing on stickers for day trading; specific requests from retailers will be discussed at a later stage. Industry representatives emphasised the importance of continuing to engage with end customers about this standardisation.
Financial settlement: clear choices
The discussion on financial settlement focused specifically on container stickers and the way in which these are technically reconciled in systems.
It was agreed that when charging for container stickers, the costs would be divided over the number of plants per tray. To prevent sticker amounts from falling below €0.01, the amount is rounded to two decimal places, with a minimum of €0.01. This ensures that all software packages can process these amounts correctly.
It is important to emphasise that the financial agreements surrounding stickers are always one-to-one agreements between the grower and the buyer. Price agreements themselves were not discussed within this framework; these fall outside the scope of this work group.
Quality requirements for stickers
Finally, a number of key points were identified that stickers must satisfy: waterproof, UV-proof, adhesive strength and easy peel. These criteria ensure clear expectations between parties. Responsibility for sticker quality continues to lie with the grower.
Next steps
Floriday is now developing the necessary features to enable the agreements made to be implemented in Floriday. We are also investigating how we can show more clearly in Floriday what sticker information is available, if any is missing, and what options the grower has selected in the trade settings. This will give buyers more insight and enable them to anticipate accordingly. Initial versions are currently undergoing market evaluation and are being introduced gradually in different phases. We will keep growers and buyers informed of progress and further steps towards a more efficient, standardised, and scalable sticker process through news updates.
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