It is often said that peak are particularly susceptible to crises . The moment the consumer has less to spend , plants get crossed off the shopping list . " But what we ’ve seen lately is really what a terrific product we have " , tell Wim van der Plas , chief operating officer of Floral Trade Group ( FTG ) . " As illustrate by the with child sales during the late Mother ’s Day season in state like Switzerland , France and Germany , we offer something for people to make each other well-chosen , for a comparatively low amount of money . "
FTG , one of the biggest players in Dutch ornamental exportation with an figure turnover of 350 million euros , looks back on a mates of turbulent months . " Everywhere small retailers , garden centers and florist , particularly in body politic like Italy and France , have suffered major blows " , Wim says . " There were situation when a supermarket was selling bouquets , while the florist shop on the other side of the street had to watch it all empty - handed , with both those companies being our customers . Retail continued , at the disbursement of the specialized store , a office that continued for up to 8 week in these country . Damage was done there that ca n’t be undone anymore this yr . "
When Italy get into lockdown in March , follow by almost all of Europe , everything was out of control for a while . " short that has top precedency : how are we go to survive this ? We holler together a crisis team . Practically all investment were put on hold , admit a takeover that was in physical process . Controlling costs , and cash is male monarch , those idea prevail . All of a sudden , you do n’t sleep together whether your customers will be capable to ante up , and that with a lot of spectacular charges . Nobody knew if it would last for a workweek , 3 weeks , or 3 months . Our worst case scenario was based on three months , followed by another 3 months of 50 % turnover . "
But things can turn around quickly , as we ’ve seen . market opened up again , and customer returned , often a great deal faster than expected . " The way thing are now , I did n’t dare to opine at the end of March . All shops and retailer we supply to , have opened up again . Some line and markets are still a bit hard or under restrictions , but in e - Department of Commerce thing are live well . The camber also commit early on , and we have n’t had to lay off anyone . We did scale back our agency workers so as to keep our own people at work as much as possible . normally , people could still go to sour in other branches of the company : this nicely instance the power of the collective . "
Whether government aid is to be expected and realistic , is still not entirely open . " We ’re hoping for some recompense , but we do n’t have that guaranty in composition , even though we ’ve miss out on tens of millions of euros in tax revenue . On the other hand , this is not the most authoritative aspect . What matters much more is that the growers , some of whom desperately need it , have received support . This whole situation has once again shown how much we require the raiser . We ’re nothing without them , and frailty versa . That was also Modern about this whole crisis billet : no matter how desperate thing got , we were n’t just concerned about our own endurance , but also about that of all our partners . It chance to us as a collective . That definitely bring about a good sense of community , but , strange as it may sound , also some peace of mind in the midst of chaos . "
In the end , Wim conclude , the projected dollar volume wo n’t be made , but they ’re still hoping for a positively charged results at the end of the yr . " We suffered a big strike , but all in all I ’m pretty proud of now . I did n’t daydream that we ’d be at this stagecoach already . Of naturally you ca n’t know how the market will build up . For now , we ’re able to get our products at a reasonable price . But if the markets that are currently being trammel get the green light and there are shortfall , thing could become difficult again . Anyway , lento but surely we ’re retrieve our confidence . "
For more info : Floral Trade Groupwww.floraltradegroup.com
© FloralDaily.com/Geert Peeters
