Auctioneers' column: From peak season to the summer rhythm at the auction

Over the past few weeks, auctioneer Bart Zomerdijk has been reflecting on an intense and successful spring period. With floral holidays such as Easter, Secretaries’ Day, King’s Day, Whitsun and Mother’s Day, the auction clock has been running at full pace for quite some time. In this column, he shares how supply, demand and prices have developed, and what he expects now that the market is gradually shifting towards summer. 

A spring full of activity 

The past few weeks have been dominated by a busy flower season. In many European countries, floral holidays followed one another in quick succession. With French and Swedish Mother’s Day marking the end of the season, this spring is now behind us. As every year, this created additional demand across various product groups. This was clearly reflected in both trade and pricing.

Cut flowers, in particular, moved easily through the market. Roses, peonies, chrysanthemums and other seasonal products were in high demand. Due to last week’s warm weather, we saw the supply of summer flowers increase rapidly. The supply of peonies is currently high. More and more typical summer products are also arriving, such as sunflowers, dahlias, and various field and bulb flowers.

The supply of houseplants remains broad. Greenery and Mediterranean varieties are well represented and continue to be popular with buyers.

A mixed picture on prices

Prices have shown a mixed trend over the past few weeks. Products with limited availability held their prices well, while larger supply sometimes put pressure on the market. Nevertheless, I look back on a strong spring season, with supply and demand generally well balanced.

Now that the peak flower holidays are over, it will be interesting to see how the market develops further. The weather plays a major role in this. Will it be warm across Europe, encouraging people to spend more time outdoors, or will it remain mild, leading consumers to opt more often for flowers and plants indoors? This makes a real difference at this time of year.

Working on the auction of the future

In addition to the auctions themselves, I am currently closely involved in the development of Auctioning via Floriday and the auctioneer’s workstation. Together with colleagues, I help shape how this workstation should function in practice. I review and test what the developers create and provide feedback based on daily experience at the auction.

Work is also underway on RFH Auction (auctioning via Floriday), the new system that will soon be used by buyers. In my role, I support the tests being carried out at locations with buyers. Buyers of all sizes, with a wide range of purchasing setups, are given the opportunity to test the upcoming system. We take their feedback and experiences on board to further improve it. The feedback I’m hearing is positive.

It’s great to see how these innovations are taking shape step by step. In collaboration with developers and users, we are working towards a future-proof auction that is ready for the next phase.

Heading into summer

The market is now gradually moving towards the summer period. From what I see around me, the first people will be going on holiday in June. This often leads to shifting trade flows and a somewhat quieter market outlook. At the same time, summer products and impulse purchases in good weather continue to offer opportunities.

Spring is behind us, but there’s still plenty happening at the auction. I look forward to the coming weeks with confidence.