Update strategy committee: scenarios for the future

28 April 2020 Royal Floraholland Cooperatie Van Kwekers

Royal FloraHolland has a lot on its plate due to the corona crisis, but behind the scenes we are thinking about what the floriculture industry will look like after the crisis. How do we respond to the changing situation? A team within Royal FloraHolland is working out strategic post-corona scenarios and collects insights from the strategy committee of the Members' Council, among others. André Zuidgeest will update you.

Andre Zuidgeest

What are the long-term effects of the crisis? What does this mean for Royal FloraHolland's strategy? These were the main questions that were discussed during the meeting with Steven van Schilfgaarde and the strategy committee of the Members' Council on Tuesday, 15 April. André Zuidgeest, a member of the strategy committee and the owner of Villa Gerbera: "We discussed issues that members experience. Not really in a practical sense, as in what is going on at your own nursery, but more in a global sense: how do we see the long-term developments? For example, what are we expecting with regard to international sales? How will the increase in business-to-consumer trade develop?"

"Furthermore, we spoke about components of the strategy: which components are paused and which can be accelerated? Tough decisions that we as the Members' Council are not directly responsible for, but we can provide input. Now more than ever, it is crucially important and useful to share insights as much as possible. With regard to the new membership model, many committee members thought that this was so important that we have to continue. However, we do not want to do this without our members' influence. This is currently a big challenge. The discussion strongly influences the cooperative's operations, including our finances. The near future is likely to tell how we are going to do address this. Many things are changing right now, we also have to save costs. We agreed that we cannot put 100% Digital on hold. That has to be finished by the end of 2020."

"Furthermore, we think that the corona crisis will more or less accelerate a number of existing developments. An example would be the increase of direct versus the clock. We said that the projects that are good for the cooperative and work out favourably in terms of costs have to be accelerated. An example is nationwide auctioning and the e-wallet. The e-wallet is a new payment method that Royal FloraHolland is working on. The intention is to easily settle international flows via our platform, without the flows physically going through the Netherlands. We are talking about trade from Kenya directly to China, for example. This can only improve the importance of the entire marketplace. We would therefore like to see these payment facilities being implemented in an accelerated way."

The Strategy Committee will also continue to share experiences and developments with Steven and Arne in the time to come. Having consultations in this way is considered very valuable by the entire committee.

Steven van Schilfgaarde's reaction after the meeting

"Everyone agreed that we have to accelerate the implementation of the strategy. We were told not to shy away from sacred cows. Determination is the current motto. Great importance is attached to finishing a number of discussions, such as the discussion about membership. This is not just about the form it will take, but also about the rights and duties in relation to suppliers.

We cannot postpone the pricing of nationwide auctioning either. Another important subject is image auctioning and the way we are going to structure this in the Showcase Eelde. We are going to implement this as quickly as possible at the export locations as well. This is also very important to achieve cost savings.These are essential for our own budget. Attention was also turned to market shifts. We see an acceleration in the shift from clock to direct. During the current crisis, clock growers realise more than ever how vulnerable they are. Digital provides an answer to this. The conclusion is that the chosen direction of the strategy is broadly supported."