Get a better grip on your customers with Buyer management

Buyers can now manage their own daily limits for buying on the clock, per buyer. They can also block and unblock buyers themselves. The first users of this new buyer management functionality are enthusiastic. "This really is a gigantic improvement!"

The buyer management functionality can be found in RFH Pre-Auction. That is a new app on Floriday where you can do all your auction preparations, such as viewing and marking clock offerings. For Samet Ali Gençaslan, purchasing management fulfilled a long-cherished wish. Samet is general manager of Bloemactief Import Export B.V. from Aalsmeer. He runs the company, which has been in existence for about 60 years, together with his father. Bloemactief exports throughout Europe and beyond. Foreign buyers (customers) can buy via Bloemactief's purchasing account directly from the auction clock via remote buying (KOA).

Gigantic improvement

"Remote buying went well for quite a long time, but we got less and less control over the purchases made by our customers. And we do want that control," says Samet. "I regularly indicated to Royal FloraHolland that we would like to have more control over this. That's been years now. That's why I'm very happy with the buyer management functionality. This really is a gigantic improvement!"

Less stress
That opinion is shared by Dasha Berezhnieva. She is responsible for buyer management at Honselersdijk-based Astra Fund, a wholesaler and exporter of cut flowers and potted plants. Some 60 buyers from (Eastern) Europe buy from the auction clock through the Astra Fund's purchasing account. "The new functionality makes my life a lot easier," says Dasha. "It saves me a lot of time and stress in the early morning, when I always get everything ready for our customers. If clients want something arranged, it only takes me a few minutes. That makes for less annoyance and frustration for customers."

Previously via customer service
Samet outlines how the process used to go: "If we wanted to set a limit or block a buyer, we had to indicate this via Royal FloraHolland's Customer Contact Centre. The staff there tried to do that as quickly as possible, but obviously they were not available 24/7. Sometimes we wanted to block a customer, but had to wait on the phone until this was done. In the meantime, a customer could just keep buying, while we didn't want that."

Adjusting real time limits
Now that Samet can be at the controls himself, he can set real-time daily limits and (de)block buyers, even via his phone. In all kinds of situations, this is of value. "Sometimes a customer's trailer is already full, while he can just keep buying. That's a shame, because then that trade stays with us and we have to give it a place and refrigerate it. Sometimes a buyer tells us his limit in advance; for example that he can buy for €30,000. Later that day, that then becomes €35,000. We can now adjust that quickly."

Double win
With this new possibility, Samet is cultivating goodwill with customers. "I can now customise things for customers myself 24/7. For example, I can unblock, so customers can already do Auction Pre-sales for the next day. So we have much more control over buyers. That saves us time and therefore money."

Blocking defaulting debtors
The new feature is also used by both Bloemactief and Astra Fund when buyers are in arrears. "That unfortunately happens regularly," says Dasha from Astra Fund. "We can now easily block them ourselves. And unblock them again when payments have been made. This frees up my time, which raises the quality of my other work. Astra Fund is reaping the benefits of that."

On to an app

Are there any drawbacks to these technological improvements? "That I speak a little less to the people at Royal FloraHolland. I have built a bond with them after all," says Samet. "Another small downside is that the new functionality is still only usable via the web browser. It would be nice if there would be user-friendly app."

Dasha: "For me, it's not even really necessary because I do everything via computer. But I understand that an app will work even easier for some. Apart from that, I would say to all buyers: start working with this new functionality. It really only has advantages!"