Three weeks ago, Dutchman Corné van den Berg was forced to switch from selling plants and flowers via markets to selling them online. With hundreds of delivery addresses, he’s one of the many digital success stories in Belgium. However, experts are pointing out that the online sales are only a small consolation. The Flemish floricultural sector is in for a huge blow.
“We normally sell on market throughout Flanders, so in preparation for the first sunny weekend of the year, we’d purchased three truckloads of flowers, mostly tulips. But on Friday 13 March, the entire country went into lockdown.” That’s how Corné van den Berg, flower seller from the Dutch bulb region, starts his story.
The Dutchman quickly decided to turn the website of his company De Vliegende Hollander into an online shop. Once Van den Berg had posted a message on Facebook, the ball started rolling and in a short time, he managed to generate lots of publicity and online orders, he reports. “That’s how we managed to sell seventy percent of our stock.”
He’s well aware that this digital success will probably be short-lived though. “As soon as florists, garden centres and markets are allowed to reopen, we’ll lose a lot of our trade again.”
But Pieter van Oost, secretary of AVBS, trade association for ornamental growers, doesn’t completely agree. “Many florists and growers had been thinking about setting up a digital sales channel for a long time, and the crisis has speeded things up. Some of the online sales will continue after the coronavirus crisis.”
Click here to read the full story on Corné van den Berg in Floribusiness digital magazine.
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