Lavendel Plus: 'Creating more awareness and reaching customers through our online presence'

Lavendel Plus has focused on the sale of large potted lavendel plants since 2000 at a large 30-hectare nursery near Breda. The plants primarily go to the Netherlands, and Belgium, but also England, France, Germany and Scandinavia. We met Jeroen Zoon, commercial manager at Lavendel Plus since 2021.

Jeroen joined the company with no experience in cultivation and plants. "I saw an exciting opportunity at Lavendel Plus to work with an honest product that is making the world greener and making people happy.'' This also meant the introduction to Floriday. We asked Jeroen about his experiences with Floriday, how Lavendel Plus prepares for the season and how they respond to developments around cultivation.

Qualitative cultivation

Jeroen: "20 years ago, we started out with 1,000 plants a year, which has now grown to 800,000 lavender plants a year. We grow differently from 90% of the market; we work with a cutting from the open ground instead of seedlings or cuttings in the greenhouse. This results in stronger and more prolific roots and hardy lavender plants that are resistant to disease and more resilient when being transported."

We also regularly test with new assortments. We are now growing a smaller lot of peat-free for the third year in a row. Peat mining has a negative impact on the environment. In addition, several countries (including England) are trying to reduce its use or even make peat-free cultivation mandatory. It is useful to be able to indicate through Floriday to a lot that it is a peat-free lot. Buyers can then purchase from us based on these criteria. The future will reveal whether there is more demand for this and whether we will expand this type of cultivation."

Contracts and offers in Floriday

Lavendel Plus uses Floriday, linked to Florisoft. "We explore the platform before each season so that we take advantage of the latest updates and to become more familiar with it. One way we do this is through a CheckUp. We are increasingly asking our customers to use Floriday for ordering and this season we will also find out how it works with the countdown of stock."

''At the start of a season, we add new varieties to our assortment in order to complete the catalogue in Floriday. After this, we see which customers want to place orders and contact them to agree contracts. Additionally, we use the updated network function to see if there are customers we don't yet supply and send them a connection request. We also send offers to our top 10 customers. This is almost always successful."

Strengthening each other together as an industry

"With Floriday, I see commercial opportunities for the company by creating more awareness and reaching more customers. If more and more growers use the platform and keep expanding the assortment on Floriday, customers will also want to use it more, which means we are mutually strengthening each other and the entire industry. Floriday is an easy way to reach a lot of customers quickly at a lower cost than if you were at a trade fair, for example. In addition, you can place targeted offers and focus on that part of your assortment where it is most needed at that time. Customers are displayed in bundles; you can offer exactly what you want and within a day you already know whether something is working or not. In our digital future, I see an important part being played by the Floriday platform."