Qualily: "A step forward in digitalisation with direct delivery via Floriday"

Using the latest techniques, we aim to enhance our users' trade opportunities now and in the future. For example, handling direct delivery is now possible via Floriday instead of Connect-EAB. From 1 July, a fee will therefore apply for using the old message standard. Qualily also switched to that direct delivery via Floriday; Martijn Kwakernaat tells us about it.

Martijn started at Qualily as a schoolboy at 15. Seventeen years later, he is still working at Qualily, now as a sales manager. Qualily was formed in 2000 by a collaboration of two lily growers and in recent years grew to a 12-hectare greenhouse farm with an annual production of some 20 million lilies. They grow about 15 main products at four production sites. They also have a refrigerated location at Royal FloraHolland Naaldwijk. Martijn: "From our hub in Naaldwijk, we distribute our products directly to customers or to the clock so that our growing locations can focus on cultivation."

Operating day trading

Qualily trades around 65% of lilies directly. "Our sales are mainly to wholesalers and florist-oriented buyers. We have no retail agreements; it is mainly day trading that we serve. About 35 per cent of our sales go to the clock. The clock serves as a shop window and with the clock we also see a clientele that does not buy in via direct. We do the allocation direct versus clock based on data. I am working every day to sell our trade in the best possible way," Martijn says.

"Everything from the package"

For commercial processes, Qualily works with the 9 Knots Solutions software package Greenmaster. "Basically, we do everything in Greenmaster. This package is linked to Floriday. In Floriday itself, we only adjust the clock presale price and occasionally receive enquiries or send offers."

"We no longer need to use Connect-EAB"

Settlement of direct delivery was normally always done by sending a Connect-EAB from the software package. Like other software vendors, in recent months Greenmaster has built in the ability to handle direct delivery via the Floriday API link. "We at Greenmaster were one of the first growers to switch and handle direct delivery via the Floriday API link. As a result, we handle the direct order without using the Connect-EAB, an older messaging standard."

Lead time needed

"In the beginning, we ran into some teething problems that were quickly fixed after contacting Greenmaster. We also still have some challenges in handling corrections or orders placed through the eWallet. Buyers have to agree on corrections in time, otherwise we sometimes run into the fact that it halts our process at the hub. But with all new initiatives, a lead time is needed," Martijn said.

Company is easier to find

"I think Floriday is never finished; there will always be new initiatives that need to be coordinated with the software package. And that needs flexibility from everyone. Nor does this move away from direct trade seem to bring immediate benefits. It does ensure that, as an industry, we take another step forward in digitalisation. What I already notice is that by linking with Floriday, we are more easily found as a company. We more often receive orders from buyers we had no contact with before and that is really positive. I see Floriday as a marketplace that is getting bigger and bigger, where we as growers are getting found more and more easily."

From 1 July charge for Connect-EAB

On the road to a future-proof marketplace, Royal FloraHolland is gradually saying goodbye to older technologies, such as the Connect-EAB. For this reason a fee will be charged for the use of the Connect-EAB from July 1 this year. We use this fee to cover the costs associated with maintaining the systems for using the Connect-EAB. Read more