We started the day extremely early with a 6am departure to Royal FloraHolland, the famous flower auction site. If I’ve learned anything about the Dutch the last few days, it’s that they take great pride in their tulips. Tulips can be seen everywhere throughout Amsterdam, whether that be in the landscaping or in countless souvenir shops. I learned today that there’s a lot more where these tulips come from and that the Dutch are rightfully proud of them. Both the tulip farmers and sellers, like Royal FloraHolland, are committed to providing the highest quality of flowers for their customers. They claim that they distinguish themselves from competitors with their high standards for the quality of their goods. At Royal FloraHolland, they have testing rooms in which their flowers are tested and assessed for their appearance as well as inner quality. 

Next, I want to talk a little bit about their flower auction because it was something I was not familiar with. It is essentially what it sounds like in that flowers are being put up for sale and sold to the highest bidder. However, there are some interesting things about this place from a business perspective. At first, these auctions were local and only happened in person. However, with changing times and room for global expansion, this business has found incredible success by adjusting their business model. Now, these auctions take place online, allowing foreign bidders to participate in the event as well and this, of course, expands their consumer base, creating opportunities for increased revenue. With this enlarged consumer base, however, comes a greater need for proper supply chain management to ensure that the product is delivered to the customer in a timely manner. This aspect is another thing FloraHolland focuses on and I believe that this is a selling point to their customers, much like how we Americans love Amazon Prime services for the same reason.

Our last stop of the day was a tulip farm. We were given a tour of it by the owner of the farm himself, who is a third generation tulip farmer. While he was clearly passionate and fond of his work on the farm, he didn’t hesitate to admit that it was a business and like all businesses, he acts in the best interest of accruing profit. His business is interesting because initially, I thought that the main product he sold was the tulips as they are in bloomed, floral form, but he pointed out that it’s actually the bulbs that he sells. However, he said that this depended on the state of the market. For example, in the colder months, there is a higher demand for flowers, so he is better off selling the flowers rather than the bulbs and adjusts his product accordingly. 

Despite business ventures like profit being important to him, like many Dutch businesses, sustainability remains a priority. The location of the farm is very convenient because it’s below sea level and irrigation isn’t necessary, so a large amount of water is saved. Because the primary product sold here is the bulbs, the flowers are often cut to allow more energy to preserve the bulbs and increase their quality. Instead of letting these cut flowers go to waste, many of them are reused to create flower show displays. This was an interesting contrast to typical American business practices as it’s commonly known that America is pretty wasteful when it comes to production and often, efficiency for higher revenues comes at the price of unnecessary waste. It was really impressive to see that the Dutch seem to have mastered achieving both ends.