We were up bright and early this morning to visit FloraHolland, which is the world’s largest flower auction distributor. At 5 am each day, 46 million flowers are auctioned off, and FloraHolland’s employees must ship them all by the end of the day. We arrived at 7 am to find the warehouse filled with busy workers transporting flowers to prepare them for shipment. Every employee rode around on their own cart, picking up flowers and moving them. This company clearly had a lot of logistical expertise, which makes it a very useful part of the supply chain.

Later in the morning, we moved to a different part of the tulip supply chain: the producer! We went to De Tulperij, which is a family owned and operated flower farm. There, we got a tour from the owner, who told us about the process of producing tulip bulbs. This part of the supply chain was clearly more focused on improving customer experience by making personal connections. The farm itself was beautiful, even though it is far past the peak of tulip season. Every employee was very friendly and welcoming. The shop was really cute and also had a bar with coffee and food. Finally, De Tulperij had an outdoor garden area to enjoy food and drinks beside a wide variety of tulips.

Although these two companies looked very different, it is clear that they would complement each other very well. FloraHolland provides efficiency and logistics while De Tulperij focuses on the customer relationship. All of those characteristics are necessary to retain customers effectively.

We finished today off with a traditional Dutch dinner, stamppot, which was mashed potatoes mixed with chicory and served under a meatball. Very delicious & Dutch! Thanks for reading, and see you tomorrow!