De Guchtenaere: “We can now better provide customers with a unique supply”
Simon Bruynsteen is software developer at De Guchtenaere, a Belgian plant and flower wholesaler that focuses on a unique supply. Recently, they integrated Floriday into their custom software system SalesCaddy. What is the impact of the link with Floriday for them? Read more about the experience of De Guchtenaere.
The buyers and sellers of De Guchtenaere have the goal of putting together a unique supply every day. The wholesaler is a one-stop-shop with a broad assortment of flowers, plants and decorative material. By means of cash & carry, an online webshop and road carriers, they deliver the best service to garden centres and florists. “We use a customer-oriented approach and are of the opinion that quality beats price,” says Simon.
Digitisation
Before, De Guchtenaere ordered through the Florecom Intermediary Office. When that way of ordering was no longer possible, they started working with an automated Excel file with historic order data. New products were then manually added from FloraXchange.
In September 2020, Simon had his first meeting with Floriday expert Ruud to start trading through Floriday. “When I said that we still had to get started, Ruud’s eyes got a little bit big,” laughs Simon. “Getting started, we were relatively late, but with the no-nonsense mentality of De Guchtenaere, after watching an instructional video and with the guidance from Ruud, we did a lot of work in just a few days. This meant that De Guchtenaere was ready to start in December 2020.”
De Guchtenaere makes use of their own software system: SalesCaddy. “SalesCaddy was already so well constructed in terms of data model that very little needed to change. We started with the nationwide supply database, which was followed by FloraXchange and FloraMondo, and the structure of Floriday is a logical next step. The catalogue was the only extra thing that was added,” says Simon.
Opportunities and challenges
Thanks to the link with Floriday, De Guchtenaere can now better provide customers with the unique supply that they offer. “We can now purchase more diversely. The historical data which was previously used in Excel lists, has been linked to the Floriday catalogue. In addition, this can now be combined with the complete supply from Floriday. By now, we have already gained two full days’ worth of time per week, all due to the link with Floriday. Fewer errors are made and the efficiency has improved,” explains Simon.
Along with the benefits that Floriday offers, there are of course the necessary challenges: “During the start-up period we noticed some challenges, such as growers who did not yet have a supply available online, or packing configurations and packaging that was not yet correctly filled in. But thanks to the good relationship with the growers from whom we purchase, we can see huge improvements in this as well,” notes Simon. Right now, there is still a lot of manual labour when it comes to logistics and finances. When this can be linked to the order process, it will save even more time for De Guchtenaere. Simon also sees opportunities in the communication with growers: “The relationship is very important. It would be nice if we could include comments in our orders, which the grower then gets to see”.
100% Digital
Simon understands that there is unrest in the market due to the changes that go along with working 100% Digital, but looks to the future with positivity: “In our opinion, this will bear fruit within the whole chain in the future. We, as buyers, will increasingly order digitally in the future. If the supply of growers cannot be found online, it will eventually mean that we will order less intensively”.
