In the March/April issue of Floral Management, contributing writer Kiley Jacques shines the spotlight on how businesses are using digital tools to be more efficient — creating a more sustainable industry.
In any business, it can be easy to ride the current and focus on today’s profits. But to ensure any industry can endure, business owners have to be innovative and find new ways to do old things, securing a future for themselves and their peers. In the March/April issue of Floral Management, contributing writer Kiley Jacques shines the spotlight on how businesses are using digital tools to be more efficient — creating a more sustainable industry.
Waste-Cutting Technology
BloomyPro, a Holland-based software company, helps retailers ditch the old method of ordering, reviewing, and, ultimately, discarding bouquet samples. The company offers hundreds of online-only bouquet samples, ensuring no flowers are wasted in the selection process. Founder and CEO Eric Egberts says this method also reduces the financial and environmental impacts of packaging, shipping, and transporting sample bouquets.
Streamlining Transactions
Fresh-o-Fair connects retailers to sustainable South American growers through its website. Cofounder Claudia Munoz likens the business to a concierge service, assisting with every step in the purchasing process. She says her business seeks growers that utilize both environmental and socially conscious practices. For example, partner farms may offer their employees living wages, childcare, and educational opportunities. (For more on sourcing sustainably grown flowers, check out Floral Management’s Up the Supply Chain column).
To learn more about how the floral industry is innovating for a more sustainable future, read “Industry Innovations Forward People, Plant, Profit Model” in the March/April issue of Floral Management.
Laurie Herrera is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.
