Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FLOURISH (Creating a sustainable, flourishing industry: digitizing the traditional cut-flower industry)
Reporting period: 2019-12-01 to 2020-05-31
• Task 1: Market study and user engagement: we have (1) evaluated the cost savings and benefits that digitization can bring to supermarkets regarding cut flowers,
(2) identified the pain points in the value chain which we can address with our BloomyPro platform, and (3) evaluated potential barriers and the willingness of
users to adapt their way of working and switch to digital solutions.
• Task 2: Refining the business model for supermarkets: we have evaluated the subscription model we currently used for retail suppliers to refine the business
model towards supermarkets.
• Task 3: Refining the marketing strategy to enter the supermarket-user engagement: we have refined the marketing strategy software to maximize the likelihood
of successfully achieving adoption of our BloomyPro software by supermarkets.
• Task 4: Technical feasibility: we have translated the user needs into future technical improvements in user-friendliness, an intergrated cost-price tool and finally
the develoment of a digital catalogue.
• Task 5: Consolidating a business plan: we have used the results of task 1-4 to update and optimize our business plan in the form of a consolidated pitch deck.
A special source of information we used for this study has been interviews with 4 experts in different aspects of the cut flower and retail industries. Overall, we can say the FLOURISH project has proven highly valuable for us as the desired outcomes have been achieved and we now have a clear and dedicated strategy to further develop our software platform and subsequently enter the supermarket segment of the cut flower industry.
In the short-term implementation of BloomyPro will increase overall profits across supermarket chains by increasing turnover and profit margins while reducing waste and thus costs in the flower section which is a significant value proposition as demonstrated in our financial forecast for a major Dutch retail chain.