Thanks to the API connection with Floriday, buying and selling at Waterdrinker has recently become fully automatic instead of manual. This provides many advantages; not only for the exporter, but also for the growers they do business with and the customers they serve. Daan van Zutphen, Supply chain engineer, is pleased with this major advance.
Waterdrinker was founded in 1972 by Jaap Waterdrinker. What started with one market stall in Zaandam has grown into one of the largest global exporters and wholesalers of indoor and garden plants, flowers and accessories.The company has around 300 employees and 5,000 customers, including 1,500 growers. With 500 of them, business happens on a daily basis. The cash-and-carry set-up allows Waterdrinker to deliver to customers from its own stock until late in the day.
Benefits for the entire industry
Daan van Zutphen has now worked at Waterdrinker for five years. Of these, he has been involved in the implementation with Floriday for at least four years. ‘In the last year the link with Floriday has been prioritised internally and we've made huge strides. I'm extremely happy about that, because in my eyes it only offers advantages. For us, for the growers we do business with and for our customers. That makes us better and stronger, also as a total ornamental plant cultivation sector,’ says Daan.
Real-time stock information
Until recently, Waterdrinker worked with Florecom. All orders were sent from Florecom to Floriday's purchasing dashboard. This process was not future-proof, partly because it was cumbersome. ‘Previously, our webshop closed at a certain time and we had no real-time stock information from then on. Regularly, a customer would order products that were then no longer available. As a result, we had to sell no afterwards. As a company, that's obviously not ideal. And it also doesn't fit with these times, given all the technological possibilities available,’ says Daan.
Improved service
With these new arrangements, there is real-time information on stocks. "We will soon be able to accept orders in line with growers' delivery terms," Daan explains. "When the delivery time expires, our webshop's offer goes off. As a result, a customer can never again order products we no longer have. What Floriday unlocks make our offer so much easier. This saves a lot of e-mails, calls and phone calls. Invoices are also automatically linked to order letters. Because all that manual work is automated, the colleagues who used to do this have a more monitoring role. They can now pick up projects, which contributes to improving our service,’ Daan explains.
Testing together and simplifying the process
Before the final integration, Waterdrinker went through a successful test period with grower Ten Have. In the coming months, other growers will also be guided through making the switch to Floriday by Waterdrinker. Daan: "For this to work well, it is crucial that growers have their supply and delivery conditionsset up properly in Floriday. This gives the grower more room to run production. Moreover, they know exactly what to deliver where and when. The days of two or three calls for a single order will soon be over. To simplify the process, we are also returning to one procurement number. We will be informing all growers about this too".
Giving thought to functionalities
Among other things, Waterdrinker uses Floriday as the supply channel for customers. Functionalities the company uses include other purchasing tips. Daan: "So that you can still quickly include that special lot". Adjusting weekly prices once every 24 hours, which has been available to growers since 1 October 2024, is something Daan sees as advantageous: "It gives the market more freedom of movement. I'm a big fan of that functionality myself. During our regular meetings with Floriday and similar companies, we've been saying the same thing. It's great that market needs are being listened to and acted upon. What could be even better would be to hear more often in advance which features will be implemented in the longer term. Then as a company and industry we can better respond to coming changes."
Calling buyers: grab the tools the industry offers!
As one of the largest exporters in the Netherlands, Waterdrinker likes to lead from the front. "By doing so, we hope to inspire others," says Daan. "I think we as an industry are already doing well in terms of digitalisation, but there is room to be even better. Wouldn't it be cool if we as an industry could work even faster, cheaper and better? More and more growers have switched to Floriday, now it is the turn of buyers to do the same. Otherwise, it won't work. So I urge buyers to explore the possibilities of joining Floriday. It can save you a lot of time and money. Grab the tools the industry offers!"