Unfurling Sails

There hasn't been any time for bloggin.'  I've had flowers to sell. 

For the last few years I haven't had to put too much effort into selling our delphiniums.  The demand for them had been greater than our supply and so I was able to simply dispatch them to my customers at a price agreed at the start of the season.

The problem with under-supplying your market is that you can never read how great the actual market demand is for your product.  Last year we knew that we could sell more, we just didn't know how much more.

This year we have managed to satisfy the demand of both of our main customers much more quickly than we expected to.  A combination of factors (expanded acreage, a late season, ample rainfall and improved agronomy) have meant that we have produced a lot more flowers than usual and in a shorter time frame.  Unfortunately the cut flower market is not especially buoyant at the moment.  Retail prices have risen a bit in the last couple of years and consumers have noticeably tightened their belts. 

This means that I have had to go back on my arrogant maxim of "I do marketing, not sales" and have had to get out and find some new customers. 

There is a big challenge to producing for multiple retailers, especially producing non-commodity crops.  They dominate the market in terms of volume but their purchasing is largely based on computerised modelling and they plan product lines a long way in advance.  It is hard to make promotions happen on the spur of the moment (particularly when every other cut flower grower wants to promote their own products.  The rest of the fresh produce chain (wholesale markets and independent retailers) is very fragmented and difficult to suplly efficiently.

This is why I haven't been blogging for you.  I've rolled up my sleeves to do a bit of barrow boy trading (I'm using Cockerney rhyming slang and everything.)  I've managed to keep the flowers moving I'm secretly quite enjoying it.