The FlowerTrials is an event you’ll have no doubt heard of, if you work anywhere along the plant sales chain. However, if you’re a home gardener, then you may not know what it is! The FlowerTrials is basically a 4 day event, spread across locations in The Netherlands and West Germany, with 59 plant companies ‘putting on a show’ to tempt industry buyers with new plants and the latest retail and mail order concepts.
This is the moment where the plants that end up in home gardens are chosen!
Each company goes to great efforts to enact real-life retail scenes, so that buyers can visualise how they can formulate their own sales area for certain plants, all to tempt those green-fingered customers!
In many cases, plant companies prepare storytelling for each plant, and coupled with the marketing materials, many concepts are offered in ‘takeout’ form! Displays show how plants arrive at the garden centre on the trolley, and also show the wraps that can be supplied with the plants.
In my previous incarnation of New Product Developer at Thompson & Morgan, the FlowerTrials was a must-do date in my year, as it helped me gain an understanding of the marketplace, build connections and networks, and to choose the new plants I would introduce to the public via the mail order route. I was always inspired by the concepts shown and could easily translate them to my mail order situation.
Visitors to the FlowerTrials include retail buyers, growers, mail order product developers, breeder, plant companies and industry writers and journalists. It’s probably the most useful few days of networking during the horticultural year, ‘where plants meet people’. Of course, the plant companies know this, and always make sure plentiful snacks and meeting areas are to hand! During a FlowerTrials trip, you’ll hear many accents from around Europe, the USA, Asia AND Australia, as buyers flock to spend time with their sales representative. All to often with the lubrication of copious amounts of coffee too!
June is actually a low season for the garden trade, as spring sales are then out of the way, so companies and customers find they then have time to take things a little slower, and drink just one more coffee… Locations can interesting too, and it’s fun to see how a glasshouse can be completely repurposed with green carpets and suspended raised beds, how a fairytale Schloss can be transformed into a trial ground, or how you can install sports showers into part of your warehouse..
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- Transformation of a glasshouse
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- The svelte Schloss location
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- The sports showers!
One of the questions on people’s lips in the marketplace right now is ‘how do we appeal to millennials?’
Well, around the show, I could see a few interesting ways companies were doing this. Mostly through storytelling. Having a story to a plant means there’s something to get your attention, and millennials have many things vying for their attention these day, so it’s super important. With a story, a plant without that immediate ‘wow factor’ can be enhanced… Some of the initiatives seen played to the new tech generation too; with a selfie corner, a snazzy phone appendage freebie, and the new flatlay, Instagram-style catalogues.
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- The selfie station
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- Business card holder/phone stand
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- Flat-lay photo cover
Sales representatives tend to have very different approaches when you visit. I tend to prefer to build relationships with the breeders, so I can express what I feel the market needs, and indeed these breeders are often present at each company. I have also never quite decided whether I like sales reps to be attentive or hands off. Indeed, at some locations, not one sales rep made themselves known, whereas at others, they were on my tail as soon as I’d signed in! I guess knowing your customer well is the key to this!
Whilst at the show, I took a little bit of time to talk to exhibitors and visitors about their experience of the Flower Trials and what it means to them! I also chatted to them about the route to consumer, and the role of social media and that millennial appetite (Click on the first photo to fire up the gallery!):
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- Martine van Went: The FlowerTrials is now allowing us to directly appeal to the retailer, who can first see the product and concept they like and then find the grower to help make it happen. You want to support the grower to tell the story of the plant to the retailer, or talk to the retailer directly ourselves. We now deal with a triangle effect in many cases- plant company- retailer- grower. Social media is becoming more important too, to help us stay visible as a company. Plants can have their own Facebook page, and out hardt Garvinea especially benefits from story being told through this medium.
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- Bart Oostveen: We are new to the FlowerTrials. Customers would usually come to us during this period anyway, so we though it would be a good idea to extend that, and attract people that didn’t know us at all. Houseplants are experiencing a boom, as are climbing plants for height in the patio or in the garden.
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- Jasmine Hassinger: The FlowerTrials is a great fair! Other shows are during the busy time of the year. The Flower Trials happens during a low period for many companies, so people have the time to sit, chat and relax. There’s also more space! At trade shows, you usually only ever have 30 square metres to work in!
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- Maarten Huisman: The displays we create inspire visitors to get excited about orchids, and whilst it may not be suitable in their own sales location, it can inspire them to reshape either orchid selling environment. We give our customers the possibility to bring their own customers too. We also recognise the importance of social media for growing sales. Twitter is for growers and the grower sector. Instagram is for the younger crowd, and from our passion for orchids, we like to inspire customers with beautiful images. We use Facebook, but there is less interaction than on other channels. At Sion, we recently recruited some seasonal workers in a new way, via Instagram.
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- Sirekit Mol: There can be a gap between the consumer and the plant companies sometimes, however we are always looking at how to address that with consumer focus groups, to make the FlowerTrials as relevant as possible.
So, what’s it like to visit the Flower Trials?
Firstly, you’ll need a car! Locations are huddled into 2 or 3 areas, but train travel is not an option! Locations are, generally, easy to find, however a couple of them evaded me. As I searched for one particular site, I ended up in a McDonalds… hmmm. I am hoping the Flower Trials organization can do something to help navigation next year though, as there have been some new roads built around the Westland/Oranjesluisweg area, which really aren’t on satellite navigation yet… I can imagine many visitors getting into a muddle!
The FlowerTrials website does have a very handy route finder though, where you can plot the time it takes to go between each location. I would, however, find a big traditional map, annotated with companies, useful next time, though! Maybe I’m a bit old fashioned, but I need to know where I’m going when the sat nav doesn’t!
You’re advised to pre-register too, not just to make your check in smoother, but also so that companies can gauge the number of visitors through their doors, so they can stock up on enough stroopwafel! Driving over Germany for some of the companies can feel like a chore, but choose the right time of day and you’ll find it’s well worth the effort. As a plant hunter, I knew many people wouldn’t make this journey, so it made it even more important for me to go, and discover the new plants on offer!
To see my article on interesting new varieties, exciting concepts, the best snacks from the show and more- click here!
I caught up with a range of visitors during the show too, and wanted to find out why they feel the Flower Trials is worth 4 days out of their hectic horticultural calendar: (Click on the first photo to fire up the gallery!)
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- Ben Gregory: FlowerTrials is one of the first dates I set in my calendar each year. It is a vital week where plants people from all around the world meet & discuss possibilities for the upcoming season and further ahead. It is the prime place to see what breeders are releasing, to keep abreast of current trends and to develop relationships with commercial partners. I love visiting FlowerTrials as it is the perfect time of year to be doing business, the trial crops are looking spectacular and we are busy looking ahead to the coming years.
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- Peter van Rijssen: It’s the perfect time of the year to see perennials and bedding plants in flower. Growers, Garden Writers, and Buyers from all over the world are traveling to Europe to see what’s hot and new.
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- Graham Spencer: It’s about two things – plants and people. It provides an opportunity to see both new and existing varieties being shown to their maximum potential, including clever marketing concepts and point of sale ideas. However, it is also one of the best opportunities to meet the growers and breeders behind the new plants, to do deals on great new products and communicate the passion that sits behind everything that we do. People come from all around the world (I had meetings with people from ten countries, but I reckon there were maybe 25 countries represented), so it’s a great place to meet up.
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- Angela Treadwell-Palmer: The Week 24 FlowerTrials are important to me and Plants Nouveau because we can see many comparative trials that include our new selections, which helps us compare our new plants to other genetics already on or coming onto the market. We also like to keep to up to date with what other companies are up to with new marketing idea innovations and to check out the new genetics to see if we have anything competing in our pipelines. It either confirms our selections are superior, or forces us to face the reality that our plant may not have what it takes to compete in today’s market.
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- Helen Freeman: The flower trials are a great opportunity to photograph new and exciting varieties as well as updating existing ones. This is mainly due to the fact that plants are always grown and presented to the highest standard which makes it one of the best places for my job to take pictures.
So, as you can see, this event really is ‘where plants meet people’!
If you work in the trade, then I would suggest that you book your 2018 trip right now! If you’re an end consumer, then I suggest you stay tuned to my regular updates via my social media pages!
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