Business
17:58, 11-Aug-2017
Flower industry: Rosy prospects amid blossoming market
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Every week, IT worker Zhang Xiaorong creates beautiful bouquets of flowers to liven up her workplace with the help of an app called Reflower.
The online florist has introduced a subscription service, which allows users to have flowers delivered to their home or office every week.
The model has helped the company garner a user base in excess of 5 million and turn a handsome profit.
Reflower has secured its B series round of investment and is now linked with Royal Flora Holland, the century-old company’s sole sales channel in China.
Floral & Life is another company making inroads into China's booming flower market.
As a content provider, it offers app-based articles and videos centering on the art of floristry.
It also organizes offline activities and runs brick and mortar stores selling flowers, furniture, books and other homewares.
The company is looking to build a platform with a whole ecosystem for home living, including selling flower-related products and services.
In developed markets such as the US, Japan and Holland, daily consumption of fresh flowers accounts for between 30% to up to 60% of the market.
In China however, this number is only 5%, with gift flowers making up the main portion of the market.
That provides potential opportunities for e-florists, who also face several challenges.
Besides a low market penetration of around 1%, they also need to manage a sophisticated supply chain to ensure the timely arrival of fresh flowers.
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