THE FLOWER AUCTION: Flower Selection and Care Contribute to Lifespan

Attention, Appreciation, Anticipation

Because one of the world's best flower auctions is in our city, Flowers Unlimited can provide customers with the best price, selection and quality for top-grade flowers. Our buyer bids at the Dutch Clock auction, the largest in North America, for the best of each season so we can provide a wide range of local field flowers and imports at the best prices for our discerning customers.

This is a "reverse" auction where the price goes down until a bid is received by a customer pushing a key on an electronic pad tied into the computer system so that the bid stops the digital clock and sets the price paid and quantity of lots purchased.

When you pick up that bouquet, it might interest you that about 1,000 buyers gather at the flower auction barn three times a week to compete for more than 900 different plants and cut flowers provided by 200 local growers. And it makes sense when you see how flowers are graded, that green grocers and supermarkets can sell flowers for much less than florists who must set higher standards for selection and quality and purchase top grade rather than an inferior grade.

A Growers' Co-operative

The Vancouver flower auction, started in 1963, is one of three Canadian flower auctions, with the Toronto and Montreal auctions created in 1972. With about 2,800 sales made each hour,we are there at the crack of dawn bidding, not only against other retailers, but against floral wholesalers and American buyers from as far away as Portland. So you can see how difficult it is to bid at a flower auction by punching a computer mouse on our desks as the clocks are set to the growers' minimum bid for each item.

The flower auction is really the growers' co-operative , with flowers pouring into the football-field-size warehouse from all over the Lower Mainland. We bid against US exporters who come with their dollar advantage and Free Trade support, and our local wholesalers who can sweep the place clean, bidding in high, when white or red flowers are in high demand at Christmas or for weddings.

Auction Bidding Is More

That means that if all the white lilies are taken at auction in one bid--and we've got a wedding prebooked for a couple of months--we now go to the wholesaler and buy by the bunch at a mark-up. Bidding at auction is a little bit more involved than buying sweaters or giftware, and only comparable I think to the Agricultural Marketing Boards who experience the same multi-tier bidding.

Not unlike the London Tea Auctions, one of Britain's oldest commodity markets that was closed not long ago after 300 years, internet selling worldwide from the farm to the retailer impacts the local flower auction as well as the US exporters at our auction.

Auction is Growers' Platform

The flower auction setting looks pretty much like a set for the Wheel of Fortune, with giant wheels--one set for fresh cuts and one set for plants--running simultaneously as three-tiered carts enter and exit on in-floor railway tracks. Quick wits and good juggling skills are essential if you're trying to bid on plants and flowers at the same time--and make sure that you are bidding on the right clock for the top grade, and best price! The only good thing is there is a United Flower Growers (UFG) Vanna-White-type to keep us focused on the product we're bidding on...

All that to say, flower auction buying is an interesting test of skill and endurance.....and it takes a good deal of experience to get a good selection of the best flowers for the best prices. And consider, that in the past decade flower prices have basically not changed.

Two Largest Flower Auctions Merge

And it's just this decreasing market share that saw the two largest Dutch flower auctions strike an agreement in October 2006, to merge, which should be completed by 2008. New export markets are opening up in India and Dubai and China's building 12-lane highways just for the transport of its flower industry. It's interesting stuff, how one country's benefit in--finally--being able to afford to establish plant coolers for the industry demands a merger in another part of the world. Who would have thought it for flowers?

But it does help the faith in this business to know that on a global scale, flowers are an important aspect of our lives, and it seems we're demanding more. That's a good thing.

So,the next time you see a gerbera for sale here for $1.50 to $3 per stem, just think that same gerbera grown here sells in Seattle for $4US (and in Holland for less than $1). Or that basic six-inch-pot poinsettia that sells here for about $15 to $19 sells in the US for about $35(US).Or consider Paris. In this Parisian shop, roses and lilies are sold by the stem on-line and averaging the price in North America for Valentine's flowers.And appreciate.

Selling Price Variances Tracked

Recent statistics from the Dutch flower auctions are interesting--showing a price-per-stem decrease in 2004 over 2003; and, by comparison with our price, they're a real bargain! According to the Chain of Life Network's, chart, roses sold at 25 cents (US) while we bid at $1.75 and up per stem. Gerbera at 15 cents; here, 60-75 cents each.

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