“Sometimes we travel more than 300 kilometers to deliver a bouquet”, explains Elena Razumova, managing director of Fleurop-Interflora Russia. This is because distances in this land of the tsars are very vast and not all of its princesses live in Moscow.
But it’s also due to the fact that Fleurop-Interflora has only just entered the Russian market and for the moment counts only 60 florists among its members. This is not yet enough for a country which is more than 9'000 kilometers wide. It’s safe to say that there’s still room for expansion for this company which already has 54’000 specialist flower shops in 154 countries around the world and is celebrating its 60th birthday this year! Numerous are the passers-by strolling the Muscovite streets with a bouquet of flowers in their hands, as many tourists will attest to. Russians love flowers.
It’s therefore not very surprising that a company such as Fleurop-Interflora would receive a warm welcome in the country. “We learned that with the drastic increase in salaries, demand for flowers and other gifts were rising sharply in Russia” confides Marc Schmid, CEO of Fleurop-Interflora European Business Company, “we therefore decided to make a move two years ago, before another company did”. A decision for which he can pat himself on the back. Founded only six months ago, Fleurop- Interflora Russia has already established a network and can receive orders from its website. The company currently receives an average of fifty orders a day. “This is a very small number in relation to Russia’s population, admits Elena Razumova, but that’s because people haven’t heard of us yet.” Everyone is expecting a lot from the marketing campaign which started in September, after “Flowers 2006”, the biggest flower exhibition in Russia, which takes place in Moscow at the end of August.
Fleurop-Interflora Russia made the most of the event by making itself known, presenting its new status and recruiting the best florists in order to widen its network across the entire country. “Russia is currently at a different stage in flower market, explains Marc Schmid, for the moment we have to familiarise people with our name, our services and our mode of operation”. In addition to its traditional service of delivering flowers across the entire world, Fleurop-Interflora Russia is preparing to also offer delivery of fruit baskets and other gifts.
The company have their work cut out for them, as the reality in Russia is very different from that in Switzerland. The company follows Fleurop-Interflora’s worldwide policy of guaranteeing same-day delivery, but faced with long distances and poor road conditions, sometimes it’s forced to turn down an order.
To avoid such refusals in the future, Fleurop- Interflora Russia has set a goal of covering the entire Russian territory within six months to a year.
In Moscow, as well as the company’s European headquarters in Zurich, directors say they are confident.
“The market study headed by Swiss Business Hub showed that the Russian market was ready for this service and that there was an enormous potential.
In short, that all the conditions were in place to ensure a successful market entry for the company”, enthuses Elena Razumova. “We believe we’ll be the leader on the Russian floral market within the next two to three years”.
As for Marc Schmid, he is pleased with himself for having employed the services of Swiss Business Hub.
“You have to be very well prepared in order to enter the Russian market. The legislation is very complex and it’s crucial to find a reliable partner, as well as a good location. The Hub helped us in all these aspects.”
