Metz Actueel

Welcome to the website of Metz
with recent information about Metz and the Flower Market

23-04-09

Breaking tradition, May 2009 for the Metz group was in terms of revenue not a stellar month. Important causes: the low price level, the few working days, and particularly the fact that France’s Mother’s Day falls this year in June. Taking all of this into consideration, we can deem it a reasonable month. In Europe, Metz contributed in making mothers happy all over Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Regarding the delivered volumes, we were satisfied. In North America we weren’t only excited about the volumes, we were happy with the revenues as well. That said, Metz USA showed a revenue growth of a tidy 30%. Canada also showed good results.

June has all of the ingredients to be an excellent month: French Mother’s Day, many and favorable working days, and an abundance of marriages in Europe as well as America.

22-05-09

You will receive the latest Scala Verde Magazine from your rep in the next few weeks. And what a blast we had making this issue, filled with interesting articles, useful everyday tips for florists and a very sunny competition.

- The most important window… is your shop-window!
- Five TIPS for florists beating the credit crunch blues
- Inside story - Alegre decoración floral in Barcelona
- Focus on Plants - a glorious appearance and several new stars

Issue nr. 14 will be even more special for one florist as you can win a very generous cheque worth of £180,- or €200,- with our next competition. How you ask? Simply join the latest Sunny Contest. Click here for more details!

Have fun reading!

01-05-09 SUCCESSFUL AS EVER!

So many positive comments have been received from our customers who attended the recent round of Win Win evenings specializing in wedding design. From Aberdeen in the North to Bristol in the South and all points in between it was the same story. The shows were fun, informative and generated energy and enthusiasm to all who were there and the orders for the Spring collection of sundries was very pleasing. Our thanks must go to the four world renowned designers who inspired us all - Johan Huisman, Miranda ter Voorde, Florian Seyd and Joan Stam. Florists are already asking when the next round of evenings will be taking place - we shall keep you informed!

28-04-09

Fleura and Metz have the intention to merge as of June 30th, 2009. The merger combination will operate under the name Fleura-Metz.

Metz and Fleura have reached this decision based on there mutual vision of the future. Important aspects of that are:

The florist is the focus. Together Fleura and Metz are better able to support and strengthen the market position of the florist. Fleura-Metz wants to be the best partner for the florist and achieves that for this segment by unique economies of scale and the presence of knowledge in terms of sourcing and logistics;

The delivery area of Metz and Fleura as of 2009 is Europe and North America. Both the “cash & carry” as well as the “direct-“ model are highly successful in these markets. The combination of both companies creates a unique total package of sales concepts with which florists in the whole world can optimally be serviced;

Fleura-Metz wants to intensify its efforts in terms of market support for the florist. Specific know-how must be developed further. Innovation in marketing is our mission, whereby present services such as workshops, focus groups, demo’s and Scala Verde comprise the early stages.

Not only the boards of Fleura and Metz, but a lot of other colleagues from various disciplines of both companies have in the past year and a half experienced positive experiences with each other in the spirit of cooperation within MFI.

The board of Fleura-Metz will operate from two headquarters: Westland and Aalsmeer.
The merger combination will be led by Robert Kalter and Frank Koenen. Both companies will continue unchanged in the market with their brands such as Metz, Fleura, HBI, Hottinger and Scala Verde.

Fleura-Metz has a revenue of circa 300 million Euro and supplies to 25,000 customers in Europe and North America. The group has 54 cash & carry’s and utilizes the worldwide Internet ordering system Iris. At Fleura-Metz 1,000 people are employed. Fleura-Metz is a member of MFI.

Websites:
www.fleura.com
www.metz.com
www.mfi-import.com

27-01-09

We are proud to introduce a new buying concept ‘Metz Basics’. This allows our customers to buy their flowers a little less expensively, without compromising the quality.

How does it work?

Many times florists are looking for a very specific colour in a flower, e.g. a black centred orange Gerbera with a tangerine shade. This variety of Gerbera is easily located on our pricelist.

Other times, however, the same florist is just looking for an orange Gerbera (and they don’t mind if the colour is dark orange or light orange, black centre or green centre) as long as it’s an orange Gerbera!

For occasions like this, we have created ‘Metz Basics’.

This allows florists to buy their basic product line (e.g. Lilies, Tulips, Callas, Amaryllis, Cymbidium, Spray Chrysants, Hyacinths, Gerberas, and Mini Gerberas) by colour – not variety! By giving us the flexibility to get the best deal available in the market that day, we can offer these products to the florist without compromising quality.

06-01-09

Last July we told you about phase 1 of a new feature with Iris Online: a search engine, so you could search products by their name or parts of their name. Then we told you that behind the scenes we were working very hard on phase 2.

Good news! Phase 2 is ready and working, so now you will be able to search flowers, plants and sundries in different ways. With the button “Advanced Search” you can search on price, length/height, pot size or colour(s). You can also have a combination of these searching tools.

We hope this new tool will reduce your ordering time online and give you the option to find those special products you really need!

11-12-08

The Agora Group has decided that as of January 1st, 2009, to join as partner of Mondial Flower International (MFI). MFI was started in 2007 by Fleura and Metz. The purpose of MFI is to bundle knowledge and purchasing power, thereby optimizing its partners respective sourcing.

According to Gerd Nagels, CEO of the Agora Group, joining MFI is the right strategy to be able to leverage the internationalization and economies of scale that are occurring in the flower industry.

The board of MFI will be comprised of Richard Koenen (Metz, Chairman of the Board of MFI), Sidney Moll (Fleura) and Guy de Borger (Agora). MFI has locations in southern Europe, Africa, South America and North America. MFI purchases on behalf of more than 40,000 florists in the middle and high-end segment in Europe and North America.

The Agora Group supplies professional florists and garden centers via 20 cash & carry’s in Belgium and France.

The Fleura Group, with 53 cash and carry’s as well its direct export channel, is active in western and central Europe.

The Metz Group focuses on direct shipments to florists in western Europe and North America.

Kontich/Aalsmeer/Westland, December 11th, 2008

Since October 2004 Victor van Dijk (30) a Dutchman from the Westland area, famous for it's flower production, has been running our Quito office in Ecuador, he has lived in Ecuador for 7 years and has vast knowledge of the growers and transportation. This familiarity with the area has worked well and Metz are now sending flowers to USA, Canada and Europe. These are of the highest quality being sourced from our own partner growers and packed by them in Metz Ecuador boxes.

Ecuador has many climate zones so a large variety of flowers can be produced from large headed roses, tropicals to summer flowers. The trend at the moment is for garden style, large headed roses and these can be obtained in a variety of colours and the highest quality. A capital E on the pricelist tells you that these are sourced from Ecuador and you will see are competively priced. So why not give them a try or some of the beautiful range of tropicals and summer flowers that are presently available.

Click for a larger image.

On this website http://www.metz.com we have the facility to provide you with a service to advertise items you may want to sell. Whether it be to sell your business, van or any other item or advertise for new staff this can now be done free of charge. So let us help you. To give further information please apply to Mieke or Hans in Holland on 0031.174.74.74.30 or Fax 0031.174.74.74.34 or E-mail: IE@metz.com.