在“亚洲花都”感受鲜花产业数字化 | The Blooming Digital Flower Industry

Dounan International Flowers Industrial Park in Kunming, Yunnan Province is full of more than 1,000 different kinds of flowers, making it a true flower wonderland.

In the auction hall of Kunming International Flower Auction Center in the park, a different scene is presented, where a new Asian one-day auction record was set thanks to the introduction of e-auctions.

"Alright, get ready, now!" In the face of rapidly changing flower prices, having quick hands is vital. Senior florist Ma Jinke is nervous and excited. He buys tens of thousands of flowers every day, and in just a second or two, he must decide whether to place an order.

Dounan is known as the "flower capital of Asia", from where flowers are exported to more than 50 countries and regions. At the Kunming International Flower Auction Center, more than 4.5 million flowers flow out of the auction hall to all corners of the world every day, accounting for about 75% of the flower auction market in the park.

In the auction hall, 18 items of information, including variety, quantity, advantages and disadvantages of flowers are displayed on a huge LED screen in real time. In the face of the price reduction mode, purchasers must be ready to press the “buy button”, or they may end up empty-handed.

"Flowers are easily damaged during transportation and trading, so they need to be traded quickly after they are cut." Feng Huaibin, deputy general manager of Kunming International Flower Auction Center, said that his company introduced the Dutch price reduction auction system in 2002 to promote flowers from counterparty trading to electronic trading through a non-contact mode.

"Because of the fact that the price is unknown and cash cannot be seen, the flower farmers didn't approve of this mode at first," auctioneer Chen Fei explained. However, the high-quality services provided here have attracted middlemen to join the auction, gradually creating a competitive atmosphere.

"The auction volume of flowers on August 3 last year was 9.31 million, which set a new auction record for fresh cut flowers in a single day in Asia." Chen said that in the auction center, the initial three trading clocks and 300 trading seats have been expanded to 12 clocks and 900 seats. Last year, the total auction volume reached roughly 2 billion, the best result since the opening of the market.

Gu Chaofei, director of the Management Committee of Kunming International Flower Auction Center, explained that the committee has actively guided enterprises to develop online e-commerce platforms and taken many measures to promote the transaction volume of fresh cut flowers, with the transaction volume finally exceeding 10 billion.

"Come on, everyone! Place your orders as soon as possible. As soon as the stream is finished we will start sending out the goods." In Dounan flower trading market, Bi Qianqian, wearing fashionable clothes, is enthusiastically introducing flowers to the online audience. Two years ago, she started selling flowers through livestreams.

When walking through the market, we encountered a whole bunch of livestreamers selling flowers, making us realize the power of online consumption. "The most I’ve sold is 200,000 flowers in an hour." Bi Qianqian said that livestreaming has become an important way to sell flowers. Now she only receives a certain number of orders every day. "We should not only try to sell as much as we can, but also ensure the quality."

Early in the morning, Wang Bing, a florist working at the market, has already completed several transactions on the e-commerce platform. When he is finished preparing the goods, an express delivery worker is already waiting for him at the agreed place to load the boxes of roses into the cold chain car.

"Through data analysis, we actively guide transport capacity, venues and other resources. In the first week after this year’s Spring Festival, we transported more than 3,500 tons of flowers." Yang Jinglei, head of Yunnan flower project of SF-Express Group, introduced that they have set up a transportation support group to create a multi-dimensional transportation mode of "aviation + high-speed rail + cold chain" to ensure transportation quality.

"The demand for flowers in second and third tier cities is increasing." Jin Bo, vice president of Dounan Flower Industry Group, said that in the past, 90% of Dounan flowers were transported by air. Sometimes, due to re-distribution, disassembly and transshipment, the transit time was prolonged, which increased the loss. The park management committee helps enterprises speed up the construction of cold chain logistics systems and improve post-processing technology. Now, transportation by land cold chain logistics accounts for more than 70% of the total, and more than 20 million flowers are sent by the cold chain from here every day.

After the outbreak of COVID-19, the flower farmers and florists fully realized the importance of logistics." In the future, the logistics system of flowers will be more intelligent and the sales platforms will be more diversified." Gu Chaofei said that 290,000 square meters of land in the park has been specially planned for logistics use to enable Dounan flowers to reach the domestic terminal markets in 24-48 hours. At the same time, the existing online trading system of fresh cut flowers sold via mobile applications has been upgraded, and e-commerce livestreaming platforms have been introduced, realizing a cloud-driven mode.

The large screen of Kunming Huayibao Technology Co., Ltd., located in the southeast of Dounan flower trading market, displays all kinds of data, including product heat map, category ranking and color proportion, while the staffs in front of their computers are tracking the transaction in real time.

"The flower industry is a romantic business. The ‘flower of data’ makes blooming flowers more attractive." Zhao Yongneng, the person in charge of the company, said that as a trading platform promoting the businesses between flower farmers and florists through the analysis of transaction data, the enterprise have targeted the layout of the industrial chain, reduced unnecessary intermediate links, and enabled consumers to get a better flower purchasing experience. Last year, 400 million flowers were sold and delivered.

Flower trading in turn promotes the development of the "flower of data". In the past, the standards of flowers were not unified. After the introduction of e-auctions, standards for post-procurement packaging, fresh-keeping treatment and transportation were established. Now, the flower data from Dounan has changed from simple collection to accurate services, and the data has become a booster for the development of the industry.

"The ranking of these varieties and unit prices plays a great role in promoting transactions." Huang Lvchao, member Department Manager of Kunming International Flower Auction Center, explained that big data analysis leads consumption and guides production, realizes the integration of data about production, transaction, collection and distribution, and provides a scientific basis for industrial policy-making, market development and production guidance.

Last year, the flower supplier Li Yijian encountered a tight capital chain. He filled in the information on the mobile application Huapai Fuwugong (“flower auction service") in order to apply for a loan of 100,000 yuan. Soon, his application was approved by financial institutions. This is a good example of how flower data can promote capital flow. With the efforts of the park management committee and Kunming International Flower Auction Center, flower transaction data has become a prerequisite for financial institutions to approve loans, and financial institutions have provided credit financing of about 1 billion yuan for buyers and suppliers.