Changes happen all the time when it comes to doing business in the floral industry. That’s particularly true of the past few years, as we’ve had to adapt to the pandemic’s shifting tides.
And one of the most fascinating and beneficial changes to the floral industry is the advent of blockchain technology. In this article, we’ll discuss blockchain, how it can benefit the floral industry, and how cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin) is changing the way florists and suppliers do business.
What is Blockchain Technology?
While blockchain technology is still too new to know exactly how it will evolve, one thing is for sure: It will provide some significant benefits to the floral industry supply chain. The biggest benefit will be transparency since every network participant will share data and information in real-time, from production to packing to shipping and delivery. This will increase the individual responsibility of everyone on the supply chain.
How will this transparency affect the floral industry? Here are a few examples from an article published by the floral industry software development company Quick Flora:
• You’ll be able to easily search online for the physical location of every grower and how many acres or hectares they planted.
• Growers can share what they planted, when they harvested it when they cut and boxed it, and how they shipped it. These details will be easily accessible to buyers around the world.
• Everything growing in a farm’s field will be public information, like how you can go onto Google maps and see a street-level view now.
• The day a grower cuts and boxes a particular flower will be available for every buyer to see. And the growers who don’t choose to share this data will have less market share.
• When customers buy a dozen roses, they may soon see a QR code on the packaging that shows the farm they came from, the day the roses were cut, and how they got to their destination.
• All known manufacturers of a floral hard good — like glass vases, for example — will be online and easily searchable, making product sourcing much more straightforward.
Overall, the most significant benefit of blockchain technology will be that everyone will be far more informed about the quality and availability of a product. This will make buyers, producers, and sellers know they need to share more and more data — or risk being left behind.
Cryptocurrency and the Floral Industry
The most popular form of blockchain is cryptocurrency, and it’s here to stay. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most well-known; however, many other types of cryptocurrencies exist. And since Bitcoin has become such a trusted currency, more and more floral providers are accepting it as payment.
Because Bitcoin has become so stable, many individual florists are also now accepting it as a form of payment. And as the technology keeps improving and trust increases, we will see cryptocurrency accepted as a form of payment by growers, suppliers, and more.
And it may sound like this is a future thing that will happen eventually, but that’s not the case. Think back to when e-commerce was in its infancy and how many people said they would “never purchase something online!” Just as that changed due to the increased security and trust online, so will cryptocurrency become a trusted form of payment.
We hope this has given you an overview of the changing landscape in the floral industry brought on by blockchain and cryptocurrency. It’s an exciting time! You can learn more online if you’re not yet familiar with this technology. And we highly recommend you do!
