Calyx Corolla

Calyx and Corolla

Overview

Calyx and Corolla is a start up company in the growing retail plant sales sector owned by Ruth Owades, an expert of the mail order business. Within eight years of its creation, the fairly small company, which employed 60 people, is trying to increase its market share in a very segmented industry.

Calyx and Corolla differentiates itself from its competitors thanks to their distribution channel. By choosing to reduce the number of intermediaries between the growers and consumers, the flower company was able to significantly decrease the delivery times from twelve to two days while reaching gross margins close to 80 %. Calyx and Corolla’s effort to exceed customer’s expectations by promptly delivering fresh flowers at a reasonable price attracted active buyers that were sensitive to quality and service.

Flower industry value chain

Calyx and Corolla value chain

Market analysis and growth potential

In addition to an innovative process, the management team at Calyx and Corolla emphasized on ensuring a high level of service to its employees and suppliers, as well as offering premium quality products. Growers were better remunerated in exchange to shipping fresh flowers with cards and vases. As a consequence to this effort on service, Calyx and Corolla emphasized to selective customers with disposable income, who made purchases two to ten times a year through catalogue orders. Despite its unconventional business process, Calyx and Corolla remains a minor stakeholder in the flower delivery industry.Mail orders represented a small share of the flower industry mostly dominated by florist ( 58%) and supermarkets (18%).

| LOW BRAND RECOGNITION | HIGH BRAND RECOGNITION |

HIGH DIFFERENCITATION | Retail Florists and FTDs | Calyx and Corolla |

LOW DIFFERENCIATION | SUPERMARKET | |

Recommendations

In order to increase its market share, Calyx and Corolla needs to diversify its customer base comprised of mostly...