- European plant wholesaler FlorAccess was working with several suppliers to offer admin-heavy and fragmented trade credit to buyers.
- To harmonise payments, they needed to find a provider offering an end-to-end solution.
- Since partnering with Hokodo, FlorAccess has been able to focus on growing their core business with confidence.
Meet FlorAccess
Founded in 2012 by Ewoud Goorts, FlorAccess is a wholesale website connecting business buyers with over 100 suppliers of flowering plants, shrubs, trees and other botanical products. Currently delivering to 27 countries throughout Europe, FlorAccess enables garden centres, florists, landscapers and other professionals to access an extensive range of fresh indoor and outdoor plants.
The bare necessities
For many years, FlorAccess had been offering payment terms to business buyers, with Ewoud describing trade credit as a “bare necessity” in the plant wholesale industry.
However, despite the clear need for a simple and effective digital trade credit solution, FlorAccess were stuck trying to combine several disjointed solutions and conducting manual credit checks.
“We wanted to find a partner who could combine not only invoice insurance, but also the ability to factor it and finance the transactions,” adds Ewoud.
They also had to juggle different providers for the different countries that their customers were in.
“It worked, but there was a lot of overhead. It wasn’t harmonised at all.”
Innovation & integration
So, how were FlorAccess to harmonise their payment terms? Ewoud became aware of a handful of specialised paytech startups that were trying to solve the very problem he faced. By offering an end-to-end digital trade credit solution, these companies were taking the pain and friction away from online B2B payments.
“Hokodo was one of the first providers that we discovered, and easily made our shortlist.”
The FlorAccess website is custom built, meaning that it is not hosted on an e-commerce platform like Magento or Shopify. In order to integrate Hokodo’s trade credit solution into their checkout, the FlorAccess team needed to use our API endpoints and documentation.
“We were able to integrate within a week and a half, so that was really swift and very light-touch,” says Ewoud. “It was a well documented API so it was really easy to set up.”
During the onboarding process, future communication methods and frequencies were agreed based on FlorAccess’ preferences and requirements. Short weekly catch up calls were arranged and a joint Slack channel created. Since then, Ewoud has been impressed by the calibre of customer service that his company has received.
“I really appreciate the personal touch and attention to detail,” he says. “That is just one of the things that makes us stay with Hokodo.”
Money doesn’t grow on trees
For Ewoud, the other key value of trade credit is the protection it offers for FlorAccess’ cash flow and that of its customers.
“With the world currently being in quite a flux, it’s key to have a firm grip on your cash flow and Hokodo really helps us in doing so,” Ewoud tells us. “I would definitely encourage any other B2B entrepreneur or business owner to use Hokodo if they want to avoid any cash flow issues.”
Growing together
In the coming years Ewoud sees the partnership between FlorAccess and Hokodo continuing to flourish, as each company helps the other to reach their growth potential.
“We’re really looking forward to Hokodo becoming available in new countries so we can open up harmonised trade credit to even more of our customers,” he added.
See how you could improve cash flow for your business and your buyers when you partner with Hokodo – book a call today.
