Customer Success: Fresh Flower Warehousing, Order Fulfillment
Customer Success
Fresh Flower Warehousing, Order Fulfillment
In advance of Valentine’s Day 2014, CrowleyFresh fulfilled over 17,000 custom floral orders – amounting to 100,000 boxes of fresh flowers from Colombia and Equador — for a major supplier serving customers across the United States.
This marked the third year that cold-chain warehouse and logistics services were jointly offered by the company to the flower industry in advance of one of the biggest holidays. The team prepared similarly for Easter and Mother’s day, which brought in influxes of rose and carnation orders.
The Challenge
In addition to supplying major flower suppliers with over 17,000 custom floral orders for individual home delivery customers, the CrowleyFresh team supplied over 14,000 custom floral arrangements to multiple military bases in Virginia, as well as to stores and retailers across the country in advance of the holidays.
Though the facility is accustomed to handling floral products year-round, the influx of holiday orders required additional team members to handle the thousands of flowers that had to be stored, arranged and shipped.
The Solution
To ensure timeliness and peak freshness, the CrowleyFresh team brought on 20 additional team members to assist with the increased orders during the peak times. The flowers, mostly roses, carnations and baby’s breath, originated from Columbia and Ecuador, and were kept fresh in the facility’s specially designed floral coolers until they were ready to be used in the holiday arrangements. The specialized Crowley team carefully designed each flower arrangement per customer specification before preserving and packaging it for distribution and fresh delivery.
Also making this possible is the CrowleyFresh facility, which is ideal for perishable storage or may be used as an in-transit consolidation/deconsolidation point. The warehouse is one of the only facilities with all the necessary capabilities to accommodate production windows, as well as seasonal consumer demand. CrowleyFresh offers coolers specifically designed for several types of seasonal perishables, including berries, flowers and plants, and more.
The People
For more than 50 years, the Crowley team has helped farmers, importers and exporters around the world build their businesses by providing efficient service, compliance expertise and careful attention to detail. CrowleyFresh, managed jointly by Crowley and subsidiary Customized Brokers, specializes in the handling of seasonal perishables, including fresh flowers and chocolates.
Miami is the strategic entry port (via air and ocean) for agricultural products cultivated in Latin America during their varying climatic production windows. The Crowley Fresh team is a specialized and unique group that takes pride in its commitment to detail and quality.