Who knows for how long people have been importing and exporting things? Ever since the dawn of commerce for sure. And if anything, the export or import business has grown more complex and diverse than ever today as countries and societies become interdependent on even basic things like food.
Flowers too have been long imported by countries. The European explorers often took back with them samples of new species they found during their travels or in regions of conquest; flowers that were fascinating, gorgeous or dangerous. Every new geographical terrain or topography, climate and other conditions produced different kinds of flowers. And the love for flowers has existed in human culture as far as anyone can remember. So naturally, it wasn’t long before it grew into a commodity traded in the export import business model.
Today, flower import business is a multi billion dollar industry. And because of demands for certain flowers or because of man’s encroachment, many of the floral species are becoming rare, and rare flower import business in it self is a massive one. Orchids are perhaps one of the most popular flowers that are part of this export import business.
If anyone is interested in starting an import business of flowers, these days there are plenty of websites and trade publications that can give you everything from an idea of what floral market is growing and what is slowing down. These publications print or online, would also offer extensive resources on businesses that export flowers which would make for a great lead for your import business.
Before you start your flower import business, you might also want to consider a few things related to the market; mainly just the kind of flowers you want to import. Do you want to do cut-flowers for arrangements and such, or flower saplings for planting or rare flowers or what? And what kind of a client would you want to entertain? Perhaps something exotic like a luxury hotels that order flowers based on their customer’s preference, or something interesting like research labs, or perhaps just people who love and appreciate flowers in all its variations for everything from growing them to giving them as gifts. And do you actually want to retail it once you’ve imported it or wholesale it further to other retailers?
A great way to meet industry insiders, flower enthusiasts and get a get a general sense of what works and what doesn’t, or at least to better understand your market and competition, you must make it a point to go to trade fairs. There are many national and international trade fairs for flowers that take place in cities across the world. And these are often elaborate and amazing experiences even for just visitors. Then there are also exhibitions, where flowers are exhibited in hundreds from all over the world. These aren’t quite trade fairs but you would most certainly get a better idea of what kinds of flowers are making it to exhibitions around the world and how people are pre paring them for these events.