25 Years of Decorum
The origin of the brand Decorum began around 25 years ago. Back in 1995, it was a challenge for growers to sell their best plants with the highest quality for a better price. There was one pioneer who thought it was possible to better market his products, becoming the founder of what Decorum is today.
Not All Plants from the Same Grower Have the Same Quality
Understand that when growing plants, even the best growers are unable to produce the same quality. Of course, you always have a certain high standard of quality when you grow professionally, but there are always some plants that are even better. When begonia grower Peter ten Have, the founder of Decorum, was thinking about how to improve this part of his production, which consists of about 20 to 30% of his plants, he came up with a great idea.
And the highest quality brand was born.
Peter ten Have and His Brown Trays
Peter ten Have decided almost 30 years ago to put his best quality begonia in a different tray with different sleeves. It was a brown tray, which stood out from the other trays. He saw he could not only sell these brown trays of begonia of the very best quality for a better price, but he also found out quickly that the demand for this specific top range grew. Apparently, there was a market for the best quality.
A Quality Mark for Plants
He learned quickly that some of his customers desired to have more consistency in receiving only the highest quality of the delivered goods. Peter learned that his customers needed some kind of quality mark or certification. Not just any mark for good quality, but a premium certification. This was the beginning of the brand Decorum. It was 1999.
20 years ago, it was normal that, as a buyer (florist, garden center, or other retailers), one week you got a certain quality and the next week another quality. For many buyers, there was no way of exactly knowing how to order a consistent best-quality range of products. There are also stories of some customers who, when receiving the ordered begonia from the same grower, received a mixture of different qualities.
Decorum Was Born and Grew Quickly
Peter ten Have recognized that he was not the only grower with this dilemma. And with his great network and many contacts within the grower community, more growers quickly joined this collective, which grew around him. They then decided to create the brand Decorum. It then ascended rapidly to around 100 growers offering only the best selection of products from their greenhouses.
Decorum, an Exclusive Brand for Exclusive Resellers
Only the best products of the grower could be offered in the brand Decorum. The initial strategy was to only offer the best products to certain buyers in Europe. Buyers with shared values about quality. Decorum was made exclusive for a relatively small group of exporters, wholesalers, and larger retailers. Hence, not available to others. A map of Europe was hanging in the office of Decorum with all the 'resellers' of the brand Decorum.
A Turbulent Time
This created a very turbulent time for Decorum. Exporters and wholesalers who had no access to Decorum were losing customers because of this strategy. Those who had no access to Decorum plants but did have customers who wanted to buy Decorum high quality products. Due to being unable to get them, the customers left in search of another supplier who did have access. You can imagine that these traders were not happy with Decorum.
Time for Another Strategy
This made the people at Decorum realize they should never again take the 'seat' of an exporter/wholesaler. They decided to open up access to every buyer again and departed from the 'exclusive network' strategy. Every exporter, wholesaler, and retailer could then have access to the products of Decorum. To make the brand itself stronger, around ten years ago, Decorum chose to take on more obligations towards its grower members. Decorum decided that the names of the individual growers had to go, and only the brand Decorum should be featured on the packaging and in the promotion of the products. This made some 20-25 growers leave the Decorum group. They felt no longer comfortable because they wanted to keep their brand names. So, what started as a group of growers with more open-ended rules became an organization with stricter rules. With the same mission as when they started: "Always the best quality. Buying Decorum is a safe choice because you always receive the best of the grower. The products are the best products".
A New Packaging
A few years ago, Decorum also started to offer cut flowers. They re-designed the look and feel of the brand a couple of years ago to what it is now; a very recognizable brand with the right packaging to show buyers of Decorum plants and flowers, that it's always a safe and better choice when you want to be sure about sourcing the best quality.
Decorum Today
And that is what Decorum is today: a strong brand with only the best quality products the growers can provide. Decorum partners are increasing exponentially, and the assortment is expanding rapidly. Many recognized that having one strong brand helps to make sure that their best products are not so easily replaced. And with the digitalization today, more and more webshops are choosing the brand Decorum, for what it stands for: the best quality, always!
