Association of German Flower Markets
The Vereinigung Deutscher Blumengroßmärkte eV (VDB) is the professional association of German flower wholesalers .
history
It developed from the specialist group for flower wholesalers and sales facilities that was created in 1961 in the Zentralverband Gartenbau eV (ZVG) .
Founding members were the flower wholesalers in Bielefeld , Düsseldorf , Dortmund and Cologne . After the Lower Rhine sales organizations also expressed interest in a merger, the special group of flower sales organizations with 9 members was founded in Cologne on August 14, 1962 .
The number of members grew steadily. A total of 53 organizations were members over the years. There were layoffs primarily through discontinuation of business activities or through takeovers / mergers. Along with the expansion of the Lower Rhine flower marketer Landgard , there was an increasing number of competitive situations and conflicts between the members within the VDB. These discussions led to the decision in December 2006 that the flower wholesale markets and the national marketing organizations will in future go their separate ways. In this context, the VDB left the ZVG at the end of 2006. In January 2007, numerous amendments to the articles of association set the course for a continuation of the cooperation between the traditional flower wholesale markets. The Association of German Flower Markets became the Association of German Flower Wholesalers , which has been a member of the ZVG again since 2008.
Structure and activity
The 10 traditional flower wholesalers in Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Mannheim, Reutlingen, Stuttgart and Ulm are involved in the VDB. Overall, these member organizations, with around 650 affiliated marketers, generate sales of around € 330 million per year.
The association sees itself as representing the interests of the flower wholesale markets and performs a wide range of tasks. In addition to joint marketing projects and PR measures, it provides its members with joint advertising materials.
The exchange of information between the members is maintained through conferences and newsletters .
So far, many standards and unifications have been worked out in the community. In the packaging area, the members work with the reusable system Palettino . Uniform solutions could also be found for the load carriers . The common article number system and the industry EAN for potted plants are important agreements with far-reaching effects for German plant marketing.
In addition to contacts with politics, this also includes representation vis-à-vis the green trade associations, in particular the Fachverband Deutscher Floristen eV and the Zentralverband Gartenbau eV