How did you become manager of the company ?

When I left law school, I wanted to become a legal advisor, only I realized that I didn’t have the diplomacy skills needed… So I looked for the kind of career that would let me get more hands-on... I hesitated a while between restaurants and the chainstore sector, and eventually opted for chainstores, a sector I’ve been in for five years now. The company was a major DIY and garden centre retailer. However, I was still looking for a more mobile position, a position in marketing. That’s how i got to join Orchidis Jardin (ORganisation ChImie DIStribution), which is a subsidiary of the Brenntag Group. This chemicals trading specialist was headquartered at Rouen. It had three sites – Orleans, Cambrai, Villeneuve-le-Roi – and a warehouse at Rungis Market. They ran wholesale business in horticulture and garden products (plant protection agents, fertilizers, fungicides, etc.). I was recruited as director of the Rungis warehouse, although I had applied for a sales and marketing position. A year down the road, head office offered to let me buy into the Rungis warehouse, as they had decided to cut certain business outlets following restructuring to refocus on their core activity. So in March 1999, I took over the warehouse with a partner, and in 2002 I became outright CEO of Orchidis Jardin. My wife Yvonne works with me, she runs the back-office...

What is your product offering ?

Our range is targeted towards the horticulture sector, more specifically the equipment and products side, excluding flowers and plants. We have between 5000 and 12,000 listed products depending on the season and climatic conditions. In fact, we make 70% of our turnover in the spring. Our flagship products include potting soil and pottery. We also sell soil improvers and treatments, plastic containers (with or without water reservoirs), plus tools, seed, grains and turf, bulbs, watering systems… and a whole lot more. We only sell manufactured goods. It is becoming clear that the products are becoming increasingly environment-friendly, that the trend is towards more natural, ‘organic’ products. We have entered the age of sustainable development… All things considered, the gardening market is holding steady, as customers are increasingly looking for turnkey product solutions. They don’t want constraints; they want to be left free to enjoy their garden as much as possible. This reason, combined with other factors, is why it has become difficult to operate as a multi-specialist.

How are you organized ?

Our principle is to try to do what we do, and do it well. Just eleven years ago, we were dealing with an important customer category: seedsmen. However, seedmen, as a trade, are unfortunately on their way out. The vast majority of our current customer base (70%-80%) is made up of retail florists and landscape gardeners, which boils down to a thousand or so active customers and very few garden centres. We are on a fairly competitive market segment, and we have been forced to adapt our offerings. We are shifting towards more ‘deco’ products, particularly the most attractive Italian and Asia-sourced pottery. Sales volumes are tending to slip a little, pushing us to refocus on our core activity. This means we are increasingly running stock rotation, working more and more to just-in-time logistics flows. We are currently operating with 40% less stock than a decade ago. This is why we regularly destock certain product ranges. Nowadays, our business sector pushes us to resource and renew our products, improve our management systems, and be even more stringent than before.

What is your perception of Rungis Market ?

I see Rungis market as very important, as a forefront hub. We admittedly take advantage of the fact that customers are passing through Rungis and its cut and potted flower sectors. I simply don’t think my business could be without the C1 pavilion and the operators I work there with. We are part of a group that works in synergy, with complementarity. We work with intelligence, sending each other customers. The aim, at the end of the day, is to make sure customers are satisfied so they come back to Rungis, because Rungis Market is at prerequisite to the very existence of my company and its future development. Friendliness, professionalism, diversification, that’s three good reasons to buy at Rungis”.