Fantasy Farms’ use of scan-based trading and direct-store-delivery has allowed it to expand its offerings by streamlining in-store operations for retailers. In addition to fresh flowers, the company now provides chocolate-covered fruit and baked fruit chips.
inherent in the SBT business model by helping Fantasy Farms grow revenue at store level, minimize shrink, and control costs. ADDING COMPLEMENTARY PRODUCTS As Fantasy Farms has become adept at SBT, as well as direct-store-delivery, and because it handles many tasks the stores otherwise would have to handle, like configuring displays, it has been able to add complementary products in the outlets it’s already serving. Along with fresh flowers, Fantasy Farms now offers preserved roses, which can remain in the stores for several months, rather than a week or so. It also offers chocolate-covered fruit and baked pineapple, plantain, and other chips. Recently, Fantasy Farms began using an artificial intelligence solution that analyzes sales data, looking for trends. It then identifies opportunities based on those trends, as well as red flags for products that are not selling well in particular areas or chains. This enables the company to forecast and plan for demand even more precisely. Through Fantasy Farm’s vertical integration, its packaging solution, its expertise in scan-based trading and relationship with Fintech, and its use of direct-store-delivery, Sabogal says, it has gained a strong competitive edge. n
would sell-through, as well as the prices and cost structures, were not realistic, Sabogal says. In part, this was because the sell-through quantities Fantasy Farms was accustomed to when working with larger grocery stores were different than they would be at convenience stores. Particularly with convenience stores, shipments can’t be too big, or it’s likely that some inventory will go to waste. Yet if they’re too small, logistics costs as a percentage of the overall expense will jump. In some cases, logistics can account for 50% of costs. “It was a steep learning curve,” Sabogal says, adding that the company had to tweak its initial model. As Fantasy Farms became more adept with direct store delivery and scan-based trading, it has been able to develop a business model that is difficult for many competitors to replicate. After starting with a few hundred stores, Fantasy Farms now uses SBT with thousands of locations. Sabogal and his team can analyze the data to tell, for instance, how sales of roses compare to sales of mixed bouquets, or how well yellow roses are selling. “We can tweak all of these variables and then start to see trends that maximize sales and our margins,” Sabogal says. Using the data helps mitigate the risk
system so it can access daily sales data. At a minimum, this data needs to include the UPC, store number, item cost and date. Fintech has connected to more than 150 retailers and a multitude of POS systems. Once the Fintech SBT platform has accepted the daily POS data from the retailer, it populates it within a proprietary database that suppliers can use. They can set up automatic daily transfers of the data in a format they can move into their own systems, to view inventories and sell-through information. Suppliers that don’t have a system that will accept this information can log into Fintech’s portal to view and/or download reports. Launching the Fintech SBT solution typically doesn’t require a great deal of IT resources, Landgren says. The solution is cloud-based and can be accessed from just about anywhere.
A PHASED ROLLOUT Fantasy Farms launched its SBT
program with a limited rollout with one of its convenience store clients. “That led to a complete shift in our business,” Sabogal says. Now, the SBT operating model, along with direct-store-delivery, is core to Fantasy Farm’s success. It hasn’t always been an easy change. Initially, Fantasy Farms’ expectations regarding the volume of product that
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