Supply - Rodney Hofland, vice president and owner of Hofland Ltd. has won honourable mention as Suppliers of the year.
RADHIKA PANJWANI
Staff
A Mississauga flower and gift
wholesaler has been receiving its
own bouquets of recognition after
winning a national award.
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| Hofland Ltd. received an honourable mention as Supplier of the
Year 2005 in an annual competition
by the Canadian Gift and
Tableware Association (CGTA).
Criteria included merchandising
and product selection, business
achievements, customer satisfaction,
innovation and originality. In addition,
the competing companies
were visited by secret shoppers who
evaluated them using a checklist
provided by CGTA, said Margo 'Warren,
spokesperson for CGTA.
"We were looking for excellence,
in terms of visual merchandising,
promotion and other factors, and
also how they managed to overcome
major challenges, " she said,
"(Hofland) has trend-forward products,
always changing. Plus, they are
great to deal with their no-hassle
returns."
The CGTA is the voice of
Canada's $10 billion giftware industry and includes more than
1,600 giftware manufacturers,
importers, exporters, distributors
and wholesalers.
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Hofland's 70,000-sq.-ft. warehouse
stocks more than 50O types of fresh
flowers, including 200 varieties of
roses and exotic greens from Ecuador,
Holland, South Afiica, Israel and
Peru, said Darren Russell, Hofland's
director of sales and marketing.
He said Hofland is responsive to
the needs of its customers, the
retailers - who are facing fierce
competition from box stores selling
flowers.
"The box stores have given consumers
more options and locations
to buy flowers,".Russell said."Our customers have had to become
aggressive and profitable as they compte
with the box stores, so they expect more
from us."
Russell said Hofland's philosophy
of surpassing the customers' needs
helps it maintain a competitive edge.
"(The award) is a validation of
strong customer service policies
we've worked for," Russell said.
For more information, visit
www.hofland.com.
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