World Commerce Online.

Changing the way the fresh-cut flower industry does business

When flower growers from Latin America, particularly the hotbeds of Ecuador and Colombia, want to take their products to the market, they can either go through the hundred or so flower brokers in Miami -- and pay the corresponding fees -- or they can simply point and click. The technology involved is mind-boggling; the premise, though, is simple: bringing buyers and sellers together.

That, in a nutshell, is the secret behind Orlando-based World Commerce Online (WCO), which in January 1999 launched Floraplex (www.floraplex.com), the first electronic marketplace where flower growers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers can meet online to conduct e-business.

"There is a seamless link between buyer and seller," affirms WCO's chairman and CEO, Bob Shaw.

Historically, notes Shaw, flower growers shipped products on consignment. Those growers also didn't know how much they would get paid, or when. "In many instances, Colombian and Ecuadorian growers were financing the supply chain. "Now, there is another way. We have 'e-commerce-enabled' the supply chain."

The result: Growers can know what their flowers are selling for, while simultaneously reducing the cost of middlemen. Whereas Miami brokers charge an average of 15% commission on closed deals, Floraplex applies a 3% to 8% service fee for system usage, depending on volume.

Floraplex is a worldwide portal for fresh-cut flowers. Similar to the concept behind America Online, it is a self-contained environment that allows all segments of the flower industry to electronically communicate with one another, learn industry-specific information about the industry and participate in realtime trade.

"Our theory was, if you provide communications and information, then trade would follow," says Shaw, who has worked with computers since 1971 and first used the Internet in 1983.

Less than a year out of the gate, the public company (traded over the counter at WCOL:OTC:BB) has made significant inroads into what is a US$200 billion worldwide flower industry. WCO's goal is to capture 25% of that business within five years. At present, WCO handles roughly one million stems of flowers per week and actively trades flowers on four continents; by the end of this year, it will enable flower trade on six continents.

Most notably, WCO is building relationships with all of the industry's key players. Strategic partners, for example, include Dole Foods, the largest growing company in the world, which in 1998 bought 25% of the U.S-bound farm output in Colombia and Ecuador. WCO has become Dole Fresh Flower's e-commerce enabler. Also, South America supplies over two-thirds of all fresh-cut flowers to the Western Hemisphere, and WCO already has reached agreements with farms representing more than half of those flowers.

To gain a firm foothold in the Latin market, WCO maintains offices in Bogota, Colombia and Quito, with plans to open others in Mexico, Costa Rica and Chile.

"Adoption is happening faster than we thought it would happen," says Shaw, who has surrounded himself with a myriad of industry experts to complement his background in technology and venture capital.

Meanwhile, WCO has another innovation up its sleeve. Soon to be officially unveiled is FreshPlex--designed to e-commerce enable the entire produce industry.

What Is Floraplex?

An e-commerce environment for the fresh-cut flower industry, featuring:

* Communications: E-mail, chat rooms, message boards.

* Information: Industry news, calendar of events, USDA. market reports, industry sourcebook, Breeder showcase.

* Trade: Growers to wholesalers, wholesalers to retailers and retailers to consumers.