Paying for flowers at home with automated Tikkies

Tikkie is for everyone, and that includes 18-year-old entrepreneur Rubian Heijl. Rubian has a fresh take on all things commercial. That, and the fact that his dad works in the floral trade, led him to set up his own home-delivery business for flowers, Bloemen aan huis. At the weekly flower auction, Rubian tries to pick up bargain lots of fresh-cut flowers. That way, he can offer a surprising and affordable range of bouquets. He then sells them in the Oegstgeest region. And what easier way for customers to pay than with a Tikkie!

From cash payments to an API

“I’ve been selling flowers to customers at home since I was eight. I started out by going around my neighborhood with a cart. Customers used to pay in cash. When I was 10, I started taking orders for flowers. And eventually, I added WhatsApp and Tikkie. The thing was, I was still a minor back then, and both WhatsApp and Tikkie attach conditions to using them for business.” So he applied for a Chamber of Commerce number and arranged to have business accounts with WhatsApp and Tikkie. He then came up with software that would automate the ordering and payment processes. An outside company built it for him, and in such a way that it could integrate with the Tikkie API.

Availability through WhatsApp

The principle is both inventive and simple. Rubian puts it this way: “I use pre-programmed messages in WhatsApp. Every Thursday, all of my customers get a message. If they’re interested and tap the button, they get to see what’s on offer that week. There are always four different kinds of fresh-cut flowers. If there’s anything that takes their fancy, they just need to tap the order button and the order comes into my system. And then they have the option of starting a chat in the app — for example if they have any other requests. That’s not part of the overall goal, though — and certainly not if my customer base keeps growing.”

Automated Tikkies

Once all orders have been placed, Rubian’s system automatically creates a driving route based on Google Maps. On Thursdays and Fridays, Rubian, who now has his driving license, makes the round to deliver his flowers. Right after making his deliveries, or in the evening once he’s back home, he goes into the system and marks the orders as delivered. Then a Tikkie automatically goes out to his customers. “I can see in my system who’s paid. All payments are generally in by Saturday. And if someone does forget, I can send a reminder within 24 hours.” I usually get a message on WhatsApp saying something like, “Oops! Sorry, clean forgot!”, and then the Tikkie is paid right away.

Regional partnership

The solution Rubian has come up with certainly offers room for further scaling up. “I have about 190 customers at the moment. The aim is to grow that number to around 3,000 customers in the Oegstgeest region. I want to keep working regionally. After all, what I promise is that the flowers will be delivered by Friday evening at the latest. Otherwise, there’d be more packaging and transport to see to, and that would hike prices up by quite a bit. But I’m certainly open to a partnership with an enthusiastic entrepreneur who can tap into the market in another region.”

If you live in the Oegstgeest region, be sure to check out Bloemen aan huis.