Startup CEO hopes to change public perception of flowers

Park Chun-hwa, flower subscription service Kukka CEO, poses with a bouquet of flowers at his office in Gangnam, southern Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Kukka

By Kim Hyo-jin

A bouquet prepared by the Kukka startup, delivered to a customer’s home

Park Chun-hwa began the startup company, Kukka, in 2014 that sells fresh flowers online on a subscription basis ― the first of its kind in the nation’s flower business.

Business mentors, wholesalers in the flower market and even florists all said it would not work considering people’s patterns of buying flowers, not to mention the delicate characteristics of flowers being delivered.

“Truly, few people buy flowers unless there are special occasions like anniversaries but that was why it captured my attention,” Park told The Korea Times, Tuesday.

The 33-year-old startup founder noted that the flower market also seemed to lag behind other markets with no marketing strategies developed since the 1990s. Due to a lack of frequent customers visiting walk-in shops, they became dormant even in dealing with flowers.

Many aspects in the flower market inspired Park to work on creating new patterns of consumption. He thought it was something for young people like him to pioneer.

“I thought there should be ways for people to develop a more casual relationship with flowers like we drink coffee every day,” he said.

Once he began the service of delivering fresh flowers to the home biweekly, people responded actively. The number of delivery orders was about 500 in the first month but over two years it has reached up to 40,000 a month.

He introduced sophisticated designs of bouquets by hiring florists who had studied overseas and set the price low enough so that the customers would be comfortable buying the flowers frequently. He also tries to anticipate the customers’ demands and needs when designing flower products.

When a flower bouquet comes, a little message noting the characteristics of each flower comes with it. Kukka sends a daily message introducing the flowers through mobile messenger KakaoTalk.

While taking different approaches to customers, a fan base for his business started growing. Warmed to Park’s efforts for a new trial, some people buy every edition of flower bouquets as a sign of support.

“People seem to be inspired by the value coming along with a product, not just the product itself. And I think we have been lucky in succeeding in reaching out to them with our own message,” Park said.

He expanded his business to the delivery service of dried flowers last year and adding an online lecture of floral arrangements this year. While managing the business, Park has also engaged in social projects for single mothers and women forced into becoming sex slaves during the Japanese occupation.

“It all started after I felt uncomfortable contacting other CEOs focusing too much on earning money. I didn’t want my values to be swayed and performing social projects helps me keep them straight,” Park said.

Now he is working on creating a memorial park for the sex slaves at Namsan, in conjunction with KakaoTalk.

The young CEO expressed hopes of changing public perception about flowers, even describing this as a sense of responsibility for a pioneering startup.

“Like we used to drink mixed coffee from the supermarket but now look for brewed coffee every day, I dream of one day seeing every single household having flowers on the table, on the desk, or presenting them when guests are around,” he said. “I think it’s what Kukka should contribute in the course of doing business.”