Simplon to woo European bike dealer with promise of price stability

Simplon has outlined five key European markets in its expansion plans, promising dealers of each territory that it will turn its back on the “closeout offers that often cause trouble in the market.”

Stefan Vollbach, Simplon’s general manager said when entering new markets it’s all about “high credibility with the retailer” and that the brand doesn’t want to be a burden to its partners.

“We believe that our business model – which we intend to offer to the UK retailer in the same way as we do over here and are very successful with – is different and extraordinarily attractive by itself. To mention a few cornerstones of the concept; only around 25%-30’% of the yearly sales have to be ordered in advance. About 75% will be manufactured and shipped within around a week time based on individual customer order.”

Investing in its online offering, Simplon has developed an online configuration system, which it will place live on October 4th. Those dealers attending the UK Cycle Show will be given an advanced demonstration of the platform, which the brand says is designed with selling upgrades in mind.

Vollbach said on expanding the brand’s dealer network: “Our foremost goal is to recruit the right kind of partners with the right attitude and the skills and understanding to sell a premium product to a premium customer and who understand that service quality and shopping experience is key. We will be a little picky in choosing our partners and we expect that from the retailers too when they choose their partner.”

Manufactured in the Austria, the bike portfolio includes E-bikes, city, trekking and commuter bikes, road bikes, time trial and triathlon bikes, as well as a slick line of mountain bikes ranging XC to downhill.

“Our mid-term goal is to bring the entire line to the Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The UK and Benelux,” concludes Vollbach. “Since we are not looking to bring a ton of retailers on board there should not be any availability issues and we want to first explore what is most interesting to the market and the consumer. We have some in-house projects running that we are now finalising in order to prepare for growth.”

The third generation family business now makes over €20 million a year selling complete bikes.