Vaaru expands with Cookson, premises switch and enhanced facilities

Titanium bike specialist Vaaru has appointed John Cookson to the role of sales and marketing manager ahead of a premises expansion.

Cookson will be known to many in the trade thanks to his time with fellow UK manufacturer Exposure.

Speaking to CI.N on the appointment, owner James Beresford said of the appointment: “Having John on board means the IBD’s looking at stocking Vaaru get the level of service they would expect from a quality brand. It leaves me to concentrate on the design, development and other sections of running the business. Its a huge step up for Vaaru to have someone with John’s experience solely dedicated to Vaaru Dealers and helping to push the marketing. It’s exciting times ahead.Having worked with John at Exposure Lights for over eight years I know how well we work together and we have high hopes for the future.”

Beresford continued to describe 2017 as a potentially “big year” as the business expands its footprint.

“We move premises in the next couple of months, adding more facilities under one roof with the capacity to add more staff as and when needed. To continue our growth I believe we need to reach more end users by finding a small number of IBD’s around the UK to stock our products. We need dealers who share the same passion for quality and customer service that we do. I am also very aware IBD’s are always looking for something to separate them from the competition and using their customer insights we have the skills and flexibility to deliver a unique package to the IBD’s.”

While 90% of Vaaru’s frames are off the peg geometries, the bespoke arm of Beresford’s business is growing nicely, we are told.

“I’m finding customers would rather spend the extra money on better components, having bespoke paintwork or saddle embroidery to make their build unique. This is where we can add quality like no other, before my product design days I painted with Alistair Mclean from FatCreations, so needless to say all of our paintwork is carried out in the FatCreations Studio which is only a stones throw from our office/workshop. When customers see the quality of the bespoke work we produce it usually leads to some form of customisation on that sale. All standard paintwork or anodising of our forks and frames are done here which keeps the quality consistent with our bespoke products.”

Cookson is now contactable on john@vaarucycles.com.