INTERVIEW | WHEELIES
Wheelie good service
Service, service, service. Did we mention service? There is nothing more important for the insurance business, says Wheelies director Keith Jones. Jonathon Harker heads to Swansea to find out more…
“When we started out we found customer’s insurance money was ending up being spent elsewhere –and leaving the bike trade.”
Keith Jones
Workshop staff are Cytech trained
BIKEBIZ.COM
THERE ARE two sides to every story, and that’s never truer than in the cut and thrust of a competitive business like the bicycle trade. To some independent retailers, facing stiff competition from rivals that appear to have cornered a particular piece of the bike market is cause for concern. But for those have been doing the aforementioned cornering of the market, it’s been a hard fought battle to get to where they are and achieve that success. Wheelies is certainly one company that has
built an increasingly successful business, as an insurance replacement provider and significant online retailer for the cycling industry. However, it’s worth remembering that the firm started from humble beginnings as a bike shop in Swansea, South Wales.
Wheelies director Keith Jones opened that
store back in 1982 with his brother. So how did a shop owner come to be where Wheelies is now? Jones tells BikeBiz: “When we started out we
found that when it came to insurance, bike shops were giving out lots of replacement bike quotes to customers, but there was actually very few numbers of customers coming back to buy bikes with their insurance money. “That insurance money was, more often than
not, being spent on credit cards or what have you, rather than on bikes. That money was leaving the bike trade.” All of which presented a business
opportunity for Wheelies, as well as chance to keep that money within the bike trade.
BIKEBIZ JANUARY 23
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