CLARKS CYCLE SYSTEMS
Clarks’ new warehouse and HQ in Hinkley
New
packaging from Clarks
(above); office stalwart Ria (below)
Braking news
FIRST, A boast. So brand spanking new is Clarks Cycle Systems’ latest home that putting the postcode in your Sat Nav will send you to a field four miles from the new HQ. Apparently, BikeBiz is the only visitor that hasn’t had to call to find the place (unless that’s what they tell all us media types). They moved in on December 23rd and were one of the first to buy a unit in the new industrial centre in Hinkley, handily placed slap bang in the middle of the country. “Logistically that’s as good as it gets,” Clarks managing director Tony Wright tells BikeBiz. Despite always having roots in the Midlands, it has been a global journey to get where it is today. Clarks was founded in 1943 and only began to export into the US market after finding the only way it could get its hands on a steel allocation was to export. From there the firm has set up manufacturing plants in China (logistics planning office) and Taiwan (handling OEM business) and a European distribution warehouse in Enschede in the Netherlands. Clarks now supplies 96 countries with aftermarket product and around half a million shops on a weekly basis. Difficult decisions have been made along the
way, including pulling production of cables out of Birmingham. “People often ask me why Clarks moved production out of the UK. It’s because my customers weren’t here anymore. They’d all moved out to the Far East. “But the UK will always be home,” says
Wright. “We control the accounts here.” More recently, Wright and the Clarks team
have had a lot on their plate over the past three months particularly. Having splashed out somewhere in the region of three quarters of a million pounds on the new building and warehouse set up there’s also been revamped
BIKEBIZ.COM
A new warehouse and HQ, fresh product, revamped B2B and packaging…Clarks Cycle Systems can’t really be accused of resting on its laurels. Managing director Tony Wright shows Jonathon Harker around the new gaff…
packaging and a relauched B2B system. So much, then, that you could be forgiven for asking ‘why the rush?’ “The momentum is so strong, people expect
it,” explains Wright. “We have to keep raising the benchmark.” The company has also brought in fresh talent who “bring new thinking” to the firm. The new clean, white packaging features
“The
momentum is so strong that people expect it. We have to
keep raising the benchmark.”
Tony Wright, Clarks Cycle Systems
chance for customers to handle the product (look out for the new grips packaging) and icons to help punters get to, er, grips with what the product is for, including what sector the component is designed for and key features like ‘lightweight’ and ‘heat dissipation’, for example. If you’re in Taipei you’ll get to see the new packaging in the flesh. That other key area of investment lately has been the B2B site, set up to make the lives of distributors easier. Echoing the design of the packaging, the BSB is clean and simple and – crucially – easy to use. Ideal for top up orders, it features live stock information, box quantities and much more. Online also provides Clarks with chance to
offer technical hints and tips, with countless ‘how to’ videos and reams of technical data that has apparently gone down well with the trade. Supporting customers is important to the firm, with technical support hotline (01455 254800) and 24 hour dispatch of spare parts, among other customer-focused features. As if a new warehouse, packaging and B2B
wasn’t enough, there’s product development too. Clarks first produced a hydraulic disc brake all the way back in 1997, but it was too advanced for the market and possibly not the best at handling hot temperatures, the firm says. Now, however, there’s the cutting edge fare like the M2 brake, a lightweight hydraulic
brake, as well as the R1 clincher, new ergonomic grips, new CNC pedals and more. Despite all the work that goes into design and production of new lines, it all comes down to When it comes to new product: “The real test is when it goes to the public,” Wright says. The Clarks boss tells BikeBiz that he’s
currently mulled over snapping up the unit next door because: “We’ve no contingency if demand explodes.” Wright is referring to the new adjoining internal warehouse, which Clarks is running for number of retailers, including the key usual online suspects. “You can’t afford to ignore them, you don’t want the door to shut on you. And when you get chance to get in early, you take it.” Most recently Clarks has been working
closely with Halfords on its revamped online offering, which the retailer launched last summer. “It’s new to everyone,” Wright says. In these cases the retailer takes the order and Clarks fulfils it, which isn’t an entirely common way of working in the bike trade. Wright explains: “Chain Reaction, for example, is in the process of reducing the amount of suppliers it deals with. You really don’t want to be one of the ones that is being cut out.” But dealing with online giants means there’s
a responsibility to independent dealers: “We need to balance it and control prices.” Speaking of bike shops, there’s another area
Clarks Cycle Systems is working on, as Wright elaborates: “There’s no bike shop that doesn’t buy pads and cables. It’s bread and milk, the first thing on the shopping list. But we want people to come in and ask for Clarks, so we’ve got to up our marketing and generate demand from consumers.”
www.clarkscycles.com
BIKEBIZ MARCH 27
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