DISTRIBUTOR
that’s the case, I think they weren’t alone. I suspect that most of the industry is guilty of doing the same thing to some degree or other. Regrettably, I think the Raleigh changes are going to cause yet more shockwaves in what is already some choppy water for us all. Whether that’s as a result of reduced advertising spend for cycling’s specialist media, or more stock being dumped into the market. On a personal note, it saddens me greatly to see the changes at Raleigh. I say this bearing in mind that when I started full time work with my parents in our family IBD some 41 years ago, we were a Raleigh 5-star dealer. Back then, Raleigh owned 60% of the UK bike market. Before I gave a hand to help set up the ACT Cytech accreditation scheme, I was factory trained at Raleigh’s huge Triumph Road site as a bicycle mechanic, which put me in good stead for a lifetime of being involved in an industry that is far more than just a job to me. There have been some really great folks to know over the years inside that company, so I have to respect and thank the Heron’s head for quite a lot.
The other thing with the multiple distributor changes
that have been occurring, is the amount of great brands that have become homeless in the UK. I’ve never known a situation where quite so many brands are wanting to talk to us. I believe the same is happening at many of our industry counterparts too. As Ison Distribution, we clearly can’t take everything that’s offered to us, and frankly, we wouldn’t want to, even if we thought we could. I’m conscious of avoiding too many conflicts of interest in terms of brands we work with. Strategically, I have no desire to end-up trying to service two premium brands in any category competing head-on, diluting each other’s sales, and stretching our internal resources in the process.
26 | January 2024
Looking ahead
In the round, I’m so far pleasantly surprised at how few normal bike dealers we’re seeing with major financial problems. Naturally, there are still some folks that are struggling, but not as many as I perhaps thought it might be. Whether that’s going to remain the case or not, I don’t really know, because we’re not out of the storm - yet. Some of the feedback I’m getting from stronger dealers is that you don’t have to be selling everything really cheaply to get through this challenging period. I think the folks who have got really good relationships with their customers and continue to offer the right products and services are going to do ok.
By 2025, I think the said storm should have quietened down a bit, and then I hope that the industry will be able pull itself back together and everyone can get back onto an even keel. It would be nice for us all just to have a bit of calm water to navigate for a while.
Opportunities
Ison is a small family owned and run company that’s been involved in the cycling industry for more than 125 years. Given our heritage, we have a close affinity with the challenges that bicycle dealers face every day, and we will always endeavour to offer the best possible support and service to our customers. With all the distributor changes, we’ve recently taken the opportunity to further enhance our already significant ‘everyday essentials’ ranges with some additional lines on top of our existing 11,000+ SKUs. Our aim in doing this is to make it easier than ever for dealers to select Ison Distribution as a key supplier on a regular basis. We recognise that dealers have many options on which suppliers they choose to work with, and we remain grateful to those who choose to work with Ison Distribution.
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