BRANDS
We believe UK IBDs need to stick with their chosen brands, whether it be PNW, Burgtec or something similar. Get behind your brands, use them on your own bikes, and you will soon become known for that brand or product you support. We are seeing people do just that with our brands, and quite frankly, that is amazing to see.
Currently, you have a focused lineup with PNW and Mudhugger. Is the plan to remain a specialised distributor, or are you looking to expand into other categories as the business grows? As we explained, PNW is the brand that pushed us to start Marches, then, similarly, The Mudhugger came onboard. It just happened that way; we never want to force anything, and we believe in having the ‘right’ brands under our umbrella. Working with the Mudhugger boys is a dream come true. We have always used their products in the past. They manufacture in the UK and offer a ‘winter’ focused product for us. As for what’s next, we have a couple of ongoing conversations with brands at the moment, and we are certainly not in a rush to fill the warehouse with brands we don’t believe in.
In your about me Marches bio, it says you have a combined 40 years of industry experience. Who is running the show behind the scenes? Matt Duley and Sandy Plenty. Both of us have had experience in the bike industry, mainly working in IBDs.
Would you say that being on the shop floor and having that experience influenced the way you’ve built Marches Parts? What are the common frustrations you’ve faced with traditional distribution that you’re aiming to do a little differently?
Most definitely it has, we know what an IBD wants from a distro, and we strive to be the distribution version of an IBD. Offering service to match, we hope. There are some really good distros out there, and sadly, some less so. We are striving to come under the former one.
Let’s talk about PNW components. Give us a bit of insight into the brand? And, if you had to choose, what do you think offers the best sell-through potential for a UK IBD right now? We can confidently say (zero bias) that PNW components are a top-tier MTB and gravel components brand, offering a wide range of dropper seat posts, lever options, as well as bars, stems, pedals and grips, all with many fitment options.
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Many smaller IBDs are currently wary of high minimum order quantities and slow lead times. What is the ‘Marches way’ when it comes to dealer support? How are you leveraging your Shropshire base to ensure that a shop in the Highlands or the South Coast gets the same level of service? Service is top of our list, like we said above, we feel we have a grasp of what a bike shop is after from a distro. We aim to get all orders out the same day or next day at worst, utilising a few different delivery services depending on the shop’s location. We have even been known to drive an order to Scotland! The riding may have been good in that area at that time, ha ha. All jokes aside, we have one job: get the product to the shop asap, provide the shop with the assets and product info they need, then also offer a good warranty and service programme to support these products. This is much easier to achieve when we are dealing with good brands.
As a new name in the distribution space with veteran experience behind the scenes, where do you want Marches Parts Co. to be in two years? Are there any upcoming projects or brand partnerships on the horizon that the BikeBiz audience should keep an eye on? We would like Marches to continue to strive to maintain good customer service values and to continue to keep stocking quality brands. It would be great to see a couple more brands with us over the next few years, but growing slowly and carefully is top of our list for now. If anyone reading this has any brand ideas for us, we would love to hear from you. We would both like to thank all of our amazing customers and brands for last year’s business. It is amazing the support we have had so far. Thank you.
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