BRANDS
Paul Harrison, Thule sales director UK & IRE
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Thule launched the Epos bike carrier earlier this year with plans to distribute and sell solely through cycling stores. Daniel Blackham speaks to Paul Harrison, sales director UK & IRE, to hear how the product has been received
W
ith 2023 presenting well-known challenges, how has Thule found the year so far? “Probably better than expected in light of some
of the retail challenges, particularly in the bike sector,” said Paul Harrison, sales director UK & IRE for Thule. “We’ve got three sections of our business which are Sport and Cargo, so cycle carriers, roof boxes and roof racks, Active with kids/juniors including our dog ranges, then we’ve got our bags, packs and luggage. “As a whole everything is roughly flat and therefore cycle carriers have probably done slightly better than expected this year.”
“I’m new to the business so I can’t take all of the credit, but certainly, some of the things that we’ve been doing regarding distribution and opening new doors has helped spread the message and get into more people’s peripheral with an understanding of what Thule products are on offer.” Harrison joined Thule in January this year after six years at Garmin. One of the most notable strategies implemented by Harrison is the launch of the Thule Epos. Thule has traditionally sold bike carriers through
automotive retailers, such as Halfords, and the open market via independent Thule resellers, but the new Epos carrier is solely available through cycling stores. A contributing factor to this was to explain the changing
44 | November 2023
trend from carrying bikes on the top of the car and moving onto the rear of the car.
“There’s a variety of things that are affecting that[trend],” explained Harrison, “One of them is the weight of bikes, particularly e-bikes.
You’re unlikely to want to start hiking a 15kg bike onto the top of your car. The other thing is electric vehicles and fuel economy.
“So more and more people are looking at solutions to go on the rear of cars, and we’re seeing that not only in cycling, but also in roof boxes where we now offer an alternative for the rear.”
Partnering with IBDs
So why was Epos the right product for Thule to work with IBDs on? “We wanted to take the consumer and our customers through that journey of what a ‘rear of car’ option was,” said Harrison.
“I think most cyclists are used to putting a bike on a traditional roof rack, but when it comes to putting it on the back of their car with weight and tow bars, it’s new. “That’s where we believe that the independent retailers in
the cycling sector would be really beneficial, explaining the move from top of car to rear of car and then the assisted sale to take the consumer through Epos.”
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