The South African cycling industry, recently estimated to be worth in excess R1 billion, has had to grow up fast, especially in the past five years with the significant increase in popularity of mountain biking.
Since 2009, once the Rand had recovered from the repercussions of the hard-hitting 2008 financial crisis, demand for bicycles, spares, clothing and accessories has increased at a rate that’s forced the closure of mom-and-pops style businesses and heralded the arrival of national retail chains. Variety has improved too, with wholesalers taking on more brands and having to add more sizes or colours or models, forcing the doubling of their staff complements in order to cope.
The rapid cycling market growth has also left a few gaps, many of which have been filled by either astute or opportunistic new wholesalers entering the market, which is dynamic by nature and services predominantly high LSM groups. The growth has been swift – by anyone’s standards.
But while the industry has been focusing on quantity, quantity, quantity, Rush Sports, a Pietermaritzburg-based wholesaler that was established in 2008, has kept its focus on quality. This has helped differentiate the company and, what founder and director, Andre van Aarde believes has been a key factor in the company’s significant growth, particularly in the past seven months.
At Rush Sports, high importance is given to order, packaging and efficiency. This product is ready to be sent out to clients.
Unlike most wholesalers, Rush Sports has experienced its greatest growth by focusing on unexciting, but essential consumables such as bearings and brake pads. Rush Sports is the importer of Enduro bearings, by far the most popular bearing brand in South Africa. It’s also the agent for Formula and Brake Authority brake pads, both of which are high-end brands in this category. That and attention to detail, a character trait instilled in the business by Van Aarde, a self-confessed perfectionist.
But Rush Sports hasn’t always been a highly focussed business. Van Aarde says that it went through the usual rider-driven cycle industry business phases, which included having a bike brand and dabbling in a range (or ranges) of cool-to-own-but-hard-to-sell products. In fact, for much of its existence, Rush Sports was both a wholesaler and online retailer.
“We tried to be everything to everyone. It’s quite normal when you’re in the online retail space. But we realised that the better we did in one, the worse we did in the other. It finally struck me when I went to an e-commerce conference in Johannesburg that online retail wasn’t where we were going to make money as a business. There were guys there from Kalahari and Zando and they were all complaining how they weren’t making any money,” recalls Van Aarde.
Rush Sports is the South African importer of Enduro bearings. Bearings are not a glamour item, but are essential for all bicycles.
He returned to the Rush Sports offices in Pietermaritzburg and made the decision to close the online shop and rather integrate the technology into developing a slick wholesale-focused website. At the end of November 2014, an email went out from Rush Sports to customers informing them that the business had decided to end it’s retail element and focus solely on the wholesale function.
“Suddenly we had 80% more time,” recalls Van Aarde. “The first two weeks were worrying, but then things started to pick up. We transferred the service excellence and attention to detail we had developed as an online retailer, to the wholesale platform – and it was appreciated.
“We print our own boxes and send out professionally packed and presented orders. This is an area that no wholesalers have never felt important, but we do and we believe it makes a difference,” said Van Aarde. “We also aim to have quicker delivery times than anyone else and have a live-tracking system on our website so that our clients can see where their order is at any time.
“Customer interaction is a high priority for us. We have monthly personal in-shop interaction with our clients. In addition to that we have an automated call cycle system that ensures we have customer phone contact at least every second week. We send out two Rush Sports emails a week to our customers and we have a smart online system that is ‘live-chat’ enabled. We give our customers as many contact points as possible. Relationships are still important in business,” explained Van Aarde.
Exceptional communication with clients, either in person, by phone or online is a focus area for Rush Sports, something that’s helped set the company apart in South African cycling industry.
Rush Sports prides itself in having a highly organised, clean, well-stocked warehouse.
Bearings and brake pads aren’t the only products imported and distributed by Rush Sports. Also available are Formula brakes systems, Enduro and Wheels MFG bottom brackets and crank adapters, Wheels MFG brake cable crimps and donuts, Wheels MFG derailleur hangers, Enduro fork seals, Wheels MFG headset spacers, Onza tyres, and Industry Nine hubs, spokes and complete wheelsets. To be added soon is Praxis Cycles products, which include chainrings, cassettes, bottom brackets, specialist tools and conversion parts.
“I’ve travelled to most of the wholesalers in South Africa over the years. I’m proud to say we have the most organised warehouse in the industry,” smiled Van Aarde. “I just always want to do things properly. Some may think it’s over the top for the size of the business. We’re by no means close to the size of the big wholesalers in this country, but in terms of package handling, we’re a lot more efficient than most.”
Andre van Aarde, founder and director of Rush Sports.
Mark Malherbe, sales manager at Rush Sports.
Ryan Wortmann, sales manager at Rush Sports.
Besides an efficiently structured business, Rush Sports is also committed to educating both the consumer and the retailer. Van Aarde regularly posts videos on Rush Sports’ youtube channel that improve the awareness of products and product categories.
What does the future hold for Rush Sports?
“We actually sell products that every bike shop needs. But bearings are not just bearings. We want to educate our clients and the market at large about the different types of bearings and their applications. The more knowledge, the better for everyone,” explains Van Aarde.
“We’re very much a bicycle workshop-orientated wholesaler and there’s not much competition in this sub-sector. There’s a temptation to go bigger with more exciting products, but we feel that we still have a lot more growth potential with our current offering. So we’ll continue to focus on quality over quantity and ensuring we maintain our exceptionally high level of service excellence,” says Van Aarde.
For more information about Rush Sports and its brands, visit www.rushsports.co.za.
A passion for riding bicycles and helping grow an industry to enable others to develop the same passion is one of the driving forces behind Andre van Aarde, Rush Sports founder and director.
Admin, maybe consider heading these types of posts as an advertorial.