BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The Belgian Cycling Factory (BCF), the owner of Ridley and Eddy Merckx bike brands, has announced the appointment of three new country managers:
Alexandre Carrie joined the brand to manage France and Wallonia in early July.
He has a history at Lapierre where he was the commercial director for 11 years.
Carrie was also the commercial director at Look and Fulcrum wheels with his most recent role at Mach1 as the commercial and marketing director at Mach1.
Following the announcement, Carrie added: “I was seduced by the new business model and to become the brand of choice in Europe.
“With the best line-up of bikes ever and with Rider Retailer Centric I think we will be the choice for the independent bicycle retailer very soon.”
Alongside BCF, Carrie has appointed Oliver Esselborn to manage Germany and Switzerland, with Peter Wilhelm joining BCF’s country leadership team.
Previously Esselborn was the global sales director at Trelock and prior to that he was the country group Manager for Cervelo, Santa Cruz and Focus in the DACH region.
In his early years he worked for Specialized as the sales leader for Germany and Luxembourg.
Esselborn commented: “The passion and skills of all the people I met is incredible.
“Together with the 100% IBD focus and with the new and improved strategies in place (that will lower the risks and will increase the benefits of the retailers) the retailers will grow their business in a more profitable way with Ridley compared to any other brand.”
Wilhelm offers extensive experience in the bicycle industry.
He worked for five years in sales at one of Austria’s leading bicycle stores and then served as an outside account manager for Cannondale in Germany for several years.
Most recently, he was the OEM sales manager DACH for Mahle Smartbike Systems, handling bike brand accounts.
Wilhelm said: “For me, joining the Belgian Cycling Factory family was a clear choice due to their exceptional brand recognition and the opportunity to strengthen partnerships with independent bicycle dealers.
“I am excited to contribute to a company that values quality and product innovation and digitalisation so amazingly strong.”
These appointments signal the BCF’s commitment to the IBD channel.
“We challenge the business models of international brands who are not 100% IBD focused,” says Eugene Fierkens, BCF’s GM of strategy and business.
“We challenge the brands who are going direct-to-consumer and are acquiring stores.”
According to Fierkens, BCF is “100% IBD” with no intention of changing that any time soon.
He adds: “We [have] never changed our behaviour towards the IBD since 1997. And we will never do that.
“We don’t compete with the IBD. That’s a promise.”
To achieve this goal, Ridley is currently rolling out its new business model called ‘Rider Retailer Centric’ (RRC).
“RRC means that we always put the interests of both the rider and retailer first when we make decisions,” Fierkens clarified.
“To provide better services, among other things, we have subdivided Europe into nine regions with each region being managed by a country leader.
According to Fierkens, this is just the beginning.
He concluded: “We will keep investing in our retailers and services. More announcements will follow soon.”
