FORT COLLINS, CO (BRAIN) — Exustar USA now has six distributors handling a variety of its products. The distributors are: Action Bicycle USA, Cyclone Bicycle Supply, Hans Johnsen, J&B Importers, North American Cycles and QBP, said Dannie Nall, general manager for Exustar USA.
Exustar's U.S. warehouse in Fort Collins, Colo., will close in January. All Fort Collins goods are being relocated to Cycle Force Group in Ames, Iowa, for distributor warehousing and immediate delivery. Interested customers are encouraged to contact Exustar USA for product fulfillment.
Nall, a longtime industry veteran, became the Exustar U.S.A. general manager a year ago. Nall subsequently turned Exustar's distribution model upside down. What had been a consumer website and dealer-direct operation with a stand-alone warehouse has now shifted to the distributor model.
"I soon realized that the warehouse model wasn't going to work. IBDs don't want more suppliers, they want fewer. IBDs are already bullied by major bicycle companies to stock only their house brands, so stocking and selling our products from a dedicated Exustar warehouse doesn't work," Nall said.
Nall said the key to increasing Exustar sales is to use established industry distributors. "They have the brands, infrastructure and sales reps and IBDs today like one-stop shopping," Nall said.
Nall said one large Denver area retailer, for example, told him he would buy Exustar pedals and cleats if they were carried by a distributor he already uses. "He has 77 suppliers and by next year he would like to have 10," Nall said. Recent distribution decisions by Shimano and Look also helped open new doors for Exustar, he added.
