Philippe Egli and Didi Schweighauser and their team have been successfully rocking the Swiss sporting goods market for years. With a lot of passion, they make sure that great sporting goods can be found in Swiss stores. We take a look behind the scenes of the sporting goods market. Despite difficulties in the market environment, they have just invested a lot in their company, because they believe in the future of Switzerland.
by Rolf Fleckenstein
Have you ever wondered how all the sporting goods you find in sports retailers, department stores and discounters get there and where they come from? Catrade AG in Büron, Lucerne, together with its subsidiary Elan Handels AG, currently represents 16 brands, including brands such as Elan (skis), Canada Goose (winter jackets) and Ziener (gloves, etc.), most of which it imports into Switzerland from abroad in order to make them available to Swiss consumers quickly, safely and reliably via retailers. Consumers never come into direct contact with Catrade AG, at most by chance via its homepage. That is why I would like to give our readers the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of this business with this report.
A strong team with heart
Philippe Egli and Didi Schweighauser, along with the other partners Martin Rubitschung and Armand Rauber, are the owners and makers of the trading company. The two have known each other for a long time since their time at Rossignol. Didi was CEO for the Rossignol Group at the time, Philippe was sales manager for Dynastar/Lange. The two are a well-rehearsed team that harmonizes perfectly. The fun the two have with each other and with their business is something you can sense when you visit them. Didi always shows himself to be an open, warm person who successfully steers the company's fortunes with a lot of experience as a managing director in the Swiss sports market and his analytical skills. He is a real buddy type. Philippe is the company's shining light, who makes other people laugh, inspires them and motivates those around him with his likeable, cosmopolitan manner and zest for life. With his caring side, he always involves everyone involved in decisions and always knows how to find solutions quickly and put them into practice. The two of them fit perfectly into the sports market, which is always challenging and yet requires a certain coolness and looseness; after all, their customers are sports retailers and not stiff accountants. They are both sports people, active and passionate skiers, outdoorsmen and water rats who are only too happy to spend time in nature to experience it with their sport. In addition, they are warm family people and family fathers who are there for their families with great passion. It is therefore not surprising that there is also a very relaxed, family atmosphere in the company. Many other companies could take an example from this.
Investment in the future
In the middle of the year, the move from Oberentfelden in Aargau in somewhat cramped conditions to the new and generously designed company headquarters in Büron in Lucerne was completed, with which they have invested a lot in their company and its future. Both believe in their business model and in Switzerland and that their investment was the right one. I talked to both of them about their lives as importers and distributors and the problems and challenges they face.
How do sporting goods from all over the world get to Switzerland?
Didi Schweighauser: There are basically two ways. Switzerland is an exciting and attractive market. That's why brands are on the lookout for opportunities to distribute their products with us. The brand has the choice of either setting up its own sales organization or working with an existing sales partner with a good infrastructure and an extensive network like us. For our part, we thrive on strong brands and are on the lookout for good brands that might be a good fit for us. Then we actively approach the market.
And then?
Philippe EgliThe question is whether there will be a collaboration or not. We also look at whether it fits interpersonally, after all, you work with the brand for a long time afterwards and if you notice that it's not right somehow and you get upset when you see the partner's phone number on the display, then it's not right.
Didi Schweighauser: That has changed, that has been there. That is quite crucial. "The more familiar, the more heart and soul of the movers and shakers in the business, the better, and the bigger the story is, the more investors there are, the lower the identification of the decision-makers with the brand, the more difficult it becomes. If it fits, a contract is signed and then the market is worked on, i.e. retailers are contacted, goods are offered, orders come in, we order the goods from the manufacturer and deliver them to retailers. That's how sporting goods finally get to consumers. That is the basis of the business. Then, if you want to be successful, you need to have good customer service, you need to be able to solve technical problems, you need to be able to handle warranty cases, you need to be able to train retailers and offer them marketing support, and so on. There's a whole bundle of services that go into that and I think that's a strength of ours, that we all solve the dealer's problems.
Philippe Egli: Why do we need an importer at all? To solve all these small questions that arise and the speed that the goods ordered today will be delivered tomorrow is a central function of the importer. Also, the fact that the importer knows the market is important to be able to grow. All this detailed knowledge in handling the sales process, organizing and handling the market needs is the reason why it takes us and why we can grow. ...
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