Importer Platts closes its doors

When I call Dietmar Faes, he is sitting with the invoices that he is transferring. He is doing well, he sounds relaxed, the reason for my call is the gradual closure of his import business.

For more than 30 years, Dietmar Faes imported sporting goods into Switzerland and, from the Biel region, supplied specialist sports stores and bicycle retailers throughout Switzerland with them. Now he doesn't like it anymore. This is a pity, because Dietmar Faes is one of the few "people" in the industry who always have an open ear for their neighbor. The lease ends on 31.07.2018, until then everything will be shut down, the various brands were sometimes taken over by other importers. I wanted to know what prompted him to take this step. He responds:

"The business just isn't profitable anymore!"

What I do as an importer is no longer up to date. Internet trade is constantly increasing and this puts pressure on prices and makes our margins as an importer smaller and smaller, while costs, on the other hand, always remain the same. Customers in Switzerland are supplied from Europe with low-cost central warehouses and couriers, which constantly increases the pressure in the market. The industry is undergoing a structural change that is not yet complete. I am tired after 30 years, I don't like to discuss warranty services with customers anymore, who bought their goods abroad but want to claim free warranty work from us as importer, which doesn't bring us anything, but only causes costs, or have discussions with young product managers about their products. There are also strong changes in partners that demand the importer. Eddie Merckx bikes made a million-dollar loss in 2017, Selle San Marco was sold and Northwave has a completely new management at the helm. That doesn't make collaboration any easier, either. And at Orbea, too, the question is when they will organize imports to Switzerland without a Swiss importer."

The balance Faes draws is sobering, but the reality of the market. But Dietmar Faes is not going to be out of a job. After all, as president of FC Biel, he has a great job that fills him up, and then he is also invested in real estate in the region. He has just landed an event venue that promises a lot. So the experienced entrepreneur will definitely not be bored, but he now wants to put his energy into new projects. "It's important to me that all the bills have been paid by us and we let the company become inactive without harm to others." A return is rather unlikely, but he responds to the question in this regard with "never say never." His departure from the industry is regrettable for some contemporaries. At this point I can only wish Dietmar Faes all the best, there is no need to worry about him, with his humor he will initiate new things and put them into practice.

Is the Swiss importer a discontinued model?
Is the Platts affair an isolated case or a model that will soon affect other importers? Is the Swiss importer as a business model a discontinued model? Already two years ago I Philippe Egli and Didi Schweighauser from Catrade asked whether a national distributor is still needed in the future. You yourself have only recently had to experience that an important brand from your portfolio wants to organize the import itself. The business of trading and importing sporting goods in particular has become much tougher. The prospects are not necessarily rosy at the moment, even if the euro exchange rate, which has fallen sharply over the past 1-1.5 years, has regained some of its footing and has somewhat eased the competitive pressure in Europe in this respect.