Thanks to the great service they provide to their users, and also thanks to the boom of cargo bikes, to which they responded with their PINO model, this company already had a lot of orders before COVID. When the coronavirus appeared in the world and with it also the huge cycling boom, the demand for the products of this German company skyrocketed. How did they manage to cope with this onslaught and how did they react to it? I asked Thomas Tholen who is head of sales at HASE.
How was your season in general?
HASE BIKES were facing the same challenges as the whole bicycle industry, namely a flood of orders combined with a shortage on parts and material.
In addition to the general boom in the bicycle market, which already started in the 2nd half of 2020, we were releasing our new PINO with telescoping frame in spring 2021 with an astonishing success.
Luckily we were able to keep up our production without any interruption due to shortness of parts or thick leave or quarantine of the staff.
Our purchasers and production coordinators did a wonderful job to keep the production running, finding solutions and alternatives whenever our designated suppliers failed. (This does not imply any reproach to the suppliers)
How significant was the increase in your sales?
Considering the circumstances, we at HASE BIKES are very happy with an increase of 20%.
Sales in the meaning of orders we received is a different story. Here the growth is some 60% in 2021 after we experienced about the same in 2020. Which leads us directly to your next question
What was the biggest challenge for you?
Delivery times.
The discrepancy between incoming orders and our production capacities lead to absurd delivery times of over 18 months e.g. for the new PINO.
We are now taking orders for our trikes and tandems, not knowing which components will be equipped nor what price the product will have at the time of delivery.
Dealing like this would have been inconceivable in the pre-corona times. Today we experience a lot of understanding and patience amongst our dealers and customers, thank you for this!
Did you implement any improvements that will help you in the post-covid times?
Indeed! HASE BIKES expands their facilities with a new production hall and warehouse of over 3.000 square metres. We are going to put it into operation in a couple of weeks.
We raise our stock of components and material substantially to be prepared for further supply chain disruptions.
Our ambitious aim is to follow up the high demand with the production of 5000 cycles in 2022.
Besides that our brand-new website went online under the well known adresss www.hasebikes.com
The new website shows who we are and what we stand for. The focus is on cutomer proximity, product enjoyment, and shared experiences.
During the pandemic we have learnt that digital presence is very important to keep in touch with people. So we have also made a big improvement in this field.
What do you expect from 2022?
I gave up expecting too much but I´m really hoping that live and business gradually comes back to normal in 2022 so that we can serve our customers the way they deserve it.
We at HASE BIKES are missing our attendance at shows like the SPEZI, EUROBIKE and others a lot.
My biggest wish is to go out and meet the scene face to face again.
Thank you for the interview!
