Growth despite the pandemic - review and outlook with Raik Vollmann and Thomas Herzog
VSC.BIKE looks back on an exciting year and has ambitious plans for 2021. In this interview, shareholder Thomas Herzog and managing director Raik Vollmann sum up the special challenges in 2020 and look ahead together. Because in 2021, VSC.Bike GmbH will continue to move upwards.
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(c) VSC.BIKE
How was 2020 for VSC.Bike overall?
Herzog: We can look back on a good order situation last year. We were able to further establish ourselves in the area of commercially used cargo bikes. In particular, we are pleased to report strong growth in mail delivery. In addition to the new customers from Germany, we have also made contact with
other people interested in cargo bikes in other European countries.
Were there any particular challenges in coordinating with suppliers in 2020?
Vollmann: The biggest challenge was maintaining our supply chains in terms of materials. Due to the many orders, we had to cope with an enormous delivery workload. Most of our material to be processed comes from companies in neighbouring European countries, some of which were affected by complete plant
closures due to the lockdown. Close supplier communication was required here. We were in constant exchange, telephoning or emailing daily. Extraordinary circumstances sometimes require extraordinary ideas. That's why we sometimes went out ourselves and collected the material from our suppliers.
Herzog: The pandemic really put our whole team to the test. Thanks to everyone's outstanding performance and the strong support of our suppliers, we nevertheless had no supply bottleneck and were able to fulfil all orders on time.
And what are your plans for VSC.Bike in 2021?
Herzog: We have a lot planned for 2021. We want to expand the customer contacts we have recently established and further establish both our cargo bikes and our delivery bikes in other European countries.
Vollmann: That's right. In addition, in the area of existing customers, we have the goal of maintaining the satisfaction index and further expanding our service - for example through product updates.
Thank you for this insight.