Giant Group CEO Tony Lo Opens Amsterdam Giant Store

AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands – Following the opening in the Dutch cities Utrecht, Laren and Apeldoorn, Amsterdam is now having its own Giant Flagship Store. “In Asia single bike brand stores are very common”, said Tony Lo, CEO of the Giant Group (photo). “In China alone we have some one thousand Giant Stores.

“In all countries in which we have a strong market presentation more Giant Flagship Stores will be opened”, said Lo. “They already exist in England, Germany, France, USA, Canada, Australia, China and Taiwan of course. We design the concepts, while the local dealers can to implement them in their business.”

“We would like to see more of these stores opened”, adds Willem Buitenhuis, General Manager of Giant Europe. “However, we have not set a target as we have recently reduced the number of Giant dealers. With this concept we are looking for a complete new type of partnership with the IBDs.”

“More Giant Stores in the future”

The Giant Stores are not owned by Giant, but by IBDs. So is the case in Amsterdam. This store is owned by Timon Rutten Hage and Bastiaan Nouws both former consultants of McKinsey who also took over three other bike shops last year. “We do not exclude that we will open more Giant Stores in the future”, said Timon Rutten Hage.

A few years ago the Retailing Giant Project was launched in Taiwan. This project contains of two concepts which have been deployed. These are the Giant Store Inside (shop-in-shop) and the Giant Brand Store (GBS, single branded store).

Concept based on local market

“Each country has developed its own concept based on their own market situation,” said Jordy Veldhuizen, Retail Support manager Giant Benelux BV. “The shops in Taiwan are all owned by Giant contrary to the ownership in Europe. In the Netherlands we already have many GSI stores and we expect several of them to grow to a GBS-shop.

In Europe Giant only participates in the interior. Furthermore, IBDs who run a Giant Store are supported by Giant. “The terms and conditions are similar to other dealers, but with short lead times. We do not want too many bikes in the shops, so we keep them in stock for them and the bikes are available on demand,” said Veldhuizen.

“This is the result of a complete automation of the shop. Therefore we can respond very quickly and it gives us a better understanding of the consumer’s behaviour in retail level. “ 

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