The acquisition strategy of Mark Vriend (Fietsvoordeelshop)

With the arrival of Louwman Group as a strategic shareholder, director-major shareholder Mark Vriend of Fietsvoordeelshop.nl can be just a little more comfortable on the acquisition path. 'We now dare to think big and act big.'

The story of Fietsvoordeelshop.nl has a long history. More than fifty years ago, in 1972, grandfather Klaas Vriend opened a two-wheeler store in Opmeer. Slowly he expanded that to five branches, then in 1989 he handed the business over to his sons, who each continued on their own with a store. Ten years ago, Mark Vriend (third generation) entered the picture. Vriend had just started his first job at accounting firm EY, but was eager for an entrepreneurial adventure.

Vriend: "My father and brother believed in online bicycle sales, but couldn't really get it off the ground. Then I got involved in online sales, initially still alongside my job. That was also pioneering for me in the beginning, but step by step we were able to expand it and especially in the last five years we have been growing very fast.'

This growth has been achieved in recent years in an online bicycle market where competition is cutthroat. In addition to Fietsvoordeelshop, competitors include Fietsenwinkel.nl, Mantel and countless smaller players. But the big advantage of Fietsvoordeelshop, according to Vriend, is the omnichannel approach that the business uses: in addition to a webshop, the originally North-Holland family business (now headquartered in Amersfoort) also has 24 two-wheeler stores.

Vriend: 'Basically, we are an offline business with an online branch. Moreover, we were one of the first to apply the same price in our stores and on the website.'

Strategic partner

When you grow quickly as a business, you soon find yourself in the sights of investors. Vriend also regularly had investment companies on his doorstep in Amersfoort. Yet he was never consciously looking for a wealthy party to step into his business. Until Louwman Group, a family business from Den Haag with a focus on mobility, came along.

'We could have gone from five to six to seven branches just fine. But if you really want to grow fast, you need more financing. We now have something like 15,000 bikes in stock. Do that times purchasing, then you have to pre-finance a lot. Then we also have twenty stores with a lot in stock, plus inventory. Add that up and you know it's a lot of money.'

Fietsvoordeelshop owes its growth to 24 bicycle stores and a flourishing webshop in part to a successful acquisition strategy. In recent years, branches in Amstelveen, Eindhoven, Utrecht, Uden and Ridderkerk were taken over. Vriend also took over the bankrupt Juizz, a provider of e-bike brands such as Stromer, Urban Arrow and Riese & Muller. Vriend - director-major shareholder since 2018 - has the ambition to grow with Fietsvoordeelshop to national coverage with some thirty-five branches in the coming years.

Takeover strategy

For Vriend, Fietsvoordeelshop's growth strategy consists of two pillars: either opening new branches himself or taking over existing branches.

'We look at a city, district or location to see if we can open there ourselves. If that doesn't work out, then we'll look to take over a business. And if we take something over, do we have to move or can we stay put? With the arrival of investor Louwman, we were able to help realize these acquisitions and we dare to look even further.' For example, Vriend would like to expand to several cities and there should also be more traction online at Fietsvoordeelshop. 'Because of Louwman, we dare to think big and act big these days.'

Incidentally, Vriend approaches an acquisition today very differently from the very first acquisition he ever made. During that first transaction, he personally sat down and counted all the loose valves, bicycle tires and tail lights to verify that the stated inventory was actually correct. Friend: "Now we look a little more at outlines and our regional managers help us along. That's also how we keep speed in an acquisition.'

Communications

Another important learning point for Vriend is the timely involvement of all employees of the branch being acquired. For example, one day before the takeover, the employees of an acquired branch were completely unexpectedly told by the then-owner that they were "working for Vriend tomorrow.

'That communication caused people to be overwhelmed and put up a lot of resistance when we took over. A big communication failure for which we paid a learning price.' Vriend now uses an acquisition scenario divided into action points before the transaction, during the transaction and after the transaction. Vriend: 'Now, for example, we first go for a bite to eat with the staff working in a store to be taken over, explain who we are and share our plans.

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