Gripen UK Enjoying ‘Month on Month’ Growth

Over on the other side of the North Sea lies the headquarters of one of the largest and fastest growing wholesalers in Scandinavia and Europe, Gripen Wheels. The Swedish based company delivers tyres to more than 20 countries and operates numerous warehouses throughout Europe. Some 18 months ago the UK joined the list of locations where Gripen boasts a presence, and the Cambridge headquartered operation now supplies customers nationwide from its warehouse in Immingham, near Hull. Tyres & Accessories recently spoke with Gripen’s UK director, Ray Coulson, to find out how the company is progressing in our market. “Establishing a UK presence has been a good move,” declares Coulson. “Gripen Wheels UK has moved forwards month on month since we started.” Despite getting underway in the UK market at a time widely considered to be one of the industry’s most difficult in recent years, Mr. Coulson reports that Gripen’s initial experiences have been positive, and the company has even caught the eye of a previously untapped customer base. “Many customers that bought premium brands are now purchasing middle and budget brands instead,” explains Coulson. “These are operators that previously purchased the brands they had always bought without considering alternatives, and a benefit the downturn has brought us is that companies are finally looking at ways they can reduce costs without cutting back on performance or value.” The UK director also relates that the main consideration for the bulk of customers is whole life cost, and therefore Gripen Wheels carefully selects the products it chooses to sell: “We aren’t looking just to supply an affordable tyre,” Coulson comments.

“We want to be known as a company that sells brands that deliver a good pence per hour.” Amongst the industrial tyre brands Gripen supplies to UK customers is Ceat Altura, which Ray Coulson notes is the company’s primary brand for this segment. The Gripen UK industrial tyre portfolio also includes a number of premium retread brands, such as Rodos, Schelkmann and Marangoni. A further brand being introduced to UK customers is Hilo. This Chinese brand is distributed throughout Europe by Gripen Wheels, and at present port operators are being introduced to the benefits this radial brand offers. “We have a relationship with the Hilo brand and are in the process of introducing a new radial product for port use. To begin with the new range will include a couple of sizes,” says Mr. Coulson. “While port users have traditionally preferred bias tyres because of the stability they offered and as bias has been a cheaper option, I think radial products will move forwards in this operating environment over the next few years,” Coulson adds. In addressing the issue of stability, he further points out that the new Hilo product is a three-star radial specifically designed for port use and thus designed from the outset to be used in these harsh working environments. The port business is one Gripen is keen to develop, he shares: “In the UK over the next 12 months we will be concentrating on ports. We have already conducted talks with ports and the tyre companies that service these ports.”

Another development this year is a new addition to Gripen’s forklift tyre portfolio. The forklift tyre business, Coulson comments, has admittedly not been a large part of Gripen’s UK business, but it is a growing one, and users of these specialty tyres are not being neglected. In recent months Gripen has begun promoting the Top Trust range, a crossply pneumatic forklift tyre brand from China. Many of the tyres stocked by Gripen are manufactured in China, and given the vast array of products coming from this country in recent years it is understandable that a company such as Gripen must make sure the brands they take on are the right quality and the right price. “The Chinese manufacturers came into the market with cheap products two to three years ago and this affected the market drastically,” observes Coulson. “But now the market is to an extent consolidating. In the coming years strong Chinese brands such as Hilo and Triangle (Gripen Wheels is a major distributor of this brand throughout Europe) will be able to hold their own and their reputation will further grow, but the smaller brands won’t even get as far as entering the UK.” Selecting the correct tyre to sell is a thorough process at Gripen Wheels. As Ray Coulson explains, the company “buys right price products that perform.” Evaluating potential products initially takes place at the company’s Swedish headquarters. “Much testing is done there in order to select the best products,” he continues. “Testing starts, in Sweden, even before tyres are brought into the UK. After they have passed preliminary tests we approach customers here and test the tyres on applications in the UK.” Mr. Coulson notes that Gripen has become particularly careful about only stocking the best value for money products during this last year due to the exchange rate situation – the price of products sourced in China and India has crept up of late.

Ray Coulson anticipates the industrial tyre market will remain flat for the next 12 months or so. As previously mentioned, this market weakness presents a silver lining for Gripen; Mr. Coulson notes that the downturn has come at a time when the prices of some premium brands have increased substantially: “This represents an opportunity for Gripen as premium brand users are now prepared to try other brands and are seeing the pence per hour benefits.” Product value for money is paired with going the extra mile for customers. According to Ray Coulson, when Gripen started “we entered a market where people would supply anything, as long as it was the right size. Not much consideration went into specific application. Now we are trying to educate consumers.” He elaborates that Gripen strives to be more than just a supplier that sells tyres – instead it sets out to offer the right tyre for the right application. “We dig a bit deeper to supply the right product,” he states. “In our 18 months in the UK we have had month on month an increase in sales,” reports Mr. Coulson. “More and more people are discovering we can help them with their industrial tyre requirements, and when we don’t have something in stock within the UK we can source it from Europe within seven to ten days. We normally have the correct item in stock at one of our locations.” The Gripen UK director adds that in the coming year he anticipates the addition of new industrial brands to the company’s line-up: “We are now taking a look at a number of brands, but before anything is decided upon we must test these products and see what is suitable for our market.” Gripen may also look at extending supply of some of the brands it deals with in Europe into the United Kingdom.