De Klok on track for a strong 2012

Although De Klok Banden has only been headquartered at its current site for seven years, organic growth and partnership deals in recent times mean space within the wholesaler’s warehouse in Oud-Beijerland, the Netherlands is already at a premium. When Tyres & Accessories met with company director Wim van der Heiden in late February, he shared that De Klok is planning to move some time soon.

“We moved to our current warehouse in 1995 and it is now too small,” he explains. “Five years ago we built an additional warehouse but in the last two years we’ve recognised that what we have is again too small for us. Our lack of space is linked both to growth within our own business and also to logistics we perform for other companies and the wheels/tyres we store and distribute for a partner called ‘Wheel Partners’.” Van der Heiden says De Klok is now looking at other possibilities; while an absence of free land at the current site rules out the option of further expansion there, the wholesaler intends to remain in the local area. Until a solution is decided upon and a new facility acquired or built, De Klok is renting additional warehouse space as a temporary measure.

The future home of De Klok Banden will be the company’s fourth location as a wholesaler. The firm, which started life as a coal supplier in 1920 before entering the automotive sector as a garage operator in Rotterdam in the late 1960s, entered the wholesaling business during the following decade. “Our first big step was to become the Benelux importer for Nokian in the mid 1970s – we are Nokian’s oldest importer and this was a big step in our path towards the company we are today,” Van der Heiden recalls. “We started importing Nokian tyres so we could have a tyre range for our garage and then we began supplying other businesses. We took on Nokian as our own brand and our business grew quickly through this.” By 1982 the company had reached a size that necessitated a move out of space-constrained Rotterdam, and thirteen years later further expansion prompted relocation to the current site.

Brands to cover all segments

Today De Klok covers all segments of the passenger car tyre market. Premium sales are complemented by a number of exclusive brands, which account for 70 to 75 per cent of the wholesaler’s total unit sales. The list of exclusives obviously includes Nokian, for whom De Klok is importer for the Benelux region. In addition, the Dutch firm exclusively represents GT Radial (Benelux), Nankang (Benelux and Germany – passenger car, van and 4×4 ranges), Sonar (Germany), Ovation (Benelux, France and Germany) and Accelera (Germany and Poland).

The brands listed above are supplemented by the wholesaler’s own private brand, Delfin. “Our own brand, Delfin, is available for every market,” the De Klok director notes. “The other exclusive brands are just for certain areas. Therefore our focus for Delfin includes the UK, Italy and Spain – areas where we don’t have exclusive brands. The moulds for the Delfin brand belong to De Klok; this was quite a large investment but it was worthwhile. We have had this brand for five years now and if contains 35 sizes.” Tyres, whether private, exclusive or premium, are delivered in De Klok’s own vehicles in the Belgian, French and German markets, and mostly in containers for other regions. For the Benelux countries the wholesaler uses a transport company called Part Express, which offers offer a 24 hour delivery service – on orders taken until 3-4pm the tyres will be delivered the following morning.

On target in 2012

According to van der Heiden, 2011 was an extremely good year for De Klok. “While 2010 was already a very good year, last year was even better. We experienced growth in unit sales and were very happy with 2011.” The director adds that, based upon the company’s performance in January and February 2012, De Klok believes it can reach its budgeted volumes for this year. “Of course winter tyre sales were down in the first two months of the year but we can still reach our volumes,” he states. “We recognise that there may be pressure on margins though as there are a lot of tyres in the market. But we see many growth opportunities in the market and are confident that 2012 will be quite a good year.”

A focus for De Klok this year are markets in Scandinavia and Southern Europe, mainly Italy, Spain and France. These are a priority for further development, van der Heiden comments. The De Klok director also notes that the UK winter tyre market is developing and more and more winter tyres are being sold. “We see a lot of opportunities – Europe is so big,” he continues. “We don’t only aim to distinguish ourselves with brands, we like to provide a good service, for example with logistics, on time, accurate deliveries. We also have a DPD service, which is an important service for us.”

Van der Heiden identifies the other major event of 2012 as the introduction of the European tyre label. He believes that awareness about the label is still low, and during the year De Klok aims to make people better understand its impact. “We see very big opportunities in the label, and I think we all have to use it as a marketing tool,” he comments. Elaborating, the director says he believes the label may to an extent change end consumer purchasing habits by enabling them to focus on the tyre qualities that are most important to them; he foresees the label will increase consumer awareness of tyre specifications, and because of this manufacturers will focus on particular target groups. 

Importantly, van der Heiden relates that all the wholesaler’s suppliers say they will be ready in time, with all tyres tested and labeled. Summing up De Klok Banden in 2012, the director concludes “our sales of winter and summer tyres are growing. This is to do with a real, decent and proper market approach – we don’t want to be a wholesaler who just imports certain brands, rather someone who builds brands in a certain area together with good dealers. We are very proud to be an independent operator and making our own decisions and plans.”