Behind the shop, another world begins. Like in Western movies, when people played poker behind the counter. Behind the All4Cycling counter there is the world of e-commerce and it is truly the door to a parallel universeFrom their workstations, the workers handle the items being sold and arrange for shipment. The warehouse, like all warehouses, is a realm of organized chaos. But at the base you can feel a great passion for cycling and an even greater desire to work.
Province of Varese
We are in Gazzada Schianno, a municipality in the Varese area with less than 5.000 inhabitants, where the headquarters is located the shop of All4Cycling. We've talked about it before, but today we came to take a closer look. Matteo Ruzza, the company's marketing manager, leads us., and in the meantime explains what the commercial strategies are and how the physical store interacts with the online one.
«All4Cycling – he says – is a completely Italian e-commerce company, based in Varese. It was born as a website in 2006In 2011, due to the need to have a point of reference also in the local area, it started with a pick and pay service, therefore only for the collection of online orders.
«Over the years, for the need to be present in the area and to also supply enthusiasts here, begins selling clothing. Until, by further expanding, it has a well-stocked store where you can find everything that is made available online».
Shop and community
What has distinguished All4Cycling since the post-pandemic period and until a few days ago have been the social initiatives implemented, in the form of bike rides and interventions of champions, to tell, explain, entertain and consolidate the community.
«Initially – explains Matteo Ruzza – we wanted to introduce and enhance the gravel market, then in the end we understood that there was the need to create a community and to make enthusiasts aware of the areaSo the social rides stopped being just gravel raids and we also opened up to different types of cycling. With mountain bikes and then also on the road a few weeks ago with Fabio Aru.
«The added strengths of All4Cycling – he continues – are two: the fact of having people who know cycling because they practice it or have practiced it. And then there is the trying to create a community to avoid remaining solely on a seller/customer relationship. This is important to us."
How is your market divided?
At first the public was strictly road, because this was the growth path of All4cycling, born primarily selling streetwear. Starting with professional team apparel, it expanded to collectible apparel, and later introduced components and accessories. Lastly, the bikes were brought in.This has been our path. Now the road still dominates.
And gravel?
The gravel I'm not saying it's fluctuating, but basically we don't know yet where it will position itself.. Right now it's going very well. And mountain biking is also doing its part, maybe we can say that we are approaching a break-even point between the three disciplines in play.
What is the point of bringing samples to the store?
In customer activations, Champions certainly still have their charmWe made a meet and greet with vingegaard which went very well. Then we did a social ride with Fabio Aru and that too, like the meeting with Vingegaard, sold out in a very short timeThe champion has his charm, but it was nice to see that after the pandemic period people wanted to be present, rediscovering the social nature of the bike. And this is very important to us and we will not stop doing it.
Is there a difference between an in-store customer and an online customer?
Those who shop online focus more on clothing, components, and accessories. With bicycles, it's more complicated because they arrive disassembled and not everyone is able to assemble them. What works online is immediacy and if the bike arrives and then I have to go to another shop to have it assembled, the immediacy disappears.
Can you follow both of them in the same way?
In the consultancy phase, we We try in every way to be as present as possible online tooIt's true that when the customer comes to the shop he has the opportunity to interact with the guys who are super experts, but We have also opened all the channels onlineWe have a chat, we have emails, we have telephone customer service. In short, we want to make the online customer feel that Behind the e-commerce robot there is also a competent person, able to advise as if they had it in front of them in the shop.
