Distributor in the spotlight - MERIDA Benelux

MERIDA is an international brand with distributorships worldwide. We are keen to look behind the scenes in as many as possible to share with you more about our MERIDA family. Each Distributorship is run by individuals who give a personal spin on how they market and sell our bikes, some also have unique and quirky locations. MERIDA makes all kinds of bikes, but each country will have their favourites which suit the type of riding that is popular in their country.

This is the beginning of a new series building on the popularity of our ‘behind the brand’ features. We will dive into the detail of what each distributor is all about, and also spend some time talking to members of staff to obtain their unique perspective on the brand, find out what type of cyclists they are and why they love working for MERIDA.

For the first of this ‘Distributor in the spotlight’ series we visited the MERIDA EXPERIENCE CENTER in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands who look after Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) and Denmark. They were one of the earliest pioneering distributors for MERIDA so we thought this was a good place to start…..

To get the ball rolling ,we talked to Peter Koperdraad, MD of MERIDA Benelux and we asked him how it all started.

I am Peter Koperdraad, which translated into English, literally means Peter copper wire!

I have worked with Merida since Oct 1997 (so 26-27 years). I wasn’t always a cyclist, MERIDA was introduced to me through my father-in-law. He owned the Union bike factory and met Grace Tseng (sister of Ike Tseng, the founder of MERIDA) at a bike show, she told him they needed a distributor for MERIDA for the Benelux region. So, he suggested I did it – and so I did! He thought (and he was right) that as I wasn’t into cycling at that time that I would be more objective about the brand. So this is when the MERIDA distributorship was started in Benelux and it has gone from strength to strength.

You are clearly in a significant building. How did MERIDA end up here, what was it before and what attracted you to using this as your headquarters?

This used to be a Harley Davidson dealership and I used to come here as I was into motorbikes at the time. One day I noticed the bikes were gone and found out the building was available to rent. It is really cool as it not only has a large showroom, vast amounts of warehouse storage but it also has a bar, pool table and open fire! So in 2009 MERIDA took over the building and we have been here ever since.

It is called the MERIDA EXPERIENCE CENTER as we want customers to not just come to look at bikes but really experience them. This is so important, especially when they are making a big financial investment in a bike, they need to know how it feels to ride it.

We also want dealers to be able to come here and see (in this setting) all that MERIDA has to offer.

For customers we have every size bike available to test ride. They can book a test ride online and come in to have one to one support from one of the team. We have a ‘fitting room’ to figure the best size bike for them. There is all kinds of riding right from our door, we give them a GPS which has routes for various distances.  They don’t have to worry about where they are going, they can just get to know the bike and enjoy the ride. After the ride they can use our shower and changing rooms, so it is about the whole experience which makes us unique in what we can offer.

If they want to buy the bike, they can order it online and then they collect from their local dealer. In the Netherlands it is common to trade in your old bike when you buy a new one so this means they can still do this through their local dealer.

What other ‘services’ are you able to offer here to end users, dealers and your staff?

The public can walk in any time they like to have a look around and speak to one of our staff. Here we can offer that little bit more as we are ‘closer to the fire’. Customers can see all the bikes in our range in every colour in a MERIDA focused environment. Many of our staff are keen cyclists so have real life cycling knowledge and experience they can share, they also have significant brand focused technical knowledge which helps fit the right bike to each customer.

We run dealer shows where any of our 600 dealers can book in online to come to spend time with staff here and learn about new products and see them before they are available.

On top of that, we also run mechanical clinics to show people how to service their bikes and we have team presentations here and we use the space for international product launches and presentations too.

Over the years MERIDA has changed as a brand. You must have seen some of the milestones of the company’s history. Which have been the most significant for you?

There are too many to mention, but if I have to pick a few I would certainly start with the opening the MERIDA EXPERIENCE CENTER in 2009, when I did this my goal was to increase the ‘cool factor’ of the brand.

The second milestone was in 2012 with the start of the Lampre MERIDA cycling team, this culminated with Sonny Colbrelli from the team winning the Paris-Roubaix in 2021.
The third was when the NINETY-SIX RC XT was crowned ‘Mountainbike of the Year’ in the ‘FietsAwards 2021’ of the Royal RAI (Bicycle and Automotive Industry) Association in the Netherlands. It was great to get this recognition for a bike we all knew was a winner.

The most recent milestone was when Matej Mohorič a Slovenian rider from the Team BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS won the Gravel World Championship on a SILEX. The win itself was incredible, but it also happened the day before we launched the bike to the international cycling press – that was timing perfection.  Gravel fever has taken over the Benelux region as we have the terrain for it and this win on a SILEX showcased how MERIDA is at the forefront of this new style of riding.

How is MERIDA perceived in your markets? Has that changed over time?

The ‘cool factor’ has been increased by this Center and the sponsorship of the road cycling team. Our range has strong bikes in every segment (road, gravel, mountain bike, e-bikes) and we have had so many great reviews and awards, so our reputation continues to grow year on year. Our dealers appreciate this and the quality of the bikes, they see this first hand as they rarely have warranty issues with MERIDA bikes.

Do you work with athletes and racers in your market?

We sponsor a local riding club and have a corner for their kit here in our bike shop.

Road race teams are sponsored through our dealers. We also work with influencers through social media like Carlos Platier Luna, a crossfit hero in The Netherlands. For us it is important this content is real and authentic and makes cycling more inclusive for all, opening cycling to a wider audience.

Let’s talk bikes. What are the key bikes for the Benelux market?

Our focus for the Benelux region is on selling sporty and city-oriented e-bikes like the eONE-FORTY EQ, eSPRESSO series and eBIG.NINE EQ, road bikes like the REACTO and SCULTURA and our new favourite, the SILEX gravel bikes. As the love of gravel riding has been embraced by the Benelux region a growing proportion of our sales are gravel bikes such as the SILEX 4000, SILEX 7000 and SILEX 400 with the 400 being particularly popular for riders who enjoy gravel riding but also use it as a form of transport. In road bikes the REACTO is the most popular due to the geographical ‘short-comings’ of my country, and of course we like speed. For mountain biking the BIG.NINE and NINETY-SIX are really popular for racing but the overall demand for mountain bikes has been impacted by the popularity of the SILEX range. 

With you being part of the MERIDA family for a long time, we would assume that you must have a few historic bikes in your collection?

It is funny you should ask – we have 50 MERIDA museum bikes dotted around the Experience Center, they remind visitors of the long heritage of MERIDA who have been producing bikes since 1972. Many are in our warehouse so I hope one day we can have the time and space to display them properly.  Of all the museum bikes I have the one that means the most to me is the Extreme 907 blue road bike. Bart our marketing manager bought it second hand for himself, then discovered it had originated from us as it had been one of our earliest sample bikes. When I found this out, I tried to buy it off him but he wouldn’t sell it to me, instead he gave it to me as a gift when MERIDA had their 50^th birthday and I celebrated 25 years of working with MERIDA! So now it is proudly displayed outside my office.

We know that you have a few staff members who have been with you for a number of years. Who holds the record of being with you the longest?

Besides myself, Corné Brands holds the record, he has been a sales rep with us since 1999! We also have Eric Dekker who started a few years after Corné, initially he worked a few hours in our warehouse and now works full time in the office. It makes this place special for us that people want to hang around and be part of our little family for a long time.

Why do people join the team and more importantly why do they stay?

I wake up every day with a smile on my face looking forward to coming to work because I am selling fun! I think the staff like working here as they are given autonomy and I respect the importance of family life. I think giving people freedom to work independently I get more back from them as employees, for example the dealers all know they can call the reps at a weekend as this is when the shops are open and the reps will always answer so the company benefits from this flexibility on both sides.
We provide lunch for the team every day, there is a kitchen here where they can prepare snacks from the fresh bread we bring each morning. Maryke cleans the Center and prepares lunch on a Wednesday where she makes fresh omelettes. So everyone stops to have a proper break together in the bar area which is great for team bonding.

I also encourage staff to speak up and challenge me, I like this. They all have huge experience in their field and are keen to bring their own ideas to the table, and we have learnt over time that the plans we make together turn out to be some of the best ones. Ultimately I make the final decision of course, but the team know they can speak their mind which I think is important. I am proud of my team and what we have achieved and we all can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us and the MERIDA brand.

You leave the MERIDA EXPERIENCE CENTER with the feeling that it is indeed a fun place to work (as per the sign on the boiler room door!). The staff are proud of the brand and passionate about their work. It is an inclusive environment and it is clear that although they are a small team for the size of the MERIDA EXPERIENCE CENTER, they are all happy to work together to do all jobs necessary. It seems a lot of people came to work there through knowing Peter personally and the team relationships are that of friendship as well as work colleagues.

The building itself is quirky and has been laid out with a very cool vibe. The showroom and offices have sculptures and artwork which have a modern look and add pazazz to the setting. The vast size of the space also means each bike can be displayed and viewed from all angles with the space to appreciate every little detail – almost like looking at art exhibits. Stepping outside the Center you have immediate access to the best kinds of cycling The Netherlands has to offer; if you have the ‘gravel bug’ or if you love the road or singletrack, it has it all!

Our next interview will be with Andrea Lodder, a glamorous gravel fanatic with a keen interest in bike packing from the MERIDA BENELUX marketing team.