Stöckli gives up summer business: five branches close – business

The latest major Swiss ski maker, Malters-based Stöckli Swiss Sports AG, wants to fully focus on the winter business in the future. In the course of restructuring, branches are closing and jobs are being cut.

The plans had been around for a long time, but have now been accelerated by the crown crisis and therefore, among other things, by the lack of winter sales, Stöckli CEO Marc Brille confirms the relevant information from our newspaper. In the future, there will only be four of Stöckli’s nine branches in the flat country. These branches are closed:

The online store arrives at the end of May

Plans to close the Wolhusen branch were already known, but the closure should not have taken place until 2022. The background here is the relocation of the Wolhusen headquarters to the production site in Malters. Instead, Stöckli plans to open a factory store there by 2022. According to Glasses, these plans will continue despite the reduction in the branch network. Due to the crown crisis, the closure at Wolhusen has now been brought forward. Once the branches are closed, these four branches, as well as four rental and service centers, will continue to exist in the lowlands:

Online trading is becoming more important. Therefore, we will cover the plains in addition to the remaining branches with our new online store, ”explains Optik. It was long known that the company was planning an online store; It should now be activated for Switzerland and Germany on May 25. So, five days before the closing of the first branches. An expansion of the online store to other countries is planned.

Lack of profitability in retail

As a reason for the restructuring, eyewear cites the lack of profitability in its own retail business and, in this context, a strategy of focus on the ski business. Glasses says:

In the future, only winter sports items will be sold, which means that bicycles and accessories will disappear from all Stöckli branches. As the company confirms, inventories of the Flyer, BMC and BiXS brands will now be constantly sold.

The company had three years ago he stopped producing his own bikes, “to concentrate entirely on the ski business,” as it was called at the time. Stöckli continued to sell bicycles of other brands. The bicycle market has developed rapidly in recent years, especially in the area of ​​electric bicycles, according to Brille. Many new models have been added, but also distributors, which has increased the pressure on the margins considerably. To run a profitable business, a large volume of bicycles was required, which did not conform to the company’s plans.