Fishing rods and other fishing gear have been in high demand since the outbreak of corona. Raven Hengelsport is experiencing explosive growth in the number of orders.
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Raven Hengelsport
Raven Hengelsport is a true family business. The company was founded in 1974 in a small shed of father Sjoerd Raven in Dronten. Birds, seeds and pet supplies were sold. When the shed became too small, father Sjoerd opened his first shop; a pet boutique. After a second and third pet boutique, it was decided in 1988 to split the fishing from the pet boutique. Raven Hengelsport (then Raven Fishing) was born and is run by Sjoerd’s sons; Dion and Iwan.
Now, many years later, Raven Hengelsport has four branches in the Netherlands; Lelystad, Steenwijk, Almelo and Rijen. In addition, there are also two foreign branches; Brno (Czech Republic) and Warsaw (Poland). In 2010, an own distribution centre was built and opened. From here, all webshop orders are sent and the branches are supplied.
In 2020, Raven Hengelsport is one of the largest suppliers of fishing tackle in Europe with (new) web shops in the Netherlands, France, the Czech Republic and Poland!
Raven and WICS
The growth and automation landscape of Raven Hengelsport were not synchronized. Where the webshop and the stores continued to grow between 2010 and 2015, the systems lagged behind. It was time to look for systems and partners with which we could enter the future and continue to grow. The marriage between Raven Hengelsport and WICS was a fact.
Despite the fact that we had chosen to change, the change was sometimes difficult. After all, we were so used to our old system. In addition to implementing the software and education, WICS also held a lamp against our processes. With the years of experience of WICS, it turned out that we could organize some processes better, which allowed us to work more efficiently and reduced the error rate. We were well guided in this by WICS.
We can now say that we have a system in place that we are very happy with.
COVID-19
And then suddenly there was the coronavirus COVID-19. Just like the rest of the Netherlands, we did not know what to expect when the Netherlands suddenly went into lockdown in March 2020. There was great uncertainty; were people going to cut back on fishing or fish more? What was still allowed?
There was explosive growth. Fishing permits flew off the shelves and fishing rods seemed to be in high demand. People who had not fished for a while decided to take their rods out of the shed and many new anglers were born.
Where the peak season ‘normally’ starts at the end of April, it has already started in mid-March in 2020. The figures speak for themselves!
50% more order lines
45% more orders
17% more man-hours
Together with WICS we have further optimized the system and processes and we can work even more efficiently. The nice thing about working with WICS is that there is always room to present an idea, get feedback or think together about things that can be improved.
- 50% more order lines
- 45% more orders
- 17% more man hours
Together with WICS we have further optimized the system and processes and we can work even more efficiently. The nice thing about working with WICS is that there is always room to present an idea, get feedback or think together about things that can be improved.
The Future
Now that 2020 is slowly coming to an end and the biggest madness is over, it is time to think about the future. After such a bizarre year, there is room to evaluate and analyze. What can we expect from 2021? Will the growth continue and can we make even more people happy with beautiful fishing gear?
We hope that for everyone 2021 will look different in many ways than 2020! Except for the fishing 😉