BODY BIKE has made it to Brazil

By Hans Christensen

It is really going well for BODY BIKE International. The company manufactures indoor cycles of very high quality and has now started exporting to the Brazilian market.

‘We have found a distributor in Brazil, Casa do Fitness, in cooperation with the Danish consulate in São Paulo, and now we are looking towards Chile, Columbia, Mexico and Argentina in search of a similar set-up,’ BODY BIKE CEO Uffe A. Olesen explains.

He just returned from Brazil where BODY BIKE indoor cycles were exhibited by Casa do Fitness at the largest fitness exhibition in South America. They spurred quite a lot of interest among the visitors.

First full container

The first container was dispatched to Brazil back in April. A total of 110 bikes, all sold by now, and getting through to the Brazilian market has caused grounds for optimism in the small, Danish company where approximately 20 people is devoted to manufacturing, selling and market BODY BIKE indoor cycles.

The contact to the South American market has been established in cooperation with the Danish Trade Council under the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Three years ago, BODY BIKE was selected to be part of ‘Vitus Growth’, a growth programme under the Danish Trade Council, and trade consul Poul Erik Bligaard has been BODY BIKE’s right-hand man in South America throughout the process.

‘We are the companies’ eyes and ears out in the world. Naturally, small – and medium sized Danish companies cannot have local knowledge of each market out there, and barriers such as language, local traditions and the culture in general are manifold. It would be too much of a tall order for each individual company to handle everything by itself,’ Poul Erik Bligaard explains.

First we take São Paulo…

Poul Erik Bligaard was back at BODY BIKE’s headquarters in Denmark the other day and with him a handful of colleagues from the Trade Council, each representing the Danish Trade Council in Chile, Columbia, Mexico and Argentina respectively. They will now attempt to establish contact to future business partners for BODY BIKE.

At the same time, BODY BIKE is also looking towards the Asian market.

‘We have established a sales office in Asia, translated our catalogues and we are in the process of translating our website into Chinese Mandarin – we are preparing for the focus that will be on this market,’ Uffe A. Olesen explains.

He makes no secret of the fact that it has been a long haul, but he is now excited that BODY BIKE has made it through.

‘There have been so many challenges that we hadn’t been able to handle on our own – in relation to import limitations, customs, VAT and logistics in general. Poul Erik Bligaard and the Vitus Growth programme have assisted us in this. We chose to find a local distributor in Brazil, who imports, distributes and services BODY BIKE indoor cycles across Brazil, and we can now utilize the experience we have gained in Brazil as we are attempting to duplicate the venture in other South American markets,’ states Uffe A. Olesen.

The Olympic Games will take place in Rio next summer and hopefully this will put even more focus on the Danish manufactured indoor cycle.