BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
How long has BottleSport been in the bike trade?
BottleSport originally started manufacturing and selling bike bottles into the bike trade over 15 years ago. At that time we only had one size and shape of bottle (500ml). The success of this initial product was the start of something much larger as we later found out when we introduced bottles that were bigger and in different shapes.
How’s business?
Business has grown year-on-year for over ten years, so can’t complain. More recently we’ve found that UK buyers prefer to deal with us as what we sell is a UK-made quality product, small orders are not an issue and not having to wait for eight to ten weeks for your bottles to arrive from Europe or China is reassuring. We can still genuinely state ‘Made in the UK’.
What are the most popular designs?
For the cycle trade 500ml and 750ml size bottles are our most popular. Wide neck bottles also seem to be much more in demand now as they are easier to clean and when energy powders are used they are far easier to fill.
Tell us about the new flouro models:
We were asked by a major US sports brand (Nike) a few months ago to manufacture fluo colour bottles, fluo colours were all the rage in the ‘80s we seem to remember. At first, we were a little reluctant but after running samples we all changed our minds and a decision was made to introduce fluo colours into the range. We’ve already produced fluo bottles for cycle trade clients in 2012 and hope that in 2013 we’ll produce a lot more.
What are lead times like?
All our products are UK-moulded and printed at our factory in Watford, Hertfordshire. Normally, any custom printed order takes no longer than two to three weeks. We are also able to offer an express service where orders can be turned around in seven to ten days at no extra cost.
Are there minimum quantities?
With 500ml and 750ml bike bottles we can produce orders as small as 50 pieces, although its not very often we sell orders of this size. In general, we find the average order size to the cycle trade is 300 to 500 pieces.
How should dealers get in touch?
Email is normally the best way, but the old-fashioned telephone works also.
Got a final thought for our readers?
Many of the UK cycle trade clients we deal with don’t have artwork or designs and as part of our service we’re able to construct a visual or even completely re-draw client’s logos. Our job is to print client’s logos and brand names onto bike bottles and we take the design services we offer very seriously.
Tel: 01603 722682
Email: sales@bottlesport.com
Web: www.bottlesport.com
