Tradeinn, online sports on the rise from Celera

Tradeinn continues unceasingly with its growth despite the slowdown in online commerce post-pandemic and declining consumption caused by inflation and rising rates.

The Catalan company – which specializes in selling sports equipment via the Internet – concluded the 2022 fiscal year with revenues of 433 million euros, an increase of 14% compared to 2021, when its turnover was 378 million. In a context where its competitors are slowing their expansion, and even cutting staff, the key to Tradeinn’s growth lies in sticking to the formula it has been working for since opening its store in 2008.

model

“We’re a boring digital company: we don’t want to raise capital or take over competitors”

“We are a boring digital company. We don’t announce funding rounds or acquisitions to competitors. We limit ourselves to investing in technology and efficiency, and that has led us to be profitable and know how to handle adversity. Last year, we weathered the supply crunch by anticipating all orders.” At the beginning of the year. This is how we were able to respond to demand, ”comments CEO David Martin, who does not dare to make predictions for this year’s results.

Another key to the business is its robust algorithm, which allows it to detect its competitors’ prices and update its prices up or down based on the behavior of the rest. “We always try to lower prices to win users over, but last year we were able to increase them by up to 5% in some cases due to inflation,” he says.

This formula has led to Tradeinn becoming a very global company. 82% of sales take place abroad, in countries such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States, among many others. Operations are centered in Sellera (Girona), in a warehouse that manages two million references from around 6,000 sports brands. “Our comprehensive catalog is another of our strengths. We touch on all categories, although cycling is the most prominent. It contributes 23% of income, followed by the mountain equipment category.”

Numbers

The company offers a catalog of two million references to nearly 6,000 brands

To cope with the growth in recent years (from 2020 to 2021, sales grew by another 31%), Tradeinn has just invested around 15 million euros in doubling its warehouse capacity and automating part of the process. With this investment, the company has an area of ​​30,000 square meters and the ability to process 50,000 orders per day. Robotics – in which the company has invested five million – help increase efficiency, although employment is still relevant. Currently, the company employs about 500 people.

With this investment, Martín assures that operations will continue to be centralized in Sellera, although this year the company will subcontract a logistics warehouse in Germany to shorten delivery times in central Europe. Regarding everything else, Martin expects no change. “We’re as good as we are. We don’t anticipate acquisitions because they don’t add value beyond user data, which we already have.” There will be no changes in the contribution either. Since the VentureCap fund exit in 2015, the company has been controlled by David Martín (52%), Barcelona fund Suma Capital (30%), investor Didac Lee (17%), and other minority partners.

The next Catalan ‘rhino’?

In recent years, the idea has grown that Tradeinn could become the next company in the digital ecosystem. unicorn de Catalunya, exceeding the value of 1,000 million euros. David Martin prefers not to comment on these forecasts. “We are not for sale and we do not want to raise capital, so now we do not deal with this data. Of course, with the results that we have recorded in recent years and have always obtained a gross profit (ebitda) of 10%, we can easily reach this value if it is not We already have.”