René Benko's corporate empire collapsed towards the end of 2023, with one business after another having to file for insolvency. Internetstores, with its best-known brand Fahrrad.de, was also drawn into this turbulence. René Marius Köhler founded Fahrrad.de in 2003 and managed the company as CEO until 2016. After it became part of Signa Sports United - part of the Benko Group Signa - he only owned a small share and no longer had any influence on the company management. He has now bought back Fahrrad.de and is planning a fresh start - right now. In an interview, he talks about his future plans for the company.
BIKE: Which shops exactly are you buying back?
René Marius Köhler: It is only about Internetstore - not about Wiggle, Chain Reaction and other elements of Signa Sports United. Internetstore was the global market leader for the mail order of bicycles - at its peak it had a turnover of 600 million euros. We didn't take over any of the old legal entities, we just bought the domain, the brand rights and the customer data. Essentially, we took over Fahrrad.de and Bikester, and the deal also includes our own brands such as Votec. We did not take over the Northern European business, i.e. Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. And we did not take over the outdoor business, which ran under Campz.
Did you also have shares in Signa Sports United?
Yes, it was originally Internetstores shares that were exchanged for shares in Sigma Sports United for the IPO. This was supposed to provide more motivation for the entire company. However, the company was managed so disastrously, Sigma Sports United and its subsidiaries, that it didn't matter at all. They hit the wall at 180. I had seven million shares when Sigma Sports United went public, and the IPO price per share was 10 dollars. That means I had a stake of 70 million US dollars.
Why didn't anyone want to take over Signa Sports directly?
Initially, there were many competitors. Almost every market participant was interested: from Decathlon to Bike24, SportsDirect and many others. But it was an infinitely complex corporate construct: a listing in America on the stock exchange, then a Dutch BV as the holding company, and then a Berlin holding company, Sigma Sports United. Then all the subsidiaries underneath, such as Wiggle and Internetstores and Tennispoint. These companies in turn have subsidiaries in various countries. Internetstores has subsidiaries in Scandinavia and southern Europe. This insolvency process alone is complicated: the links to the subsidiaries are being dissolved and each individual company has its own insolvency administrator. Sports United alone probably had a double-digit number of insolvency administrators. This then has to be managed at individual company level. But it also has to be managed in the context of the entire Sigma Sports United proceedings. Then the banks are involved everywhere, as are the founders and managers. It's an incredibly complex construct. Thousands of people will be busy for years tidying it up.
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Fahrrad.de starts from scratch - new shop system, new employees, new goods
Her mum said in an interview that they were crazy to try to restart Fahrrad.de without any goods and in such a short time.
Yes, my mum is right - you're starting from scratch again. You first have to decide on a shop system, a database and all the evaluation systems. These are all simple questions, but they have to be answered in an incredibly short space of time. You need all the goods and employees and even something as simple as a telephone connection is important.
Are you optimistic that you can manage all this?
From a technical point of view, I have to say it's remarkable what this industry has achieved in the last 20 years. Nowadays, there are systems that we would never have dared to dream of back then. Shop systems that are very easy to use, data integration options or product creation. We used to create products by hand and now we can set up products automatically from the product data we receive. We used to take the pictures ourselves in our own photo studio, for example. Nowadays, this is all standard.
Does that mean I can shop on Fahrrad.de again from 1 May?
Yes, definitely. You will have to do without most of the previous range of functions at the beginning. There will certainly also be a lack of accessories and clothing. Bicycles are definitely on offer. There are already two brands that I can name: Cube and Kalkhoff. The DNA of Fahrrad.de has always been complete bikes. That's also where I personally come from: my father had a bike shop in Stuttgart. Accessories and parts clothing were also important, but we saw ourselves as bike sellers.
No scorched earth - the industry welcomes the return of Fahrrad.de
The fact that warehouses are currently full and manufacturers are happy to have customers is now playing into their hands. The situation would have been different 1.5 years ago.
The crisis has contributed to the fact that the 70 million dollars I had in there (editor's note: shares in Signa Sports United) as assets have dissolved. Until then, it was bad luck. Now, in the current situation, we are lucky because the goods are there. Many suppliers even have the problem that they still have our own brand in the yard. There is no scorched earth now. The response from the industry is enormous. I had a good reputation back then and never annoyed people. That's why the industry is actually pleased that I'm back.
The downside of full warehouses is that there is currently a reluctance to buy on the bicycle market. Do you expect to be able to benefit from an upturn soon with Fahrrad.de?
Yes, that is definitely the assumption. We didn't have to determine the start date. The insolvency was there and the process took time. But that was certainly one reason why we said we wanted to make sure that goods were available on the market at attractive conditions that would also enable a newcomer to get goods. At times it was impossible to get the right goods. At the moment there is an extremely large amount of goods on the market, but sales were manageable. When things start up again, we would feel quite well positioned. That's definitely part of the reason why I did it again. A lot of people ask why I'm doing it again. But somehow I couldn't let it go.
Under Signa Sports, Fahrrad.de made a loss of half a million euros - per day
You will hardly say "now it's back to business as usual". How do you want to approach the new start after Signa Sports?
You can't compare it with Signa Sports at all. When I took over the company, it was very profitable for the retailer with a 7.5 per cent profit on sales. At the end of last year, it had a negative result of 30-35 per cent. Figures that are so hair-raising that it is almost impossible to explain. Internetstores alone made a loss of half a million euros per working day. You have to imagine that.
Compared to 20 years ago, when Fahrrad.de was founded, the market has changed fundamentally. What makes you so sure that you will still be successful?
The market has completely changed, but the way to succeed, or the elements needed to succeed, have not. A decent range at an efficient price, great online marketing, accessibility in customer service, and that people understand what they are working for. But then also a curated range, where you don't overwhelm the customer with 200,000 product lists, but instead fulfil an advisory function again. That is our recommendation. And then, above all, that the processes work again. Signa has sometimes managed to achieve a delivery time of six weeks for bicycles. I only offered what was in stock. These are things that I want to implement again. Most retailers completely overestimate their role. The dealer's job is just to offer goods at a decent price and get them to the customer quickly, without errors. Everyone thinks they have 100,000 more functions, but then neglects these core processes. If you ask me honestly, I would be happy if we managed to do the core processes well.
There are - or were? - also stationary Fahrrad.de shops. What are your plans for this?
There are stationary bike shops in Hamburg, Dortmund, Düsseldorf and two in Stuttgart and Berlin. We are giving up Berlin, that was within the Karstadt space, at the exorbitant Benko rents, that makes no sense - we are taking over all the other locations. We also want to expand. I didn't want to do that in the past because it seemed too complex. I wanted to concentrate on online, but the market has changed considerably. Today we have the topic of e-bikes, where the service challenge has grown again compared to earlier normal bikes. Then you have the topic of bike leasing, which has a huge share and is easier to do in a stationary shop than online.
We used to have Outdoor and Bike in different countries. Now it's relatively simple: the focus is on the German-speaking market. Then to say that we might also open a shop in Munich or Zurich - I could well imagine that. And we will continue to pursue partnerships with bricks-and-mortar retailers. There was a very successful sub-business model called Fahrrad.de-Fachhandelspartner. There are rewards if we are allowed to deliver the bike to the dealer, who then assembles it and hands it over to the customer. They are also available for service. There are some dealers who come up to us and say that was great for them.
Kristian Bauer
Editor
