THE STORY OF AN ADVENTURE OF SUCCESS
Article published on ARCO magazine (Greentime edition) December 1997
Close up on the company that has conquered the hearts of Italian and European archers. Marketing strategies and the comments on the archery movement in our country, words of Marco Berti, director of archery and sport at Bignami S.p.A.
Big Archery was initially created to identify a line of bows of Korean production but then slowly it was used more and more until it became the identification itself of the Bignami archery commercial activity.
With the prospect of expanding its activity in fields different from the traditional one, Bignami became distributor of archery products in 1985. The good results obtained have brought to maximum commitment and professionalism dedicated to this new field of activity by broadening the range of offered products from a basic one to the actual situation that sees Big Archery offering 10.000 different SKU and covering full circle all the archer’s needs.
When, back in 1985, we began our archery adventure the market of the compound bow had just been introduced in Italy and this gave us the opportunity to choose freely between the most prestigious US brands. In 1986 we became sole distributor for Italy for Jennings. At the end of the same year we added P.S.E. and Oneida to our program as sole distributor. The compound bow program was completed in 1988 with the introduction of Pearson and at the end of the same year we added Hoyt which is the most prestigious among them. Obviously, over the years, the relationships between the various brands have changed and now, after having distributed over the years 10 different lines of compound bows, we favour the most prestigious and reliable brands.
The dimensions of the European market did not allow us to fully dedicate ourselves to the multitude of lines without encountering useless dispersion of forces. As just mentioned earlier on, the selection of the various brands was done based on the prestige and reliability of each brand with a close eye to the potential that they had to penetrate the market and, with 1997 we came to our final line up that sees Hoyt dominating the market with their innovation and technology and with which Bignami S.p.A., after years of uncomfortable co-sharing with some other direct customers, was able to obtain sole distribution for the Italian market. The line up is completed by Browning Archery and P.S.E. that have always been our point of strength and reference since the beginning of our archery activity.
Honestly speaking, today we feel rather satisfied and think that we are able to cover the needs of our clientele with the best that the market can offer. In the archery market what is true today could be completely false tomorrow.
We are certain that there will be changes in the actual line up and, therefore should there be any new brands tomorrow with really interesting products we will make sure to be able to handle their distribution.
How
do you personally feel about archery?
Archery, more than any other
field requires maximum professionalism and competence, the first real
step was to personally get involved in this magical world by becoming
a competitive archer myself. After a few years of constant competitive
shooting (IFAA) both nationally and internationally I was able to acquire
a valid and unmatchable experience on the reality of the competitions,
the archer’s needs and their wishes. Besides this commercial experience
I can say that I have experienced unforgettable moments and really wonderful
satisfaction.
The most memorable ones are those of 1990 and 1991 when I was able to win, in the unlimited Bowhunter class, the European title in England and the World Championships in France, but the most absolute memorable experience was that of the IFAA European championships in Sweden. The IFAA competition, in my opinion, is the most wonderful archery competition with the bow, it lasts five never ending days in which 112 arrows are shot per day (except for the day of the Animal Round). In this type of test, you not only test yourself with your competitors, but also with your own physical and psychological resistance. In that occasion I only came second but I consider it the best competition ever. Unfortunately, my business commitments kept me from taking part in competitions on a constant basis but maybe one day, ... who knows!
What
are the most important steps that have left an imprint on your experience?
After the first two
or three years of establishment, 1989 came the turning point. After having
realised the potential of the Italian market and built an unbeatable sales
program
we started investing in ours and the markets’ mutual growth. In
1989 we published our first archery catalogue, a complete color catalog
of 84 pages that gave retailers and end users the possibility to further
their knowledge on the vast program of available archery items. With our
evolution and that of our market the catalog we published has grown progressively
and is now divided in three different parts: the Accessories Guide, the
Bow Guide and the Traditional Archery Guide, which is completely dedicated
to traditional archery.
The years from 1989 to 1993 were dedicated in consolidating our position
on the Italian market whereas in the following phase, after saturating
the possibilities of our own market, we started to expand to the other
European countries by offering our selling program to all the largest
and best dealers in: France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark,
England and other countries. This development consequently brought us,
in order to reinforce our position with our foreign customers, to look
for and obtain sole distribution at a European level and amongst these,
important to note are the Booster, Aurora, EXE and Cross X trademarks.
One of the most important factor in our job is keeping close contact with our dealers.
We would like to remind you that Bignami uses, as its only distribution channel its dealers which means that all promotional efforts are done only in their favour.
The working relationship that has been established sees the need of a fast information channel in order to keep the dealers well informed about new products. We keep our dealers up to date with seminars (in Italy as well as abroad) in order to maintain their knowledge at the highest possible level in order to satisfy the end consumer at best.
Another key factor of our success is certainly our stock that is able to fulfil, with a vast range of products, the needs of all our European customers with very short lead time.
A
while ago we were able to see the enormous quantity of bows and accessories
in your warehouse. Is this a normal condition or is it because you are
particularly busy?
On the contrary, the
end of the year is usually a moment in which we try to lower our stock
in view of the approaching new season. Nevertheless, considering the service
we wish to offer our customers, the warehouse never goes below a certain
level and so it happens that even at the end of the season we have thousands
of bows available.
It is a sport which has great potential but unfortunately it is limited in its expansion in that there are not sufficient adequate structures to practise and to spread the interest in this sport. Let’s consider that in Italy we have a competitive reality with sport such as soccer, that needs similar structures as that of archery and I leave it up to you to imagine what could be the result of a request for a piece of land if it were to choose between soccer and archery. The possibility of growth for archery is also strictly bound to the development of this sport inside the schools and in the widening of the sport to other shooting disciplines.
3D is surely a reality. It is captivating, it offers the opportunity to practice the same in beautiful landscapes and offers always new stimulation. As concerns the US a great job
has been done in promoting participation in archery competitions. At an international level
I believe that, even if on a lesser scale, this discipline could create new impulse in the archery world but in order to do so it has to grow inside the FITA association. As far as I know, following some recent discussions with Jim Easton, the actual Fita President, it seems as though there are positive developments in this direction.
To
end with, please describe to the readers the profile of Bignami S.p.A.
and its activity in the world of archery.
It is a company that
works continuously for the growth and development of archery with the
strong cooperation with the dealers that are well informed and trained.
Our strength is based on the professionalism of our employees. We are
a company that is completely dedicated to archery in all its aspects.
