How Tackle Group Europe achieved 20% revenue growth without extra stock

Tackle Group Europe is a fast-growing e-commerce player in the angling industry, with the ambition to become number 1 in Europe. From one central operation, they manage multiple webshops such as Visdeal, Fishdeal, Pechepromo, Fischdeal, and TackleXL across seventeen European countries.

With a wide range of 30,000 items, private labels, and 200 suppliers, purchasing is anything but simple. Over seven years ago, Willem Bontrup (CEO and founder) chose Optiply to professionally structure and scale the procurement process.

‍

Purchasing via Excel with growing complexity

Tackle Group Europe started 14 years ago and grew into an international organisation. Before implementing Optiply, Willem and his team worked with Excel and self-built systems to manage stock and compile purchase orders.

"We were really struggling with ordering via Excel back then. It was quite a complicated process and it took up a lot of our time," Willem says.

According to him, this is recognisable for many fast-growing e-commerce companies. "I am sometimes surprised now that companies still have six or seven people creating purchase orders in Excel."

With growth ambitions, it quickly became clear that this way of working was not scalable. The purchasing process had to become more predictable, faster, and less dependent on manual work. When Optiply came into the picture, Willem immediately felt a connection with the vision of building something together.

‍

Trust as the foundation for purchasing automation and advice

The collaboration did not start with full automation, but with integrating Optiply into the existing operation step-by-step. Where the team initially wanted to maintain control and make adjustments, trust grew through positive results.

Willem remembers that period well: "In the beginning, you are quite a bit hesitant; do I dare to let go like this? But at a certain point, we saw that it works. What we ordered also arrived more adequately at the warehouse. And so, we could also sell more to the customers."

For Willem, that meant a clear shift. Where he was previously intensively involved in purchasing, the process now ran smoothly without constant monitoring.

Ewout Gordijn, now COO and having started in the purchasing department, experienced that development up close. Purchase orders are placed on Mondays, and with 30,000 items and more than 200 suppliers, that was always quite a process. Over the past year, the focus has been on further optimising that process.

"We can now order faster and better, and our stock levels are also increasingly accurate. You actually see that directly reflected in the business results." - Ewout Gordijn, COO Tackle Group

Orders are placed at the right time, and it is clear which products are needed. The majority of the recommendations are followed without adjustments. That trust is the foundation for purchasing optimisation and the results that followed.

‍

+20% revenue growth without extra capital in stock

By optimising together, Tackle Group Europe grew by 20% in revenue over the recent period, while keeping stock under control.

Willem explains: "We achieved 20% revenue growth and needed 3% less stock to make that growth possible. That means less capital is tied up in inventory. That is interesting cash for us."

Tackle Group Europe has been working with Optiply for over 7 years now. The foundation was already solid. By continuously optimising, product availability was increased by another 3% last year.

In an organisation already operating at a high level, that means even fewer customers miss out on products. Ewout: "If we have it in stock, we sell it. That’s how it works here, and Optiply helps us keep that product availability high."

The level of automation has also increased further. Currently, more than 90% of purchasing advice is processed automatically. This saves an enormous amount of time and ensures that the right products are ordered at the right moment.

With the basics in order, attention is now shifting to further optimisation, such as gaining insight into supplier performance.

From internal purchasing optimisation to supplier performance

The entire purchasing process is handled by two employees, who can focus on strategic tasks instead of manual ordering. Despite the growth, Willem does not expect to expand the team.

This stability is essential because the ambitions are high, Willem explains. "Further expansion means new suppliers and new products, which must be readily available. To make that growth possible, the focus is shifting from internal optimisation to the supply chain."

The next step is therefore to gain insight into and improve supplier performance. "Where there is still profit to be made is actually on the supplier side. We quite often see that we want to order products, but they are not in stock there. If we can make that transparent, we have a strong case to improve together," Ewout indicates.

Supplier analytics is therefore high on the agenda, so that performance becomes measurable and discussable both internally and externally.

With a stable foundation, a compact team, and a largely automated process, Tackle Group Europe is ready to scale further, without growth requiring more capacity.

Want to save on your stock without your customers missing out? Schedule a demo and discover in 15 minutes how to fully automate your repeat purchases.