Innovative tackle dealer has plenty to celebrate

One of Europe’s fastest-growing fishing tackle retailers, Visdeal, is celebrating 10 years in business in 2021 with an expected record turnover and planned expansion into several more territories.

The Dutch company, which operates a unique business model where anglers can take advantage of limited-time discounts and daily deals on fishing tackle, is predicting to achieve a turnover of more than €21 million in 2021 – a 54 per cent increase on the previous year.

Around 400,000 anglers across Europe are subscribed to the company’s daily deal email newsletters and the company currently has domains set up in eight different countries – Netherlands, UK, France, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Belgium and, most recently, Italy.

It will be launching Promopesca.es for the Spanish market in early June and also has plans for more northern European additions later in 2021.

Visdeal co-founder Willem Bontrup explained: “Each country has its own specific website, all in the right language, anglers can quickly and easily buy fishing tackle that suits where they live.

“We were already experiencing steady growth but, because of the last year with the pandemic, angling has really taken flight. People want to go fishing and they want to order products online.”

Visdeal began in a small office in Utrecht back in 2011 when Willem and twin brother Teun identified the success of group buying initiative websites where groups of customers can get a discount if they all respond to an offer, such as Groupon and Groupdeal, as fast-growing business models.

They decided to set-up their own company in a similar mould but specifically for fishing tackle. In the beginning the brothers would approach tackle suppliers to buy their surplus stock and package and post everything themselves. They even handled all the customer service enquiries themselves and were never far from the phone.

Willem added: “At that time, it was all part of the job. Nowadays, we have more than 75 employees, all of whom are anglers and really understand the market and the customers. We also have a 5,000 sq m warehouse in Vianen, which we recently updated with some of the latest automated packaging technology to help make us even more efficient.”

As it looks back on how far it has come in the last 10 years, Visdeal is also looking forward to success for the next 10, and beyond.

Willem concluded: “It is a good time to be in the fishing business, especially as a company that is innovative and forward-thinking when it comes to e-commerce. We are confident that the future holds more growth for us.”

visdeal.nl

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