There is a great story in today’s Irish Times about the continued growth of Chain Reaction Cycles. It remains a wholly family owned business but has now expanded from one bike shop in Antrim 30 years ago to what is now an employer of 700 and a company that ships ‘thousands of bikes, components, clothing and accessories to more than 115 countries around the world every day.’
The website which launched in 2,000 currently lists over 90,000 items for sale and attracts almost 3 million unique visitors from around the world.
Indeed such has been the success of the commerce platform that the company is now hosting fact finding missions from some of Britain and Europe’s leading retail groups.
“Our software development team focused on what was important for our customers, creating a great browsing and shopping experience,” said Conor McCluskey, the company’s commerce development manager.
“We’re doing something here that no other company in Northern Ireland or in the Republic is doing and we believe there may also be an opportunity to share our expertise and our experience with other businesses.”
“We want to grow a team of commerce experts, invest in commerce technology and grow the commerce talent pool in Northern Ireland.”
You can read the full article here.
The story of Chain Reaction is one that highlights the point at which a passion for sport, allied to smart forward planning can create enormous business value drawn from the global sports fan audience.
Sport for Business is working closely with the University of Ulster to build capacity within the local sporting and business community to harness exactly that magic and turn it once more into a story that will echo the success of what the Watson family have created.
