When the brothers Tom and Stefan Nylund opened a small shop for motorcycles in tranquil Mustasaari on the west coast of Finland back in 1983, no one suspected that in a few decades it would become the largest Scandinavian distributor for motorcycle, ATV, marine and snow products. Nobody, that is, except the Nylund brothers themselves, for whom second place was never an option in powersport or business life and who started with a clear vision from day one:
“In fact, our goal from the beginning was to supply the best possible products, at competitive prices in the shortest possible time”, says Jarkko Ämmälä, who has been with Duell for around 20 years and has been CEO of the Duell Bike-Center Group since 2018. Today around 130,000 products and parts from over 200 top brands and manufacturers are permanently on stock in the Duell logistics centers in Finland and Sweden. Over 100 employees have their hands full recording customer requests and shipping the products to over 3,500 dealers in around ten countries.
In the current financial year 2021, the company expects total sales of more than 70 million euros for the first time. This means that the company will have increased its sales almost tenfold in the last two decades. These pure corporate figures impress business administrators, but they are only the mathematically measurable result of this unparalleled Scandinavian success story. If you want to understand why almost all well-known manufacturers from the powersport segment trust the Finnish importer and why no specialist dealer in Scandinavia thinks twice about where to order their goods, you have to take a look behind the scenes.
In addition to reliable quality, competitive prices and attractive margins, it is also speed in business that has secured Duell its market position as number one. 95 percent of the products and parts in the warehouse can be called up “24/7” and, if required, can even be shipped overnight. A network of dealers from over ten countries, excluding the Scandinavian region, is now supplied from the companys logistics centres.
The financially successful operation also convinced the Finnish financial investor Sponsor Capital in 2018, which took the majority of the company shares and is providing fresh capital for further important investments. The most visible signal to the outside world so far was the acquisitions of the Swedish motorcycle garment brands Halvarssons and Lindstrands in 2019. With buying own brands, Duell is expanding and entering a new, strategically important business area: “Halvarssons and Lindstrands are two well-established traditional brands that are still less known outside of Sweden. We are convinced of the potential of both brands and will modernise the entire collection in the coming years and introduce it far beyond the Swedish borders via our network. An exciting challenge, because for the first time as active motorsport enthusiasts we can incorporate our own ideas and wishes directly into product development”.
