From one engineering student’s final year university project to a successful global export, the Mountain Trike company has enjoyed impressive success since the company began trading through direct sales in 2011 and has recently signed their first mainland UK distributor. Now, the company is looking to expand the UK dealer network and has its sights set on global growth.

Tim Morgan, the inventor of the Mountain Trike and the company’s managing director, first conceived the original Mountain Trike as a final year student at the University of Bath, keen to share his love of the outdoors. After half a decade of prototypes, development and testing, the Mountain Trike entered the market to praise and awards.

Since then, the company has gone from strength to strength, successfully launching the MT Push and MT Evo in 2015 and expanding into a number of markets across the globe.

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Until recently, the company had not had a UK mainland distributor and instead sold to and serviced customers in the UK directly.

Tim explained: “Since expanding our product ranges, we saw a growth in customers requesting demos or wanting to see our products. Our business is based in the north of the country with a very small team and although we have a hire scheme and some great regional Experience Centres, logistically we were stretching ourselves to reach customers.”

The company made the decision to find a distributor in the UK that could help service the growing demand, particularly in the South West, and signed Exeter Disability Centre (EDC) in June.

Situated in Marsh Barton, David Denning, Managing Director at EDC, and his team have been trading for over 30 years and was already familiar with Mountain Trike, having serviced one for an injured motor cross rider in the past.

Discussing the partnership, Jayne Fishwick, Media Relations Manager at Mountain Trike, told us: “It is early days yet as they have only just received their demo model, yet they have already made their first sale of an MT Push which is very promising. Having the Mountain Trike on display helps create a talking point and they are also looking into finance options for customers to help with the sales process.”

The company is now keen to work with more retailers in the UK in areas further afield from Nantwich, helping to meet customers’ needs easier, as well as continuing to expand brand awareness.

“When we are deciding which dealers to work with, user-focused customer service is top of list” commented Jayne. “Experience with other active mobility or sports products is important too, however, we do provide full training on the operation and demonstration of the Mountain Trike range. Distributors are also provided with a digital marketing pack to aid in the promotion of the Mountain Trike online and in-store or at events they attend.”

With 60 percent of The Mountain Trike Company’s sales coming domestically, the company has seen considerable export growth and has partnered with distributors around the globe.

Tim explained: “Around 40 percent of our sales are international exports, some direct to customers, though mostly through our international dealers. The US is our largest global market; however, we have had other good results from European dealers such as Norway, Ireland, the Netherlands and France.”

Tim gave us some insight into why Mountain Trike has managed to successfully enter markets where others have failed.

“Firstly, it’s the capability and reliability of our products that has made it a success. We fill a unique gap in the market for an all-terrain wheelchair that is highly capable off-road yet practical for everyday use,” he said.

“Additionally, high-quality British manufacturing, excellent customer reviews and inspiring online marketing material, videos, photos, web page and more have made Mountain Trike appealing to international customers whilst also attracting the attention of great partners to aid with distribution.”

The strategy seems to be paying off, with the company having recently signed up distributors in both Japan and Germany, as well as in talks with dealers in New Zealand and a territory in Canada, adding to their ever-growing list of global markets.

“Our plans centre around continuing to expand our sales and distribution network. We are also looking at various future design developments to add to our range to widen the range of wheelchair users our products can help,” finished Tim.

With no signs of global activity abating and a promising expansion of their UK dealer network in sight, it seems The Mountain Trike Company will continue to grow impressively in the near future.

The website for the company is www.mountaintrike.com

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