Experience of entering the North American market: the Bott Group ventures across the pond
The Bott Group, based in Gaildorf near Schwäbisch-Hall, is a leading manufacturer of van racking, factory equipment and workplace systems. The medium-sized, family-owned company has production facilities in Germany, the UK and Hungary - and has also had a presence in the USA since 2022. The Bott Group is represented in the USA with a special product range, its own management and sales organisation: Systainer Systems North America, LLC was founded in 2022 as a joint venture with Tanos. The joint venture brings together decades of industry experience in the areas of organisation systems, storage and transport with the bott Smartvan and Tanos systainer brands. Systainer Systems North America is based in Lebanon, Indiana (USA). We spoke to Jan Willem Jongert, Managing Director and Spokesman for the Bott Group, about the opportunities and challenges of moving to the USA, how the company is now positioned there and the experience gained.
How is the Bott Group currently positioned in the American market? How long did it take for your company to gain a foothold?
The joint venture with TTS Tooltechnic Systems AG & Co. KG, the joint venture Systainer Systems North America, LLC is focussing on an e-commerce model with which we want to reach our target group in the trade. To this end, we offer a system solution that is tailored to the North American market in particular.
Our market entry into the USA had been in preparation since 2020, and Systainer Systems North America was officially opened in July 2022.
What was your motivation to establish a presence there?
We are already the market leader with our van racking systems in the growing European commercial vehicle sector. In the USA, which is characterised by pick-ups, more and more tradespeople are also recognizing the advantages of vans. With our expertise, we meet the resulting demand.
Now let's move on to the actual realization. How did you approach this project in concrete terms - what were your first steps?
From 2020 to 2022, a significant part of our efforts went into market research and analysis. This was an essential basis for aligning our offering and our communication with this new market. It has already become clear that the intensive preparation has made our entry much easier.
How did the cooperation with Tanos come about and what aspects what were the key factors in the choice of location?
As a subsidiary of the TTS Group, Tanos GmbH specializes in marketing the Systainer case system. This has established itself not only for tools but also for accessories and work materials. Due to the success of the Systainer³ cases and the bott van racking system in Europe, which were developed in close cooperation, we are convinced that this constellation will also be well received in North America. Festool has already been active in Lebanon near Indianapolis for several years, where we founded the joint venture Systainer Systems North America, LLC in 2022.
Can you tell us about your first steps in the USA? In other words, how did you organize your market entry?
During the founding phase of the joint venture, we put together a small team of our own e-commerce specialists. However, we primarily rely on locals in Lebanon, but also have two employees of German descent there. We have not seconded any employees permanently but maintain strong support from the two parent companies. To avoid creating dependencies, we have refrained from using external service providers, except for operational advice, for example on tax issues.
Would you say it is easy to establish a market presence in the USA? What worked well and in which areas did you face the greatest difficulties?
The size of the North American market is often underestimated - also from a geographical perspective. It is important to understand and take into account the cultural differences within the USA. That doesn't make it easy to establish a market presence there. But we still see the USA as an Eldorado for successful start-ups due to the entrepreneurial freedom that prevails there.
What would you do differently the next time you go to the USA or what were your specific lessons learned?
Experience has shown that expansion into North America should not be approached half-heartedly. You have to realize that this step goes hand in hand with high investments, which you have to be able and willing to afford. It is also important not to promise stakeholders such as partners and shareholders quick success. This does not exist for Europeans in North America.
Thank you very much for the interview, Mr Jongert.