Completely new

The Completely Motorbikes retail group has been following a massive growth plan since lockdown. Now the firm has announced further expansion, with a new distribution and retail centre in Quorn, Leicestershire, initially employing 15-20 people. With recent acquisitions in Worcester and Yeovil, that takes it up to 21 locations, covering 16 franchised brands and approaching 250 staff.

BDN spoke to Completely owner Rob Ayland as he was getting set for the opening of the Quorn facility, and he told us about how the firm has grown in 2023. “We’ve acquired two businesses this year to add to our portfolio – Ducati in Worcester, which we kept under the radar until now, and Kawasaki in Yeovil – plus we’ve doubled our footprint in Leicestershire.

“Our Hinckley site has done so well, and then we had the chance of moving into some really nice new premises in Quorn, adding another 12,000sq.ft. We opened the new store on the 29 August stocking another 200 nearly-new superbikes. We’ve taken on CCM and, with a bit of future-proofing in mind, we’re working with Maeving at a couple of sites.”

Ayland points to the Completely online sales and national delivery model, crafted during Covid, as one of the pillars of its success. “We have 17 vans running around the country, giving people free nationwide delivery by uniformed drivers in liveried vans, and we don’t charge for it. That’s our USP and we’ve managed to make it work. Online sales since Covid have seen this business grow, and the concept is now embedded in what we do. We’ve mystery-shopped our competitors and even bought bikes off them, and they’re using third-party delivery companies. The customer doesn’t know who they’re buying from, and communication is poor.”

Ayland is happy with how the market is working out overall at the moment, too, despite interest rate rises and cost of living woes. “No complaints from us. We’re looking at things we can control, not things we can’t, so I think it’s back to the old way of selling and the discipline of being the best. There aren’t people queueing up and throwing money at you like they were a year ago, but stock is plentiful from most manufacturers, not all; we’ve still not got complete stock supply, but on the whole, things are a lot better.

“We’ve also taken the line of not discounting or distressing the market. We’re very much looking at selling motorcycles to people who want to buy them and making our customer service best in class. It sounds like an old cliché, but at the end of the day, if you look at Google, our Hinckley site reviews are the best in the country. Hickley is now selling more than 2000 bikes yearly from a standing start two years ago in lockdown.”

And Ayland reckons there’s more to come for Completely. “We’ve got various things going on over the next six months. We’re far from finished!”