NASH Tackle, among the biggest carp tackle companies in the UK, is gearing up for a massive move into Europe in 2003.

Not only has the Essex-based firm appointed a dedicated European sales manager – Gijs Willems, who will operate from Holland, covering Benelux, Austria and Germany – it has also published a new trade list with all prices in Euros.

And the firm’s 2003 catalogue, out next month (February), is printed in four different European languages.

Kevin Nash, who has fished for carp in eight European countries, and visited trade shows throughout mainland Europe, has an enviable reputation as one of the most innovative tackle designers in carp fishing.

He founded Nash Tackle in 1978 and it  now serves a network of more than 600 tackle retailers in the UK. The firm has enjoyed phenomenal growth in recent years by focusing on a premier retailer partnership involving 100 of the UK’s biggest and best tackle shops.

The backbone of the premier partnership is good customer care, allied to a stable pricing policy, ensuring that the retailer benefits from the best possible margins.

Kevin explained:  “I saw the way the market was deteriorating. Retailers were fighting each other and no one was generating any profit. Many of the problems were coming from suppliers who sold the product to the shop but did not care what happened to the price after that.

“Worse still, if the inventory was moving slowly, ‘special’ customers would be offered late deals, which obviously annoyed the loyal retailers who had purchased at full price.

“I have even seen instances where retailers have paid more for a product at trade price than others are advertising it to the public for, because they have been given a special deal. The only way a retailer could compete with this type of competitor was to cut his margins to nothing. The root of the problem was unethical suppliers, who only generated bad feeling.”

Un impressed by such business practice – and with no intention of following suit in a discount war – Nash took the opposite direction and launched what he calls his ‘Vision Programme’.

“We spoke to our customers, identifying the retailers who wanted to return to margin and profit and who would see the sense in working with us, and indeed their competitors, in the interests of a stable pricing environment,” he said.

As well as a philosophy of a level playing field and all dealers being treated the same, Nash has adopted a focused marketing strategy, advertising the retailers in the Vision Programme to highlight their businesses to the end user, the angler.

As a result, the majority of Vision Programme retailers have increased their sales of Nash Tackle by more than 100 per cent, proving that Kevin Nash has an innovative business mind as well as an eye for designing top tackle.

This is the same business template that Nash intends to roll out across Europe, offering retailers the opportunity to stock a highly desirable carp brand and attract customers from a large catchment area.

Tackle and Guns