Merida is a renowned bicycle brand founded in 1972 by Ike Tseng in Taiwan. The brand is known for its high-quality bicycles, including mountain bikes, road bikes, and e-bikes. The headquarters of Merida Benelux and Denmark is located in Apeldoorn, where it also operates an Experience Center. Marketing Manager Bart Oosting explains why they are enthusiastic about DST.
“Merida has participated in the DST program from the very beginning,” says Bart Oosting. “We immediately recognized the benefits of a structured database, as bicycle specialists were presented with a potentially massive task to get everything correctly into all systems. By means of the standard that is used, it is also clear for us as a supplier what needs to be placed where. The bicycle specialist should not have to worry about this – and with DST, they don't have to.”
The same classification
“The advantage of the DST platform is, of course, that all information can be read in directly and has the same classification for all brands. The only thing we as Merida have to do for this is to ensure that our information enters DST correctly. We do this faithfully every year.” Bart Oosting indicates that Merida had to implement a number of changes in their way of working during the startup phase. “But fortunately, these were minimal.”
Emphasis on collaboration
“The goal of DST is actually well summarized by its name: Digital Collaboration Bicycle Industry. The emphasis is, of course, on collaboration. If we all contribute a small part, it becomes a great convenience for everyone.”