Camping Trade World – Issue 05
The fifth issue of Camping Trade World is live now and free to view - essential reading for camping, leisure vehicle and RV industry professionals around the globe. Featuring a wide range of news, insight, features, interviews and interactive multimedia such as videos and podcasts, you won’t want to miss it. What a year 2021 has been for our industry, eh? Will we see another like it? Hard to say, but we decided to compile the latest stats and research in our industry health check, so you can make your own educated forecasts for 2022. And as we enter 2022, another of the industry’s major shows will take place in January in Stuttgart, Germany. We offer a full preview of the CMT show, so you can plan ahead and make the most of attending. If new markets are something you’re thinking about next year, then we can recommend Sweden as a great place to start. Our Doing Business With article gives you an essential dossier on the camping and caravanning market there. Perhaps you’re thinking about upping your marketing game next year? If so, then video content needs to be part of it. Our cover stars for the issue SuperSprings International share their tips on creating engaging and meaningful videos. We ended 2021 by attending a couple of major industry shows at two opposite ends of Europe – read our wrap ups from Utrecht, the Netherlands and Barcelona, Spain in this issue. We also spent time speaking with Benjamin Baur, CEO of caravan, motorhome and RV door expert Konrad Baur. Read the snapshot interview or listen to the full version via our podcast to glean some useful business ideology. If the accessories market is something you’re considering getting into or want to know more about, fear not. Our sector spotlight takes a close look at the trends and product categories that could help you turn a profit. Lastly, we explore why diversity in your business could seriously benefit its future and how you can approach this topic if it’s something you have uncertainty about. Let’s all start 2022 being more diverse and more inclusive.
The fifth issue of Camping Trade World is live now and free to view - essential reading for camping, leisure vehicle and RV industry professionals around the globe. Featuring a wide range of news, insight, features, interviews and interactive multimedia such as videos and podcasts, you won’t want to miss it.
What a year 2021 has been for our industry, eh? Will we see another like it? Hard to say, but we decided to compile the latest stats and research in our industry health check, so you can make your own educated forecasts for 2022.
And as we enter 2022, another of the industry’s major shows will take place in January in Stuttgart, Germany. We offer a full preview of the CMT show, so you can plan ahead and make the most of attending.
If new markets are something you’re thinking about next year, then we can recommend Sweden as a great place to start. Our Doing Business With article gives you an essential dossier on the camping and caravanning market there.
Perhaps you’re thinking about upping your marketing game next year? If so, then video content needs to be part of it. Our cover stars for the issue SuperSprings International share their tips on creating engaging and meaningful videos.
We ended 2021 by attending a couple of major industry shows at two opposite ends of Europe – read our wrap ups from Utrecht, the Netherlands and Barcelona, Spain in this issue.
We also spent time speaking with Benjamin Baur, CEO of caravan, motorhome and RV door expert Konrad Baur. Read the snapshot interview or listen to the full version via our podcast to glean some useful business ideology.
If the accessories market is something you’re considering getting into or want to know more about, fear not. Our sector spotlight takes a close look at the trends and product categories that could help you turn a profit.
Lastly, we explore why diversity in your business could seriously benefit its future and how you can approach this topic if it’s something you have uncertainty about. Let’s all start 2022 being more diverse and more inclusive.
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INDUSTRY VIEWS BENJAMIN BAUR<br />
Benjamin Baur<br />
CEO of Konrad Baur<br />
Boss of caravan, motorhome and RV door expert Konrad Baur, Ben talks<br />
to us about the challenges he and the company have faced and overcome<br />
over the last decade, but more importantly, about how those experiences<br />
helped set the company up for the future.<br />
C<br />
■an you tell us a bit about<br />
Baur and the ethos<br />
behind the company?<br />
Our company was founded<br />
in 2007 by my father and<br />
we are experts in producing<br />
entrance doors and storage<br />
doors for RVs, motorhomes and<br />
caravans. Our main business<br />
is on behalf of other, bigger<br />
manufacturers, but we grew the<br />
company up from zero. Back<br />
in 2007 we were just a start-up<br />
company and really you can<br />
say we were just working out<br />
of a garage. When I remember<br />
back to the first elements and<br />
profiles we bent to create the<br />
first gas doors we made, they<br />
were bent by hand. We did<br />
what we could and constantly<br />
focussed on making the best<br />
quality products we could and<br />
now today we supply many<br />
big companies. These larger<br />
companies were very happy<br />
with the quality of our products<br />
and the service we provided,<br />
and they started to ask us to do<br />
more. For us, this was a good<br />
chance to grow constantly and<br />
so we came out from the garage<br />
and rented a production facility<br />
and constantly grew to a point<br />
where we had 25 to 30 people in<br />
2014. At that time, we started to<br />
have an eye on a new production<br />
facility. We made our own<br />
4,000sqm facility in South<br />
Germany in 2016 where we are<br />
currently based. That was a big<br />
step for us and for the future.<br />
It was a step where you really<br />
have to make a commitment<br />
to what you are doing. This<br />
was an important step for us<br />
but also to show to the market<br />
that we are a company that<br />
focusses on constant growth, on<br />
sustainability, and to be a solid<br />
partner. We see now that more<br />
and more companies are looking<br />
for a partner like that.<br />
Your father founded the company<br />
and is still involved. Would you<br />
still consider Baur to be a family<br />
business and is that important to<br />
your identity?<br />
Yes, we are absolutely still a<br />
family business. My father<br />
is still owner, my wife works<br />
here, my youngest brother used<br />
to work here before he began<br />
studying. Also in the past two<br />
or three different other family<br />
members used to work here.<br />
I think that when you work<br />
with a family business it’s on a<br />
more personal basis. You have<br />
personal contact. Our customers<br />
know that I am here, they know<br />
that my father is here. We<br />
don’t have big changes in the<br />
staff <strong>–</strong> the sales manager doesn’t<br />
change every two years, for<br />
example. And that is something<br />
that is really appreciated by our<br />
partners on both sides <strong>–</strong> not<br />
only on the customer side but<br />
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