Today, Shimano launched its own online store, marking a first: the Japanese component experts rely exclusively on retail partners for sales and have never approached end customers directly. This end customer can now buy directly from Shimano for the first time. However, the range is manageable and includes a few shirts, polo shorts, jackets and team clothing for racing bikes.

Swiss customers will have to be patient
However, Swiss customers still have to be patient. The webshop currently only lists Germany and the Netherlands as countries that are supplied. Rudy Boumwmeester from Shimano says: "We will be adding more languages and countries to the web store in the coming weeks".

Only promo items on the web
Marc van Rooij, President of Shimano Europe Holding, comments: "This webshop gives us the opportunity to sell merchandising items such as clothing, caps and other promotional products directly to our fans. We were often asked at events or in the stores where these items could be bought." Von Rooij also has an answer for the expansion of the online range: "I want to make it clear that we did not sell our bike components in this web store. The store is exclusively for the sale of merchandise products".