Kimpex added motorcycle parts and accessories to its roster of products in 1975.

Established in 1967 by Gilles Soucy, Kimpex Inc. primarily focused on snowmobile parts. However, the company knew to stay competitive and overcome erratic weatgear, it needed to expand its product line. So, in 1975, Kimpex added motorcycle parts and accessories to its roster.

Three years later, it added a marine line, including fishing and recreational boat accessories such as wakeboards and skis. In 1983, ATV parts and accessories were added. Now, the Drummondville, Quebec, Canada-based company says it has a strong grip on the power sports industry because it manufactures, deals in and distributes all of these items, while constantly looking to expand its lines with complementary products it develops itself.

Soucy’s son, Executive Vice President Stephan Soucy, says this vertical approach gives Kimpex a clear advantage over its competition. “A big part of our success [began] when my father had some problems sourcing products, so he started his own company [Soucy Group] to manufacture his products,” he notes.

For instance, Soucy Group designs and manufactures “one of the hottest items in the ATV industry right now,” a rubber track kit to install on the vehicles, Soucy says. “We’re [also] seeing side-by-side vehicles called the UTV, which is the fastest-growing sector in the ATV business,” he adds. “So, we are developing more products and trying to be innovative.”

‘Hybrid Responsibility’
Product managers have dual roles at Kimpex. “These are the people responsible for watching the industry and evaluating where the trends are going, and they are responsible for developing a portfolio of products according to where we think the trend is going in each respective market,” Soucy says. “So, [they] have a hybrid responsibility, which is 50 percent product development and 50 percent marketing. ”

Soucy says the company is always “keeping an eye on what’s happening to the snowmobile industry” and how the weather dominates market trends. “Weather has become a factor that’s important enough to change the industry from one year to the other,” he notes. “A good year with snow is going to have a positive impact on sales compared to a bad snow year; it’s undeniable.”

In power sports, “you have to be able to balance your business so you can have money coming in all year-round,” Soucy continues. “In our industry, there’s always a market going down and then there is always one coming up, so at least we’re able to balance.” The key to this balancing act has been to implement a strong R&D department, while avoiding non-complementary products, he says.

Leading the Way
In 2000, Kimpex became the first distributor in the power sports industry to allow people to place orders online. Recently, it launched its new and improved B2B site, “which has even more features and takes advantage of all the new technologies the Web has to offer,” Soucy states.

“[Customers] will have more information available to them like being able to track their orders in real time, being able to see tracking numbers for shipments, being able to interact and manage their backorders much more efficiently than they used to.”