Vmoto pair rides scooter craze

THE principals of Perth-based scooter company Vmoto are set to launch an ambitious business plan to capitalise on the scooter craze sweeping the city.

Vmoto founders Bill Ali and Patrick Davin hope to open several branded retail outlets nationwide, selling everything from shirts and jeans to its popular scooters within the next 12 months.

Messrs Ali and Davin launched the business in 2002 but, according to Mr Ali, had no idea it would become such an instant success.

“We got our first scooters in the week before Christmas in 2002,” Mr Ali said. 

“We got in 55 and we sold out in a matter of days. We thought we could sell about 150 in a year. We ended up selling 1,000.

“During 2003 we became the biggest selling scooter in Australia. The Vmoto Milan has a 13.6 per cent market share of motor scooters. A Honda model has 7.5 per cent and Yamaha has about 3 per cent.

“We outsell Vespa. It’s very satisfying, knowing that you’re beating the big names.

“This year we would hope to sell about 5,000 units.”

And that’s not all they hope to do.

“We want to have stand-alone boutique Vmoto dealerships in each State and we want to be a bit like Billabong surf shops. The stores will have Vmoto shirts, jeans, and sunnies but instead of surfboards we will have scooters,” Mr Ali said.

“It’s a concept we’ve chiselled away at. When we had our logo designed we had it so the V could be separated so when you see shirts they will have the V on them.”

He said the partners hoped the Vmoto store concept would be realised within 12 months.

The latest venture is one of many investments the pair is commercialising under its corporate company Capital Pacific Pty Ltd. 

Along with the scooter business, Messrs Ali and Davin operate premium furniture importer Mojo Furniture by Design, mining company Australian Manganese, and are investigating the potential to sell collapsible binoculars.

The idea for Vmoto arose during a business trip to China and Europe.

“In our travels to China we were introduced to some factories and we went to a motorcycle factory.

“On the same trip we went to Rome and there were scooters everywhere,” Mr Ali said.

“We were waiting to get picked up on scooters to take us to our meeting and we thought it was an omen.

“The climate and conditions in Australia are perfect and no-one had a well-priced scooter on the market.

“We contacted the factory in China and spent two years getting the vehicles to meet Australian safety standards.”

The factory manufactures 2.5 million bikes a year, making the delivery of 55 scooters to Perth a relatively simple task.

The order is now in the thousands and Vmoto scooters are sold across Australia and will soon be exported to America.

Mr Ali said feedback from the Chinese factory suggested that, while the company wasn’t the largest, it certainly had grown the quickest.

“When we thought about doing this scooters were priced between $4,000 and $5,000 and they weren’t promoted at all,” Mr Ali said. “Neither was the fact that all you need is a normal driver’s licence.

“We’ve given our scooters a retro look and it’s groovy and fashionable. We don’t own the design patents or anything; what we compete with is our branding and the Vmoto image.”

The scooters are priced at about $2,000.

“We figured that the price point is attractive because people think they are worth between $5,000 and $6,000; that’s why they’ve been so successful for give-aways.”

The company has received significant promotional exposure by giving scooter to various companies in Perth for use as prizes.

It uses no advertising agency or outsourced marketing.

“We don’t promote it to normal motorcycle riders. We’ve found a position that’s unoccupied and we’ve occupied it.”

The average Vmoto rider is a 34-year-old male.

“But it varies from 17-year-olds to one guy who is 87. About 65 per cent of our customers are male,” Mr Ali said.

Vmoto recently launched its second model, the Monza, and will release a bigger 125cc product, the Miami, later this year.

And the national and international push will continue, Mr Ali said.

Distributors already exist in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria and an appointment will be made shortly in NSW. Five distributors sell Vmotos in WA.

“We don’t go through motor-cycle dealers. We appoint prestige care dealers because our aim is for a different market,” Mr Ali said.

“A lot of people don’t like going into a motorcycle shop to buy a scooter because they are a little intimidated by it and the scooters are normally tucked away up the back.”

The company will start exporting into North America this year. Models are about to be sent to the US for compliance testing.

And in between selling scooters, the pair organises warehouse sales for its furniture company and flies up north to negotiate business deals for Australian Manganese.

“Mojo has been going for a year and a half. We import high-end furniture that comes from China and we wholesale it,” Mr Ali told WA Business News.

“The furniture that we import is what most people lust after, but when it comes to the crunch it is too expensive. So we’ve bought it in and priced it really well.”

The partners hire a venue and hold four-day sales to clear the stock, bringing them success both in WA and on the eastern seaboard.