To cover the worldwide market, Clip ‘n Climb is working with local distributors. In Australia, Clip ‘n Climb has been working with Highgate for over eight years. We have interviewed Highgate, to discuss their thoughts around being a Clip ‘n Climb distributor.
Over the past 20+ years, Highgate has helped business owners bring adventure, excitement and fun to their customers through innovative and safe products. From assisting large multi-national corporations and Family Entertainment Centres to stand out from the crowd to helping Mums and Dads dreams to come true, Highgate is passionate about supporting their customers to achieve their goals. The company also work with Defence, Government and educational bodies to provide training solutions and maintenance programs tailored to their needs.
Richard Hope, the Managing Director of Highgate, has a strong background in outdoor education: ” I built my first climbing wall in the lake district in 1983. I am an avid climber, mountaineer and kayaker and see the value of outdoor education and the various related sports in helping to motivate, challenge and train individuals and teams.”
Highgate first came across Clip ‘n Climb when designing a centre for a customer in 2011. They loved the products, and the customer wanted to put a few of the Challenges in their centre. Richard Hope: “We were impressed with the product and could see the potential market for it in Australia, so we asked to become the distributor here. To date, we have installed 16 centres Australia wide.”
Each country has
its specifics, and the Australian market is unique compared with anywhere else in the world: “We have a huge land mass but a relatively small population that is in pockets around the country. However, that said we believe the adventure leisure market is experiencing growth and this is showing in the new locations we are installing products, namely shopping malls and industrial zones.”
Highgate believes that Clip ‘n Climb is THE best in the marketplace: “The quality of the product, the safety features and the ongoing service provided are far superior to any of the other ideas out there.” Also, there is a focus on building a strong relationship with the customers by working together for the best outcome. Customers have strong support once their centre is up and running: “We view this as a life-long relationship.”
When asked which has been the most exciting project to work on Highgate find it hard to find one, but: “If we had to pick a few, we loved working with Aloha Surfhouse. Their Clip ‘n Climb Centre was in conjunction with a wave pool which was very different. The team at Aloha were great to work with, and the whole process ran smoothly. We are also excited to be working with Iplay to bring Clip ‘n Climb to Westfield Shopping Centres around the country.”
Richard Hope says: “I think there will be more multi-purpose adventure leisure facilities located in urban areas such as shopping malls, community centres, fitness and leisure centres. With the inclusion of sports climbing in the Olympics there will be a broader reach within the education and university sector with schools opting to do climbing as part of their sports curriculum. All these factors will introduce a new market to the sport of fun climbing as an extension of that as youth look for locations to be able to pursue this.”
As Clip ‘n Climb is growing internationally, we are always on the lookout for new local distributors. Highgate gives some valuable advice for new distributors: “Clip ‘n Climb is an awesome product – truly believe you are selling the best product on the market. Be prepared for long lead times – occasionally a customer comes to us with the building and funds in place, and we can have their Centre built within six months, but usually, you are looking at 12 – 18 months lead times before the customer is ready.”
After 8 -years of successful partnership with Clip ‘n Climb International, Highgate is looking positively towards the future of the partnership: “We are very much looking forward to working with the new owner’s of Clip ‘n Clim, Entre-Prises, whom we have a long-standing relationship with through there climbing walls and other products.”
Do you think there is a potential for Clip ‘n Climb in your region? Are you interested in learning more about how to develop a business around our great product?
Contact our team to discuss further!
