AUGUST - FEATURED COMPANY PROFILE

  In what will be a regular monthy installment for the DirtyWheel, we present to you, our featured profile of the month.  Each month we will try to highlight a different Company, Rider, or Videographer/Photographer from the Industry.  If you have questions you would like answered by an industry fave or maybe you would like to be featured by the DirtyWheel, contact us HERE. Now sit back and enjoy a glimpse inside the industry.

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INSIDE THE MAGIC BOX 
AN INDUSTRY LEADING ONLINE BICYCLE RETAILER  - JENSON USA

Getting Dirty with : Jenson USA

  The Trail to savings may seem to start from the comfort of your chair in front of your computer.  But we are here to tell you it all really starts at an amazing company situated in the Inland Empire in Southern California. Before you click CHECKOUT and make your next bike related purchase, lets take a look inside the 74,000 sq ft warehouse that is nestled up to a 1,550 acre park full of trails.

.  Jenson USA is quite the amazing story for the uninitiated, started by an enthusiast while still in High School, out of a desire to be able to fund his passion for racing.  The path has involved plenty of growing pains to get to the point they are at today.  While challenges are to be expected of any entrepenuer that was still toting a backpack, success of this magnitude is not commonplace.  Jenson USA is an industry leader when it comes to Online Cycling Retailers and the one thing that rang loud and clear during our visit : this is a company full of avid cyclists.  Its not often that we spend time around so many people that are this enthuisiastic and knowledgable about cycling.   So sit back and enjoy as we pull back the curtain and find out where the magic comes from.

1.  Lets start with a little overview of Jenson USA, can you give us any crazy numbers on what you guys encompass?  Available Products offered? Employees? Facility size?  How big is this company?

  Jenson USA is the second largest U.S. online cycling retailer and we have aggressive expansion plans which we hope to see accomplished in the next 5 years.  Currently we stock over 28,000 individual SKU's , handle upwards of 1000 orders some days, and currently have 65+ employees in our three locations.

2.  Obviously created out of one man's passion to pay for his racing habit, does JensonUsa currently sponsor a team or any individual riders?  

  At this point in time, there is no official Jenson USA sponsored race team.  Internally we have quite a few competitive employees and just recently we have started up our AMBASSADOR PROGRAM which allows riders to represent Jenson USA whether they are a racer or not. We realize that having a presence in the community and being known as people you can depend on is just as valuable as getting guys on the podium.

3.  Throughout the company's growth, there have been plenty of firsts in the industry, such as being the first Online Bike Retailer with real time inventory statistics ....What is the next thing that will make shoppers' experience even more enjoyable?

    One of the biggest current projects we are working on is focusing on increased efficiencies throughout.  This includes a number of things such as building a new product indexing system to allow more thorough search capabilities for online customers.  Jenson USA is also focused on bringing all aspects of the business in house - including product photography and art production.

4.  What is the most frequently purchased item ?

    The most commonly purchased item makes complete sense, tubes!  In the course of a year we sell more than 7500+ tubes for an average of over 20 a day.

5.  Jenson USA stays very active in the Industry with everything from organized local rides to a recent IMBA trail day.  What is the most enjoyable event that Jenson USA attends/hosts each year?

   We remain involved in alot of acitivities through the course of the year but we really, really look forward to INTERBIKE and the SEA OTTER CLASSIC as they give you that glimpse into all the great new product coming to market.  Outside of that , we hold a monthly trail day on the 3rd Wed. of every month where we work on the Sycamore Canyon trail network.

6.  Ok, Social Media, its a love/hate relationship for alot of riders but important to most business.  Tell us Facebook/Twitter/Other - how are you guys using social media and where do you see it going?

  Social media is evolving into an integral part of our marketing efforts.  It allows us to remain in touch with actual customers, create an additional avenue to reach our consumer, and stay on top of current industry trends.  We love our TweetDeck client and the capability it gives us to mange all of our social media channels.  As far as Social Media in general, it can be a very effective tool for individual riders/pro's to create a more rabid fan base as it enables the fan to feel more intimately involved.

7.  Somewhere in the warehouse is the Holy Grail of items, what is the Piece De Resistance hiding in the bowels of Jenson USA ?

  We have the expected slew of classic bikes in the office an original Gary Fisher, a Nishiki Alien, and 2 ZION's our in-house brand that we paused production on, etc. but currently the YETI SB-66 is the Holy Grail of items in the Jenson USA warehouse.  When Yeti announced the bike, we were there in CO at the release party riding them, and we have in our warehouse 10% of the original order that Yeti placed for the bike, making us the people with the largest available inventory of them.

8.  Are there any new product categories or companies that Jenson USA is working on bringing to its consumers?

  Recently we have created tons of relationships such as: Columbia, The North Face, Rocky Mountain Cycles, Banshee Bikes, and NINER Bikes to list a few.  One of the new directions our customers will see is that we are integrating more OUTDOOR GEAR since so many cyclists also enjoy other outdoor recreation.

9.  Ok I am sure with all of the riding you guys do there has been some Carnage. What’s the butchers bill, and who’s had the worst injuries?

  The Photographer has faceplanted after stacking a jump, getting a scab Mustache

  The CFO did a flying Superman Endo and cracked his knees caps, yep both of them. He’s still mending.

  The HR Lady has Endo’d in epic fashion and walked away, but got a nasty bruise from a of all things an SPD fall.

  The Women’s Cycling specialist opened up her forearm in Big Bear and had about 10 stitches

  Personally I have had to be Air Lifted after a crash at Turnbull Canyon, I was knocked out for 8 hours and had a nasty hip / femur injury and a dislocated shoulder.  I also joined the club in 2009 with a broken left collar bone on a group ride, and have too many ‘Learning crash’ scars to count.

10.  Before we drop the curtain, what is something about Jenson that our readers need to know ?

  The most important thing that we want people to know about Jenson USA is that we are truly a company that is full of avid cyclists and that we strive to make every customers experience the best they’ve ever had from an online bike retailer.

(EDITORS NOTE - We can't accurately convey to you that Jenson is as nutty and passionate about cycling as we/you are but we leave you with these last tidbits.  They have a CSR that has been there for over 12 years, another CSR that plays BIKE POLO, and when one employee let his beard become outrageous : he came back from a couple days off to find his workspace transformed into a hobo shack built out of cardboard.  Story goes that he liked it so much, that he worked in said shack for over a couple weeks.)

  So next time you decide you are going to spend your hard earned coin on that next part you have to have, steer your browser over to www.JensonUSA.com . Then you can have the peace of mind of knowing that not only will you get great prices and customer service, but you will be dealing with your cycling bretheren.

                                                                                                                                        Photos By : Cleghorn Photography

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JULY FEATURE
Jerry Hazard

For More Information About JensonUSA
Please Visit:

www.jensonusa.com
www.facebook.com/jensonusa
www.twitter.com/wwwjensonusacom

Or Visit them on FACEBOOK