Bioracer is growing and aims to be the fastest online: “Webshop revenue increased by 80%”

Since 1985, Bioracer, a manufacturer of innovative sportswear, has been driven by the mission 'We make you faster'. What began 40 years ago with a sewing machine in former cyclist Raymond Vanstraelen's garage now sees e-commerce playing an increasingly significant role in making athletes and ambitious cyclists faster. To accelerate their online growth, Bioracer relies on Combell as their hosting partner. "Your service makes us feel like an important customer."

279 World Championships, 175 European Championships, and 58 Olympic medals… This isn't the record of history's greatest athlete, but rather the impressive track record of sportswear manufacturer Bioracer, based in Tessenderlo.

When cyclists sprint first across the finish line, they often do so wearing clothing from the Belgian company.

"We are the most tested", says Bioracer Marketing Director Stefan Venken. "Over the years, our clothing has been rigorously tested by cyclists racing through mud and sliding over cobblestones in pouring rain.

We're especially proud that Filippo Ganna broke the hour record in 2022 wearing our aerodynamic suit. This speed embodies exactly what Bioracer stands for."

Innovating to improve athletes

When we met Stefan at the company's headquarters in Tessenderlo, he took us through Bioracer's history:

"Our love for cycling and pursuit of incremental gains is in our DNA. Only the best is good enough", Stefan explains.

"Founder Raymond Vanstraelen, who is nearing 80, still passionately visits the office three days a week. He wants to know about the fabrics we use and how our innovations improve athletes' performance."

Wearing the same clothing as Evenepoel and Kopecky doesn't mean Bioracer makes clothing only for top athletes.

Bioracer Marketing Director Stefan Venken

Believing that 'people are the measure of all things', Raymond initially measured cyclists in his garage to craft perfect-fitting bicycles.

Later he focused on the correct cycling posture of the riders and in the years that followed Raymond made sportswear especially for individual top athletes. 40 years later we are talking about a leading sportswear manufacturer with over 500 employees. Bioracer's customers? Athletes and ambitious cyclists.

From France to Costa Rica

Stefan elaborates: "We focus on athletes and anyone aspiring to become one. Whether you're racing locally or cycling with friends on weekends, you can collaborate with us.

Just because you wear the same sports clothing as Evenepoel and Kopecky doesn't mean Bioracer only makes clothing for elite athletes. It's worth having a custom design created—not only will it help you ride faster, but it will also literally fit you better.

Belgium and the Netherlands are our core markets, but we're also active in France, Germany, Norway, Costa Rica, Colombia—actually everywhere. We aim to maintain our strong presence in the club market.

If you look at Belgian cycling clubs, we're by far the biggest. Internationally, Bioracer still has room for growth, but the markets abroad differ significantly. Limburg in Belgium alone has more than 500 cycling clubs—that's more than in all of Sweden combined."

Our webshop currently accounts for 10% of our revenue. Within five years, we aim for this to rise to 25%.

Bioracer Marketing Director Stefan Venken

Website as an online catalog

To remain an international leader in cycling apparel, Bioracer heavily invests in online marketing and e-commerce.Their website, club and dealer webshops (mybioracer), and consumer webshop are all hosted by Combell. The marketing team treats these as four distinct channels.

"The website is crucial for our sales team", says Stefan. "Choosing the right chamois pad, integrating pockets, or selecting a zipper type—all these details, along with thousands of fabric combinations and technical specs, need to be clearly presented. That's why our website acts as an online catalog.

Our dealer webshops let stores and dealers easily order collections or custom designs. Mybioracer, our standout feature, allows us to launch a customized environment for any club or customer within 30 minutes."

Ambitious online growth plans

Within Bioracer's online strategy, their webshop plays an increasingly pivotal role. Ambitious growth goals, paired with advertising and communication campaigns, have significantly boosted collection sales.

"In 2024, our webshop revenue grew by 80%", Stefan says enthusiastically. "We're thrilled, especially since the market for cycling collections is quite saturated. Our webshop currently generates 10% of our revenue, and we aim to grow this to 25% within five years. Internationally, our webshop continues to gain prominence."

Creating a webshop as fast as their clothing

Because Bioracer prioritizes e-commerce, they need a platform optimized with the latest standards. For these optimizations, Bioracer collaborates with IT specialist Tracs and hosting partner Combell.

"We're continually working to enhance our webshop experience", Stefan notes. "Every barrier that discourages a customer from clicking or buying needs to go. Bioracer should guide customers effortlessly towards the best and most appealing cycling shorts."

On Black Friday, Combell scaled up our hosting, resulting in exceptional sales performance.

Bioracer Marketing Director Stefan Venken

"Reliable hosting and fast loading times significantly impact customer experience", Stefan continues. "If Bioracer stands for 'We make you faster,' our webshop must match that speed.

Tracs analyzes our WooCommerce webshop and database meticulously. If a plugin slows our site by even milliseconds, it needs to be replaced. Our goal is a smoothly operating webshop capable of achieving our revenue targets by 2030."

"Combell listens to us"

For Bioracer's online success, the collaboration between Tracs and Combell is crucial. "Tracs brought Combell on board", Stefan says. "You play a key role in our data analysis. Sending out 7 million newsletters in bulk presents different challenges than sending 100,000 emails.

"Our marketing team can't handle these issues alone. That's why we rely on partners like Tracs and Combell. We need hosting capable of handling peak traffic and ensuring pre-caching.

As we're experiencing significant growth, our database sometimes reaches its limits. Our load times must never become unacceptably slow. If we sense trouble, we call Combell.

Thanks to your team, our problems are resolved within ten minutes. On Black Friday, you scaled up our hosting capacity to accommodate massive traffic, resulting in exceptionally strong sales.

At that moment, I realized that Combell is a partner you can talk to. You don't operate with an attitude of 'your contract ends here, and that's it.' That's just not how Combell works."

Growing together towards the future

Bioracer is a perfect example of a Combell customer undergoing a digital transformation. Starting with a reliable shared hosting package, Bioracer has grown into one of the strongest dedicated hosting packages available, maintaining the user-friendly feel of shared hosting.

To prevent running into the limits of their current hosting environment, Combell has designed a growth path specifically for Bioracer. After all, there's no point in constantly adding extra resources every month.

The desire to grow together into the future excites Stefan and his colleagues: "Combell wants to improve our application and infrastructure. You proactively consider long-term solutions to support our business growth. Through your service, Combell makes us feel like an important customer."

Within Belgium, I can't imagine a better hosting provider than Combell.

Bioracer Marketing Director Stefan Venken

"You communicate openly about resources that aren't optimal for the scale we're aiming to achieve. Combell's stress tests confirm this. There are no quiet periods anymore; it's always busy.

To prepare ourselves for even bigger peaks, we plan to transition to managed cloud hosting with dedicated servers in the long term, as the cloud offers significantly greater possibilities."

"Not a different account manager every time you call"

To facilitate a smooth journey to the cloud, Combell maintains close contact with the teams at Bioracer and Tracs.

"This is incredibly important", Stefan notes. "With Combell, you don't get a different account manager every time you call. With some large, international hosting companies, you essentially pay for… 'no service'! But the level of service provided by Combell is significantly higher."

For Stefan, the decision is clear: "It comes down to priorities: do you want just the lowest price, or do you value excellent quality?

If you carefully consider this, Combell quickly rises to the top of your list. Peace of mind may cost money, but seven days offline due to an unreliable host costs far more! This is exactly why I can't imagine a better hosting provider than Combell within Belgium.

If your webshop is central to your business, you need quality hosting and the absolute best service."

Do you, like Bioracer, want to grow digitally and are you considering Combell to help you get there?