Absolute Board Co has grown its global presence through Amazon and is seeking more expansion

A Queensland business has big plans to expand further after findsing a huge overseas market for its Penny skateboards over the last two years.

A Queensland skateboard business has ramped up its online strategy and is aiming to expand its global reach after a spike in sales during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Based in Loganholme, south of Brisbane, Absolute Board Co has ridden the “skateboard renaissance” over the last couple of years by increasing its direct to consumers (DTC) business including an increasingly lucrative partnership with Amazon in the US.

Absolute Board Co operations manager Nathan Reid said they have been in the US for some time and have an office and warehouse in Oceanside, California.

“About three to four years ago we started the partnership with Amazon but during Covid over the past two years we’ve really seen that take off,” he said.

“Amazon is all over the US. The fulfilment time over there is night and day compared to Australia. You might see your mates riding a board and you want it. You can have one in your hands the next day.

“It’s a great partnership and we’re getting set to expand our e-commerce further in Canada, Mexico, UK and Europe with Amazon.”

Absolute Board Co head of operations Nathan Reid with the Penny skateboard at the company’s Loganholme head quarters.

The skateboard market has boomed over the last few years, helped by its Olympic debut and the impact of the pandemic. Importantly, influencers have also jumped on board.

Absolute Board Co was founded by Ben Mackay in 1998 and its skateboards are sold in over 60 countries. It has offices and production facilities in Australia, Britain, US, China, and Taiwan.

Its most popular brand is the original plastic Penny skateboards. Absolute Board Co also sell the legendary Z-Flex skateboards and the new Ookkie — designed for children as young as two.

In the 2019 calendar year the company sold 54,000 Penny skateboards globally and in 2020 they sold 153,000 during the first Covid year. In 2021 they sold 109,000, in a year hampered by logistic issues.

Z-Flex is a small market but Ookkie is relatively new in the US and it sold about 8000 units globally in 2020 and 2021 and Mr Reid said it was going “ballistic” and they expected to ramp up sales in 2022.

Absolute Board Co head of operations Nathan Reid.

He said the company was increasingly seeing its future in e-commerce over wholesale with 62 per cent of its product sold through DTC channels in 2019, rising to 88 per cent in 2020 and 88 per cent again in 2021.

“We still have a wholesale business in Australia and US but the move to DTC channels coincided with Covid, especially in the US, where a lot of smaller skateboard shops couldn’t open because they were in a shopping Mall,” Mr Reid said.

“There has been a real decrease in bricks and mortar stores but at the same time there has been growth in e-commerce through Amazon which helped us capitalise on those markets.”

Mr Reid said the link with Amazon has improved margins.

“Our US-based team’s only interaction they would have with Amazon is the packing up of all the products and orders we send to Amazon. Everything is automated through our Brisbane office. We have complete hands on control of the whole US market through the digital system,” he said.

“So the costs of having a US presence is significantly reduced through our relationship with Amazon.” 

According to a new study commissioned by Amazon almost a third of small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) in Australia have either recently launched or plan to expand to new countries within the next two years.

More than 11,000 Australian businesses now sell through Amazon’s stores, recording sales of 25 million products globally in the past year.

The survey found that three in four SMBs with existing international footprints cited the impact of Covid-19 as a factor encouraging them to consider global growth. Key motivators for growth were increasing revenue (49 per cent), expanding customer base (43 per cent) and

the future proofing of the business (28 per cent).

The skateboard renaissance is boosting sales.

Head of Amazon Marketplace Australia Amit Mahto said that more local businesses were harnessing the company’s hundreds of millions of worldwide active customer accounts, fulfilment services and seller tools.

“With so much to think of when reaching overseas customers – from navigating local compliance requirements, product fulfilment, while building an understanding and marketing to a completely new audience – the small business seller faces many potential challenges,” he said.

“We aim to be a destination where local sellers harness the benefits of Amazon’s brand recognition, tools and features to help them list and manage products, and our fulfilment services around the world.

“We’re extremely proud and humbled by the diverse and ever-growing community of sellers building their businesses with our global stores.”