INTERVIEW: Recon Company is 25 years old

From a small store to one of Germany's largest equipment stores: the RECON COMPANY celebrates its 25th anniversary on September 1, 2018 at the company's location near Bad Salzgitter. Reason enough for us to talk to RECON CEO Ulrich Krätzschmar about the last 25 years and ask why it all happened so quickly.

In the team: RECON CEO Ulrich Krätzschmar in the back left center with some of the RECON COMPANY employees.

SPARTANAT: Ulrich, congratulations on your 25th birthday! And let's start with the balance sheet: where does RECON COMPANY stand today?

Ulrich Krätzschmar: Thank you for the congratulations!

RECON COMPANY is an established company with 36 employees, who handle and manage over 50,000 items on a company-owned storage area of 5,000 square meters, prepare 800 packages for shipping daily, maintain a large store at the US Airbase in Ramstein and a large store here in Salzgitter Bad. Part of the RECON team takes care of the needs of our wholesale and retail customers via phone and email, another team is responsible for government matters, our sales team visits and informs our dealer customers about the new arrivals, especially those from the RECON distributions for Germany. And let's not forget: our colleague Webshop, which is open 24/7 all year round for our customers.

Conclusion: RECON Company is present in the market.

SPARTANAT: Counter shot: Time flies quickly. How did it all start 25 years ago?

Ulrich Krätzschmar: In the beginning, there was a rented store in Wolfenbüttel, with a total area of 80 square meters and a team of three people. Soon, the first catalog was created, the mail order business was opened. We packed the packages on the dining table between meals and drove them to the post office ourselves.

"Today's balance sheet: 36 employees, 50,000 items in stock, 800 packages daily, retail and government customers."

But that was only bearable for two years, then we urgently needed to expand. So we moved to the industrial estate Halchter in Wolfenbüttel. Great store with 300 square meters of retail space, additional office rooms, a proper warehouse, and a garage for packing. Perfect! - But only for four years. 25,000 customers chose from the catalog and our first online shop of 20,000 items, and ten employees packed over 300 packages daily for the customers. - Then we burst at the seams again. That's when we undertook our last major move and moved to our property in Groß Mahner. Here we could and can continue to grow without hesitation.

SPARTANAT: RECON is not just about shipping and the store. What else do you do?

Ulrich Krätzschmar: We are a retail and wholesale company. Especially in wholesale with the international brands that we represent as distributors for Germany, Austria, and all of Europe, we have been presenting ourselves as exhibitors at trade shows such as Enforce Tac, IWA, and KSK Symposium for many years.

With the products of these international brands, we supply over 400 dealers as wholesalers, responsible for resale. These brands include ALTA Industries, ASP USA, AdventureLights, BCM Inc., Bollé Tactical, Camelbak, Cortac, Endballistik, Extrema Ratio, Gerber Tactical, Hazard4, Lancer, Magpul, Manta, Maxpedition, Mechanix Wear, Pentagon, PhantomLeaf, Radar1957, Revision, Rite in the Rain, Snugpak, SwissEye, T-.Reign, TurtleSkin, UF Pro, UnderArmour Tactical, Warrior Assault Systems, 75Tactical.

In addition, we have a special department for government affairs. We participate in tenders and are now contracting partners of various government agencies in the federal states and the Federal Republic of Germany.

SPARTANAT: In 25 years, you have experienced a lot in the industry. Speaking from experience, what was the most amusing experience with tactical customers?

Ulrich Krätzschmar: Hmm, let me think. Considering the new data protection law, I can phrase such an incident something like this:

Deliveries from RECON to a deployment country with a mandate from the German government are made without German value-added tax. The prices in the RECON webshop always include VAT, as required by law. A soldier of higher rank orders some equipment items via email for himself and his comrades and at the end of the table, he gives the net amount, i.e., without VAT. Let's say, for better understanding, he wants an order confirmation for the amount of 100.00 €. The comrade wants a confirmation for 81.00 €. We send him the order confirmation for 84.03 €.

Customer's email response: "Dear Recon Team, who didn't pay attention in school and can't do math?"

RECON staff response: "Dear comrade, I always paid attention and I can do math. The net amount is 84.03 €."

Customer's response: "Let's try to calculate together, 1% of 100.00 € is one Euro, then 19% is 19.00 €, 100 € minus 19.00 € is 81.00 €. So, I want to pay 81.00 €. It's not that difficult."

RECON staff response: "I'm happy to calculate together the 19% VAT. 100.00 €, that's 15.97 €, 100.00 € minus 15.97 € is 84.03 €. This amount is to be paid for a tax-free delivery to the deployment country. Otherwise, it would be tax evasion, and our CEO would suffer for it. I kindly ask you to make the so-called cross-check and calculate the amount of 84.03 € plus 19% VAT, what do you get?"

The correspondence stops for three days, and the RECON team believes that the customer, as always, is king and that the RECON staff member may have insulted the customer. Was being right the right thing to do now?

On the fourth day after the last message, the following email arrives at the RECON staff member:

"My name is XY, I am a comrade from the order group of 'Higher Rank XY Name XY'. We have all done the calculation, checked it, and found that the amount of 84.03 € is correct. Furthermore, some comrades personally know Recon CEO Ulrich Krätzschmar and believe that he should not go to jail for tax evasion. We have just transferred the net amount of 84.03 € and ask for immediate shipping.

With comradely regards

PRIVATE XYX

Such episodes make us smile and laugh, even after 25 years.

"The global nature of our industry has changed. One must always stay on top of things and remain alert."

SPARTANAT: And now seriously: How has the industry changed during this long period?

Ulrich Krätzschmar: The industry began to change when the requirements of customers, especially those from professional fields such as police, investigative authorities, military, and special forces, became increasingly specialized and specific. The general globalization has significantly changed our industry. The now worldwide view of manufacturers and their products requires us as providers to react quickly and precisely to any innovations. In our industry, timely information and reaction have become necessary know-how, one must always stay on top of things and remain alert.

SPARTANAT: You have just come of age at 25. What are the resolutions for the next 25 years?

Ulrich Krätzschmar: In line with our name RECON, as most people know from "reconnaissance," being attentive means understanding the needs of our customers, the users, discussing these needs with manufacturers for possible products, and of course, in return, bringing the latest experiences and developments from worldwide manufacturers to our customers.

Of course, the constant, contemporary development of the company in terms of assortment development and logistics with all its trades is also part of it. The next generation of the company is already undergoing the appropriate training in the industry and will actively contribute to the next 25 years not too far in the future.

SPARTANAT: then we wish you a happy birthday and success in the next 25 years.

RECON COMPANY on the internet: www.recon-company.com