The industry auction house Surplex is now managed by the team of three!

The industrial auction house Surplex recruited Ghislaine Duijmelings on board as the third managing director. This was announced by the two managing partners, Michael Werker and Ulrich Stalter, at the company’s headquarters in Düsseldorf.

Ghislaine Duijmelings has extensive experience in managing B2B and online companies. Currently, the Dutch-born entrepreneur holds supervisory board positions at leading wholesale distributors in the Benelux region. “Ghislaine Duijmelings will provide valuable experience for Surplex further expansion and growth strategy”, emphasize Michael Werker and Ulrich Stalter. “Especially since we quickly had the feeling that she, with her values and personality, would be a good match for Surplex”.

Thanks to her international career Ghislaine Duijmelings is qualified for a successful collaboration with Michael Werker and Uli Stalter. While her biography includes professional commitment in foreign branches in Belgium, France, Southern Europe, Germany, and the Netherlands, Surplex itself is now represented by thirteen European offices. The Surplex office in the Netherlands opened recently too.

“Ghislaine will bring a lot of precious ideas for the further development of Surplex business model”, says the management duo with conviction. Unlike the competitors, Surplex offers its clients different sales forms: in addition to classic commercial solutions, it is also possible to make an immediate purchase of machines and company inventory. “If required, we provide the sellers with immediate liquidity on fair terms”, explains Uli Stalter, “in this way we combine the efficiency and the flexibility of the auction platform with a traditional machine dealer service”.

This is also confirmed by other ISO-certified services that distinguish Surplex from its competitors: “The used machinery trade relies on pre- and after-sales service “, assures Michael Werker. “The integration between online and offline skills is what sets us apart from the competition”. Surplex is the only European industrial auctioneer to be able to organize the liquidation service from a single source. Surplex supports and advises its customers personally, prepares expert appraisals and evaluates machines based on actual hammer prices. Once the goods have been purchased, the company takes care of disassembly, transport, customs management, payment procedures and assumes the complete VAT risk on behalf of its customers.

“Many suppliers still find it easy to find a prospective buyer abroad”, says Uli Stalter, “but they may struggle to handle the overseas export of a large machine professionally”.
On the other hand, Surplex provides an added value alongside its analog services which is of equal benefit to buyers and sellers: “From the point of view of the seller, when compared to the competition, Surplex offers higher revenues, smooth processes and individual sales forms”, explains Michael Werker. Buyers, however, profit from an attractive overall package that combines machine variety, quality, price, and service: “Among all the industrial auction houses in Europe only Surplex offers a free on truck sale.”

With this strategy Surplex records double-digit growth rates year after year. The number of employees grew from 15 initially to over 200, while the sales reached over 100 million euros. The auction platform surplex.com is available in 16 languages and generates more than 55 million views annually. Over 500 online auctions were held in 2019, with more than 55,000 capital goods sold. Today surplex.com is the best-selling auction platform within the sector. In addition, Surplex now provides customer support in over 20 languages. When it comes to auctioning used metalworking and woodworking machinery, Surplex is No. 1 in Europe. “Together with Ghislaine we have developed some finer points on how we can improve and become even better”, says Ulrich Stalter.

With her competence and skill, the current management duo intends to expand Surplex leading market position in Europe: “We are excited to manage Surplex as a team of three and believe that with Ghislaine’s active support we will generate further strong growth opportunities.”