Gregory Ruiz, France sales manager for Siux et Padel Galis, looks back on his journey in padel, the development strategies of Siux, and the expansion projects of Padel Galis in France
His story with padel
“I worked for 10 years for the Joma brand, a generalist brand whose turnover came mainly from team sports, such as football. Padel represented a small part of our activity. As a football fan, I saw padel as a sport for tennis players, not really for me, even though I knew it well in Spain, my home country.
One day, my boss at Joma asked me to accompany some padel players sponsored by the brand to the Padel Pro Cup at Mouratoglou. It was about six years ago, and at that time I worked with players like Juani Mieres, Stupa, and Patty Llaguno, who were already under contract with Joma. That stay completely changed my perspective. From that moment on, my life revolved around padel.
After 10 years at Joma, I wanted a change. I looked for a brand specializing in padel to collaborate with. It was Manu Garcia, to whom I sold Joma products at French Padel Shop, who recommended me to Siux. This is how I became sales manager for France at Siux, a position I have held for about two and a half years.
I am also the French sales manager at Padel Galis for a year. In fact, the former CEO of Siux went to Padel Galis and contacted me early on to offer me the opportunity to join them.”
The strategy of Siux
“Signing Stupa has been a huge asset for us. The quality of the brand also plays a key role. In recent years, Siux has invested heavily in design and marketing. Today, we have a clear range that is perfectly adapted to the market.
We invest heavily in the quality of our products. Since I joined the company, I have seen a continuous improvement in this quality. However, the marketing aspect remains crucial. When a player reaches the final with our racket or a teacher uses it to give lessons, it contributes greatly to strengthening our brand image.
As for our prices on rackets, we try as much as possible to keep them stable for the current year's range, although this is becoming increasingly difficult. On the other hand, for rackets from the previous year, it is more complicated to manage, because everyone is looking to clear out these models. However, for the current range, we are one of the brands that manages to supervise our resellers well and to enforce prices as much as possible, although this becomes more difficult as the year progresses.”
Stupa's racket
“Our big new product for next year will be Stupa’s racket, the ST4. It’s really our flagship product. The ST2 was incredibly successful, and with the ST3 we’ve increased our sales even further.
After conducting extensive customer surveys, we are going to launch a product that sits between the ST2 and the ST3, combining the maneuverability of the ST2 with the power of the ST3. I am confident that we will release a racket that will be very popular, an ultra-versatile racket that is very enjoyable to use.”
Padel Galis in full expansion
"With Padel Galis, we have an average of two projects per month in France, and we plan to accelerate even more for the year 2025. We are also considering partnering soon with a distributor in France to support our expansion. At the moment, we are finalizing very nice contracts. We have just completed the construction of the Sauvian padel club, as well as Blue Padel in Narrosse. We are currently working on a project near Arras, in the north. In short, we are in the middle of developing very promising projects.
Furthermore, I am setting up a club in Magalas, near Béziers, which will serve as a showroom for Padel Galis. We will install some there fields equipped with PPA technology with perimeter lighting, a revolutionary system that consumes less energy and does not dazzle players. There is no area on the field where you can be dazzled, and aesthetically, it is really impressive.”
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