Mundo-surf is a surf, bodyboard and skateboard store, whose objective is to offer the best brands in the sector with specialized advice. We are mainly an online surf shop, although we also have a physical surf shop in Gelves, 15 minutes from Seville.

Although the mundo-surf.com page was created in 2011, our story begins much earlier in 2008, and we are going to tell you about it. It's a long story, so make yourself comfortable...

Our history

The beginnings of Mundo-Surf

In 2006, our founder, Sebas, recently expatriated in Spain, discovers the magic of a typical work schedule in the south of Spain: the continuous day from 7:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon. Sebas worked at that time as an industrial engineer at the Renault car company. With so much free time in the afternoons, Sebas had a lot of time to dedicate himself to one of his hobbies: the handmade manufacture of surfboards. It is when he realizes how difficult it is to get the materials to make your own surfboard in Spain. In France there were online surf shops that sold foam, polyester resin and fiberglass, but in Spain there was nothing like it. The only way to get materials for making surfboards in small quantities was to order them from local workshops. This is how he decided in 2008 to create an online surf shop.

With a capital available to invest close to €0, it was not going to be an easy task, and he decides to join the Etriboo online sales platform. At that time, Etriboo sold windsurfing, kitesurfing, snowboarding equipment online, but it lacked the surfing aspect.

In 2009, there were already several online surf shops. To differentiate itself, Sebas offers its customers the possibility of buying all the materials necessary for the manufacture of the boards in one place, including the pre-shape of custom surfboards. Making surfboards was a true passion for Sebas, who started making surfboards at the age of 14, and studied structural and material engineering, with the dream of becoming a great shaper one day! All this knowledge served him to advise clients, and write quality content to explain how to make a surfboard from scratch. With this lack in the market, he was able to get the first clients, who little by little not only bought materials, but , surf fins, covers, leash and other accessories.

All work was done from one floor, using one of the rooms as storage. The income was minimal, but the passion and motivation was at 200%. By having another job in the mornings, Sebas was able to reinvest the few profits in buying more materials, and expanding the range of products on the web. This is how she was able to start with the bodyboard section, which has become the number 1 online bodyboard store in Spain, and one of the largest in Europe.

The creation of mundo-surf.com

After a year and a half discovering online sales with the Etriboo platform, Sebas already had his own vision of the business, and he was clear about the website he needed. He decides to invest the few savings accumulated after a year and a half of selling at Etriboo in creating a website 100% his own, called mundo-surf.com. There was no money to pay a salary, there was no equipment, but the online store was working and growing slowly.

In 2009, there was no smartphone, phones were push-button phones, and there was much less competition on the internet. Setting up an online store that worked and with a small budget was feasible. But 2008 also marked the beginning of the crisis in Spain. Sebas dedicated all his energy and passion to mundo-surf, but always combining it with his job as an Industrial Engineer, which guaranteed him financial stability. As the project progressed, the days became shorter and shorter. But the passion continued like the first day, sales were progressing, more and more customers trusted mundo-surf, many repeat customers, and there were already loyal customers who had been buying for several years. Surfing was becoming more and more popular, and the economic situation in Spain was improving year after year.

In 2014, the store exceeded €100,000 in annual turnover. It may not seem like much now, but it is a great stage for world-surfing. Sebas did everything alone, from home, and combined it with another job. €100,000 is what a local surf shop can bill. With this billing, mundo-surf “existed”, had customers, new and recurring, and made a sale every day. They were years of hard work, of building a project from scratch, without financial resources, but the passion continued, and made everything possible.

Growth

In 2015, growth continues apace, and mundo-surf can move from a room in a house to a real ship, hire the first employees, and form a real company! With 250 square meters of warehouse and 100 square meters of office and show room, what was a room full of material, which overflowed into the living room, becomes an almost empty warehouse!

The first Gelves store, with the warehouse behind 

But electronic commerce is booming, it is the time of the smartphone boom. More and more people had smartphones, 4G was working better and better, more and more people were surfing, and the ship was filling up little by little. The team is becoming more professional, the store offers more products every day, incorporating more brands every year. The philosophy does not change: offer the best surf and bodyboard equipment, and advise so that each client has the most suitable material to progress and have fun. We innovate by offering payment facilities, Mundo-surf is the first online surf shop to offer payments after receiving the merchandise, and installment payments at the moment, with a 100% online process that is done in a matter of minutes. Mundo-Surf adapts to the mobile revolution, optimizing the web for mobile phones, and launching an APP, being the first online surf shop to have a mobile application.

The world-surf APP, available on IOS, Android, at the time in Windows Store!

Blog, YouTube channel, chat, WhatsApp, and social networks, we implement omnichannel customer service and work hard to offer the best advice and specialized advice to each client who needs it. We know that it is very important to have the right material, to learn how to progress. And our added value is there, in selecting the best products, and knowing how to advise our clients, so that they improve their surfing and enjoy more in the water.

Carrying out two jobs in parallel becomes increasingly heavy for Sebas, and at the beginning of 2016, after a month of reflection for Indonesia, he makes the decision to leave his job as an Industrial Engineer in a leading multinational in the automation sector, to dedicate himself 100% to his online surf shop.

Reflection time in Sumbawa

Criticism is not long in coming, it is not socially well seen to leave a stable job in a multinational to follow your passion. There is a lot of talk about professional reconversion, change of life, they are usually very nice stories, but the reality is that they are very difficult decisions to make, with great social pressure.

This decision, which was so difficult to make, turns out to be a success and evidence, since 2017 marks a new stage, exceeding €500,000 in annual turnover.

The covid years

At the beginning of 2020, when mundo-surf is launching towards a million euros in turnover, what no one could foresee arrives, what no one expected: a global pandemic called Covid. We see how young and healthy friends fall ill for months, we worry about our elders, and we live some dramatic situations. At the business level, we see how sales are stopping. They lock us up in our houses, you can't surf or do the outdoor activities that we like so much, these are weeks of general panic in the country. Sales sink but fixed expenses are still there. The aid promised by the government does not exist, with the fine print they do not apply to our company. But as of May 2020, the situation changes drastically. Being an online store, we are lucky to be able to continue working almost normally. Sales pick up, we went from a situation of having to fire the team that had become a family, to rehiring them and even expanding the workforce.

Confinement and illness, instead of stopping people, make them aware of the importance of performing physical activities, of taking care of their health and mind through sports. All of us who have been surfing or bodyboarding for a long time know that surfing is much more than a sport. It is a sport, a philosophy, a lifestyle, a passion, it provides us with a balance that for many of us is essential for our mental health. We went from not selling practically anything to not being able to cope. We diversified with skateboarding and surfskate, sports that we have always liked since we were little, and above all that allow us to continue doing sports despite the restrictions in terms of mobility. The team is reunited again, the staff grows, these are years of hard work, a lot of stress, we are forced to better structure the company. To maintain the level of service and quality, we create processes and standards that will allow sustainable growth.

Material shortages add to the situation. We see how shipping companies take advantage of the situation to multiply the price of containers by up to 8, with the consequences on final sales prices.

The whole system is unbalanced, winter wetsuits arrive in summer, surfboards take up to 8 months to make, products are missing, there are shortages. Mundo-surf knows how to adapt, and overcomes another psychological barrier in its growth, exceeding €1,500,000 in annual turnover. Every day there are dozens and hundreds of orders to be shipped, more than 20,000 customers who trust us. The small business that started ten years earlier in the room of a flat has become an international online store, translated into 7 languages, with about half of the orders shipped outside of Spain. It is a small commercial success, and a great satisfaction of having chosen the right path, of having followed his passion, of having created a company, and formed a great work team.

To accompany this growth, in September 2021, we began the process of moving to a new warehouse. A ship with more than 750 square meters of storage, more offices, and all with natural light. A new work tool. More professional, to always offer a wider range of products, to have everything in stock to be able to deliver the next day, more than 800 surfboards, more than 1,500 bodyboards, more than 600 wetsuits, thousands of accessories. Everything within reach of a click, to receive it the next day, and with advice from passionate surfers.

View of the new show-room and warehouse 

Now

From now on everything is possible. The best as well as the worst.

Despite the difficulties, mundo-surf is still here. Why? There are no investors but there are more than 25,000 clients who push and trust us, and there is a passion for surfing, bodyboarding and the sea that remains intact. We treat clients with closeness, we share what we know, we are natural and honest, we listen to criticism and try to improve every day. We're not the best surfers, we don't surf big waves, but we love what we do, and it seems to work.

We support the surfing community more and more within our possibilities, with Team riders, championships and events around surfing and bodyboarding. Because we have come this far thanks to you, because surfing is our life, because we have to support the surfing community.

Our team is better trained every day, work processes are fine-tuned, we adapt to the ever-changing economic situation, in order to continue writing history for many more years. As long as the passion is here, we will continue fighting to be able to continue writing our history and living our passion every day.

The team

Sebas

Founder of world-surf. A true passionate about surfing, bodyboarding, kitesurfing, wingsurfing, surfskate, sailing, and skiing. Hence the world-surf motto « Always riding ». Sebas is now in charge of purchases, web development, marketing, and everything that comes up.

Laura

Laura is the only girl on the team, at the moment. As good a physicist as she is, her numbers don't scare her. Laura is dedicated to managing accounting, payments, reimbursements, and everything that she has to do with money. And since she also has a lot of right hands, she is in charge of after-sales service and warranty management.

Ignacio

Ignacio is passionate about bodyboarding. A bodyboard freak who can spend hours measuring boards and comparing one with the other until he chooses his own. The first thing he does when he gets up is watch the wave report and a video of course, Bodyboard. He also surfs and skates. That's why he's in the customer service position. Normally, it is Ignacio who will assist you by phone, chat, whatsapp, and social networks. He also contributes to marketing actions.

Rafa

Rafa is an authentic Padel machine and a former carpenter. He discovered surfing late, but we still love him. As warehouse manager, he is in charge of the general management of the warehouse: receiving merchandise, ordering supplies, handling disputes with carriers, and surfboard repair. A very organized guy who has the warehouse under control.

Jose

Jose is the one who prepares your orders, making sure that he sends the right product, with the right protection, the right quantity, to the right person, and within the right time. He is colorblind, but don't worry, he has a series of tools to get it right in 99.5% of cases.