🎉25 years of Supralift – and still not quite grown up
Founded in 2001, we’re now 25 years old – and yet we still sometimes feel like a start-up.
With just one small difference: back then we had modems. Today we have APIs.
Welcome to a brief journey through 25 years of the internet, online marketing and Supralift – the marketplace for used forklifts and warehouse equipment.
📟 In 2001, the internet still made noises
Back then, if you wanted to get online, you needed one thing above all else: patience.
➡️56k modem (soundtrack included)
➡️Per-minute charges instead of flat rates
➡️“Please don’t ring me, I’m online!”
➡️On and off
And Supralift right in the thick of it.
Back then, to enable dealers to manage their used forklifts at all, we had to provide DMS software – offline-capable, of course.
Because: if you were online, you couldn’t do anything else at the time. 😄
⚡ 2026: Always-on, everything, everywhere
Today?
➡️The internet is simply… there
➡️Gigabit instead of a test of patience
➡️Cloud instead of a floppy disk
➡️Smartphone instead of a desk
Or to put it another way: the internet has gone from being an “event” to a “state of being”.
🤯 Things that would have sounded completely crazy in 2001
📱 The internet in your pocket
Back then: Desktop PC
Today: Always online on your smartphone
🎬 Video as standard
Back then: An image is loading… slowly…
Today: 4K streaming whilst waiting for your coffee
☁️ The cloud
Back then: “Where do I save this?”
Today: “Where isn’t this actually stored?”
🛒 Marketplaces dominate everything
Back then: Individual websites
Today: Platforms are the business model
⚡ Real-time business
Back then: Quotation by fax, reply… eventually
Today: APIs, live data, immediate responses
🤖 Automation & AI
Back then: “Who maintains the data?”
Today: “The system takes care of that.”
😄 Online marketing then vs. now
2001:
➡️Flashing banners (“Click me!!!”)
➡️50x the same keyword on a page
➡️Visitor counters as status symbols
➡️Email marketing… let’s call it “creative”
Today:
…it’s become a tiny bit more complicated.
💸 Google Ads – from insider tip to billion-euro market
Back then, we had to explain:
“Yes, you can pay for clicks – and it actually makes sense.”
Click prices: under 10 cents
Reaction: scepticism
Today:
➡️its own billion-euro market
➡️Click prices from €5 to €20+
➡️Entire agencies make a living from it
And nobody asks anymore whether you advertise online.
📰 Print Advertising vs. Online Marketing: From proof sheets to real-time data
Back then:
➡️The world’s most complex Excel file, in which print ad placements were planned and monitored in 21 languages
➡️‘Measuring success’: did the advert appear, yes or no?
Today:
➡️Real-time visitor numbers
➡️Clicks, CTR, conversion rates
➡️Interests and purchase intentions
In short:
In the past, we knew that an advert had been printed.
Today we know pretty much exactly who saw it, who clicked on it, who was interested – and who is likely to want to buy a used forklift in the end. 😄
😂 Supralift moments you won’t forget
25 years bring stories with them.
For example:
➡️A fax mailing that got ‘stuck’ –
Result: A customer received the same used forklift list 250 times📠😅 And, by the way, he’s still a customer today
➡️A newsletter that was accidentally sent out with the subject line:
“THE SUBJECT LINE IS STILL MISSING!!!”📧🙈
Back then: Adverts with 1 photo, if that…
Today: 20 photos + video as standard
Back then: Photos taken with a digital camera and transferred via cable, often upside down or sideways
Today: Uploaded directly from a smartphone on the forecourt
Back then: Prices per vehicle
Today: Flat rates
Back then: <´´5% mobile users
Today: almost 50% – and rising
📈 Impressive growth
A few figures that show what 25 years mean:
➡️Vehicles: 1,000 → 50,000 (Homepage link)
➡️Dealer network: 600 → 6,500 dealers
➡️Suppliers: 10 → over 550
➡️Visitors: 1,000 → 100,000 per month
➡️End-customer share: today around 90%
From a dealer network to an end-customer marketplace.
Various design relaunches – in 2017, Supralift went responsive… modernising, stabilising, improving – it never stops.
🔧 The present: Building anew, rather than just repairing
Since 2022, we have been working on completely rebuilding our code, which has evolved over 20 years.
Page by page.
Module by module.
By 2025, we had replaced the end-customer marketplace and its key features; in April 2026, the new dealer search went live. Step by step towards an even more stable, visible and faster platform.
❤️ What really matters
Behind all this is not a huge corporation, but a small, strong team.
People who often do more than their job description requires.
Who think for themselves, get on board and help shape the future.
🙌 Thank you!
➡️to our customers for their trust
➡️to our partners for their collaboration
➡️and especially to our team and also the many people who have contributed to Supralift over the past 25 years and then gone their separate ways. Without you, these 25 years would not have been possible.
🚀 What’s next?
Quite simply:
With the conviction that good solutions are always possible.
With curiosity about everything the next 25 years will bring.
By 2051, we’ll be working with holographic product advisors; AI might even recognise future forklift buyers before they start actively searching, and provide tailored offers in real time; a personal drone will take the photos; and with a Babel fish in our ear, we’ll understand and speak every language in the world.
Our anniversary promotion:
✅ For forklift dealers’ new customers:
Secure your introductory offer with a 25% discount
✅ For forklift buyers:
When you buy a forklift from one of our dealers – we’ll give you a banner advert on our platform