Slowman wrote:
so, you look over in that specialized venge thread, these guys are masters at process-driven transactions. you walk into a retail store selling specialized, you enter a process. you aren't shown the saddles on the slat wall. you get your ass measured, then you're shown the output of a process: the saddle perfect for you. how important is that for online? it's doubly important.I like what Specialized does from an engineering and marketing standpoint, but it's difficult to say their process works when in SoCal it appears most of the concept stores are failing. Surf City, Cynergy (a few times), B&L, and others all failed. A large SoCal chain is rumored to be shuttering one of it's locations due to low revenues. Is this market over-saturation or is the process not what the consumer actually wants from a bike shop? We send a lot of clients to these shops to purchase products (over $330K worth last year), and we receive a lot of negative feedback from their experiences. Many liken the concept stores to walking into a car dealership. Perhaps I only have a view from the pointy end of the market, or don't see what's going on in the rest of the country, but I'm not so sure the process is all that great.
Jim Manton / ERO Sports