The bigger picture here is the massive convulsions that the whole business( the whole tri and indeed the sport specialty retailing business) is going through right now. It's compunded by the fact that the despite what USAT and other bodies are saying, the growth in triathlon is flattening out quickly. Many can't/won't see it, because they are too focused on what's going on at Ironman/70.3 races( adding more and more races, and races selling out quickly).
If you want to get a better picture of what's going on. Go talk to smaller LBS and tri-shops, and regional/local small to mid sized triathlons and triathlon series. Then you'll get a better idea of what's going on.
On the retail side of things, all I can say is this business is extraordinarily hard and challenging at the best of times. People see the $3,000(or much more) bikes wheeled out of the shop and think, "Wow! They must be killing it!". When times were better, I saw many, tri-focussed shops open up, or even bigger more established bike stores, really go after the Tri-Market. Indeed, Dan Empfield, wrote a defining industry focused piece, about 3 years ago, about Best Practices, for new stores, or established stores thinking of going in that direction - http://www.slowtwitch.com/...ed_by_Tri__1201.html
However, since Dan wrote that piece, a whole wave of tri-shops have come and gone, and many of the bigger bike shops who started to go in that direction have retreated from that, and backed completely away from triathlon. As noted the game has changed significantly since then - and that was just 3 short years ago.
As for TriSports - they were really pioneers, and they set the bar high in the business. They are going through some challenges. But the people behind it are smart, and I have confidence that they will sort through this and reinvent themselves.
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
If you want to get a better picture of what's going on. Go talk to smaller LBS and tri-shops, and regional/local small to mid sized triathlons and triathlon series. Then you'll get a better idea of what's going on.
On the retail side of things, all I can say is this business is extraordinarily hard and challenging at the best of times. People see the $3,000(or much more) bikes wheeled out of the shop and think, "Wow! They must be killing it!". When times were better, I saw many, tri-focussed shops open up, or even bigger more established bike stores, really go after the Tri-Market. Indeed, Dan Empfield, wrote a defining industry focused piece, about 3 years ago, about Best Practices, for new stores, or established stores thinking of going in that direction - http://www.slowtwitch.com/...ed_by_Tri__1201.html
However, since Dan wrote that piece, a whole wave of tri-shops have come and gone, and many of the bigger bike shops who started to go in that direction have retreated from that, and backed completely away from triathlon. As noted the game has changed significantly since then - and that was just 3 short years ago.
As for TriSports - they were really pioneers, and they set the bar high in the business. They are going through some challenges. But the people behind it are smart, and I have confidence that they will sort through this and reinvent themselves.
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog