...GoPro has done it for a few years
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Weird that GoPro didn't re-pony up for title sponsorship for a race organization and sport that outright bans the use of it's technology during the race and sport it's sponsoring. Weird, I tell ya.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

Good for WTC but I don't support places that knowingly sell knock-off/imitation goods. Not only that but I've rarely found Amazon to have the best prices on the stuff. If you take some time and shop around you can almost always get similar prices elsewhere but people don't want to spend the time doing that, I get it.


Amazon is basically an online Walmart, another company I'll never give another dollar to but clearly I'm in the minority.

Judging by the fact that Amazon makes a non-trivial amount of money on paid site placement under normal circumstances, and they seem to have called a part of their health section the "Ironman" section, part of me is wondering if the money flow didn't move at least somewhat in the other direction.

Dev,

I think your statement was pretty spot on, but this part I think is a little deceiving. Amazon is a marketplace that allows 3rd party sellers to sell on their marketplace. So, much of the putting the local shops out of business is being done by their competitor shops selling as a 3rd party through Amazon's marketplace. Even if Amazon is shipping it to you, it's being sent to Amazon Distribution Centers by a manufacturer selling through the marketplace or a 3rd party seller. It is possible for every shop out there to bolster their sales by selling on Amazon's marketplace.

Pricing competition on Amazon hurts business everywhere, and I will agree with that. It's changing the landscape of retail. That said there are a lot of brands undertaking major strategy changes in how they manage their business on Amazon to counteract this average unit retail erosion. This is all in an effort to stabilize and grow business with an Omnichannel approach that includes marketplace selling.

As far as selling counterfeit product? As more and more white-label brands establish themselves on Amazon's marketplace (just check out how easy Alibaba makes it to source product from Asia now), the opportunity for counterfeit product is definitely growing. I can say that Amazon will aggressively pursue sellers that are posing knockoffs for trademarked product though. It is in their best interest. Buyer/ Customer satisfaction is very high on their list of priorities.

Is Amazon the bad guy? I can't agree or disagree on this, but internet marketplace selling is a necessary evil now. As someone mentioned above, this is what society is asking for with our instant gratification needs.

Is Amazon putting the LBS out of business? Their marketplace, Ebay, Walmart.com, etc, could have a big part in it. But they also open new opportunities for these LBS's to expand their business to a national or international audience if they are selling goods. I think the bigger discussion about who is putting the LBS out of business should include the gray market.

Overall this is a good partnership for Amazon and a good partnership for Ironman in my opinion, no matter how bad both entities are. This seems like a business move for both sides.

This is my 2 cents on this. I do hope that streaming will go on Redbull's channel. They have it dialed. You can watch a livestream of WC mountain bike racing in the woods in remote places all over the world in HD. Hopefully they can figure it out for Kona!

Jake

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Get outside!

Amazon is one of those things that I see people having wildly differing views from "I hate them" to "I buy almost everything on Amazon". Me personally, I am still a value shopper and will visit Wal-mart for many things. Amazon won't necessarily be the cheapest, and there are certainly items were sellers take advantage of market demand/supply, but in general there is a lot of value. Take for instance, that in my last trip to Wal-mart I bought an absolute piece of junk water bottle scrubber, didn't know it was going to be that bad, but it was the only option and it was $2.99. I have one coming tomorrow from Amazon which I hope is vastly superior, a Oxo Good, and based on the description and reviews I feel vastly more confident with it. It was shipped 2-day (I am prime member) for $4.99. You just can't beat that can of value. No getting in the car, traffic, gas, wear-and-tear, crowds, long lines etc.

Now on the flip side, I was actually going to use the following product as a secondary example of the above because I was actually at Costco tonight looking for it but I couldn't find it. I have ordered this product from Amazon at a $1-2 upcharge because to go to Costco from my location is a 3-hour adventure. This product was only stored in Costco, so people actually go to Costco and buy it and then list it for sale on Amazon. Anyway, I just searched now and this $7.99 item, a miraculous little melatonin pill with some additives made by Schiff, is now selling for $150. You might think this is a mistake but I guarantee this is not and I can also guarantee that this 3rd-party seller is actually selling these at this prices too which indicates (1) just how addicted we can be to our brands/products or (2) just how clueless some people can be

But by and large, I find Amazon prices to be competitive and fair, albeit usually not the rock bottom sales prices you can find if your shop around.

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No they weren’t selling them. People we’re buying them from a third party seller from China.

https://www.bikebiz.com/features/fake-helmets

“Back in 2014 BBC's Fake Britain programme reported on a fake Giro cycle helmet. "It's part of a growing industry, where the fakers are trying to make money out of the success of cycling," said reporter Matt Allwright.

Charity cyclist Andrew McCreery of Northern Ireland had bought one of the fakes from Amazon.co.uk, not realising it was from a Chinese merchant.“

This is no different than if you went on eBay and saw something was being shipped from China and the product is significantly cheaper than what it should cost. Of course it’s fake. I understand that Amazon should try to stop counterfeits but it’s not that simple. You can set up a seller account in no time and for Amazon or eBay to block all these fake it’s like playing never ending game of wack-a-mole.

But to same Amazon was selling it just isn’t true. If you bought something from the classified section here and you didn’t receive it would you say that slowtwich was at fault?

That said it does sound like Amazon is now having some issues with 3rd party sellers fulfilling through prime and having their fakes slipped in with the authentic product. Given how many skus there are on prime this isn’t surprising. Luckily Amazon has the easiest return policy in the world so if you do realize something is fake when you receive it, you can return it. From the very limited articles I can find this is not what was happening in 2014, it was specifically buying from 3rd party sellers.

I rarely , if ever, have a phenomenal experience at the LBS. most of my friends would say the same

If my LBS sold online, I’d buy from them and potentially pay a bit more

I think, for the most part, that’s killing the LBS. Not Amazon

Sorry, sidetracked

I am a partner in 3 bike shops. Internet shopping hurts, but it helps in numerous ways as well. We have grown sales 12 years in a row.

I am a triathlete and I enjoy slowtwich, so take this the right way please: People on here greatly overestimate how valuable triathletes are to bike shops. It’s a very small part of thr bike market, and triathletes have always been mail order/deal hunters.

We are by far the biggest shop in our town and less than 1% of our sales come from Triathletes. We do a lot of service for them, but can’ t sell them anything. There is a real culture of deal hunting.

Positive side of websales for a shop like ours is people order the wrong stuff a lot and we are able to tactfully show our expertise and help people. In addition, web sales is a real barrier to entry for a small shop, and little ones have had to close. The big brands price protect, market well, and in most cases make superior stuff.

I can see both sides of it. I live on an island in Canada. Getting stuff shipped here absolutely sucks. I work in construction. Sometimes, I need a new tool, or piece of hardware, or something. I'll call my local supplier, and get answers back like "we can have that for you in 4 weeks when we place our next large order". 4 weeks? I need that tomorrow. I'll go on Amazon, get the product for less, shipped to my door in 2 days. I've even called suppliers back and said "I'd rather give you my business, you should consider ordering stuff from Amazon and I'd buy it for a modest mark up" yet, no takers... IMO I don't see how businesses that far behind the curve will survive, and I don't quite feel bad about it.

On the other hand, they are quickly moving in to Monopoly territory and will have us all by the short and curlies in a few years, and besos will be emporer of the universe, so there is that...

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Long Chile was a silly place.

I'm from the UK and I think the Amazon working conditions, low pay and and Lack of tax are much more of an issues with the public at large than some shady bike parts.

Our love of everything along has led to the demise of our high street shops.

Amazon rightly or wrongly catches most of the flak but the consumer has make this choice.

They make more than enough to pay fairly, give workers proper benefits and pay more tax.

It’s great that Ironman have a huge sponsor but in the UK at least these sort of working practices need curtailing.

https://www.businessinsider.com/...2018-4?r=UK&IR=T

https://www.businessinsider.com/...2018-4?r=UK&IR=T

Hopefully I get a free entry into a Kona lottery with my Prime membership.