I think you need a hook. Look at the ones you mentioned. When they started tri was in its infancy. Its not that they were the only game in town, there wasn’t a game in town, so if you wanted tri stuff or expertise you went mailorder.
Now online is common, so what is going to distinguish your on-line from everyone else?
Here is what normally works for someone coming late to the game
Cheap prices - if your the cheapest on the net people will find you, but that’s probably hard to do these days and make money.
Quick availability of obscure stuff. I’m always looking for weird stuff. When I find that hard to find part, I’ll order more common stuff also. Want a lot of orders, find a way to stock 650 latex inner tubes.
Exceptional customer service. There is a place that sell Brooks saddles on the net, that will take them back if you don’t like it after a few weeks. Then they sell the used ones on the internet. I can’t imagine someone willing to let you use a $500 saddle then return it but they do.
Some hook no one has, rental wheels over the net, rental bikes that you will UPS to race and arrange to UPS back to the shop (show up at IM, pick up race bike, finish race, drop off bike). Even if you have a guy at the major NA races with a s, m, l frame and a set of parts, You’d be a hero to the people who lose bikes on the way to a race.
Online remote fitting. You’ve also got a problem in that you (crrectly) promote fitting. Unless you can come upith a remote fitting service, you will have trouble selling bikes over the net.
Styrrell
For me obscure parts is a big one. As an example, I was recently looking for the following small items at my LBS:
(2) campy cassette lockrings - LBS did not have any
A 1" inch headset - non in stock
Disc wheel valve stickers - non in stock
Laxex tubes - non in stock
Campy cassette spacers - non in stock
I was able to order all these items from internet retailers - AND I ordered a some other stuff to make the shipping costs worth it. I don’t know the answer to this, as it would be very hard for the LBS to carry EVERTHING.
Shipping to my door was less than 48hrs. Tough argument against this.
The frustrating thing for me is when a internet site list things, but then doesn’t have them. I’ve ordered stuff that was listed as in stock, then had them e-mail to say its out of stock.
Styrrell
Tri-Sports started a few years ago in the founder’s spare bedroom. Nytro started in a Garage. R&A is a Mom& Pop shop in NYC that has global reach. Mission Bay started as a Mom&Pop LBS that grew to the world’s largest QR wetsuit dealer and largest retailr of triathlon wetsuits on earth.
Related to our discussion of bicycle on line sales, what are the factors that prevent your local bike shop from developing an on line component to match the capabilities of other on line retailers?
I am interested in your thoughts.
You point out the successes - what about all the failures? Hindsight bias and all that.
You’ve been successful (at least in part) because BikeSportMichigan is an established brand. I didn’t think twice about creating an account with you, because you are a known quantity. Not so with JoeSchmoesBikes or some other LBS.
My LBS tried it a few years ago, couldn’t make a go of it.