Gday
How do online retailers like performance Bikeparts and nashbar etc. get away with selling online when a LBS cant sell online. I realise they dont carry and name brand bikes like Trek etc.
Sure, a LBS can sell online (if they want to).
We sell on line all day long. 40-60% of our gross sales are on line. If we couldn;t sell on line we’d have been out of business 6 years ago.
The truth of the matter is every single retailer can, and should, sell on line.
Retailers that complain about Internet sales are weak retailers. The last time I checked the only thing you needed to start your own website was a few bucks (Very few) and a url. Boom. Instant bike shop.
Retailers who haven’t moved with customer buying preferences shouldn;t be coddled and protected by bike companies. They should be compelled by market forces to get off their ass and start doing business in the year 2005 instead of whining about people who do.
The Internet and web sales are like a huge box of snakes. The lid comes off the box, all the snakes come out. Guess what, you’re never getting all the snakes back in the box. Bike companies will never stop internet sales. First of all, common interpretations of anti-trust laws can be effectively argued that no manufacturer can limit distribution channels of *paid, *titled, landed inventories.
Smart bike companies will work 24/7/365 to embrace the snakes- learn how to do business on the Internet.
One of the biggest Internet bike sellers is American Bicycle Group thorugh their Pre-Owned Bikes username on E-Bay where they sell their own brands (Litespeed, Quintana Roo, Merlin, Tomac) both new and used on E-Bay. That is smart. Others are either already doing it or will be soon.
The snakes are out of the box. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Retailers who bitch about the internet are like fish bitching about getting wet. It isn;t realistic. They can leverage bike companies to do what they want- for a while- but that is short sighted. Customers will simply go elsewhere.
In our industry, as well as most, the customer is the boss. The customer has voted: They want Internet sales. It’s our job to deliver.
Bravo Tom. Not only was that well said, but I think you posted a similarly well-worded answer to the exact same question just a few months ago. I was searching for it when you posted.
I’ve got a question though, while we are on the topic Tom, and feel free to not disclose any information if you feel it might hurt you. I’m just curious. Do you find that most of your sales are from referalls, or slowtwitcher, or does Google adwords or something similar play into your marketing. (for your online sales.) or is it just michiganders who are too lazy to drive over to your store?
BenDavis
formerly of Southfield, MI
Well, we get a ton of phone calls every day. The calls turn into sales.
Our web site received several thousand unique visitors per day, and it has taken a lot of work to build that traffic and do the search engine optimization for it.
Our site is as busy or busier than many bike company’s sites, and nearly as busy as a cyclingnews.com. But it is not E-commerce enabled. We have invested some serious cash in E-commerce capability and get closer every week. An industry insider said it best, and I take this as a compliment, “The only thing standing between you and e-commerce on your site is your unwillingnes to do it half-assed on your own site.”
We will have it, and I’d like it to be a cut above just a cookie cutter smart e-tailing site, which we could have tomorrow but everyone else has also.
so, hopefully someday soon here we’ll have something customers will enjoy.
If I recall correctly, Performance, Nashbar, and SuperGo are all owned by the same parent company. The combined company accounts for a huge fraction of North American bike part/component/clothing/accessories sales. With that kind of negotiating leverage with the manufacturers, they can ask for and get a lot more concessions than a small local retailer.
Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Well thanks for some great answers, but do all bicycle co. all get the same playing field as far as the price to buy components etc from seattle, quality, security etc. Why cant the LBS sell say a Trek or a QR online? I realise that the bike manufacturers offer volume discounts and require you placing an early season order.
Why is it that I require a store front to order from these suppliers?
Because they are behind the times. They still think they can get the snakes back in the box, when they should be learning snake charming.
The Internet isn’t going away. They’ll change. Or die.
huuuhh??
Earlier in this thread I mentioned that Interenet retailing is like a huge box filled with snakes: You open the box, the snakes go every which way. When you try to get the snakes back into the box, you will get some, but not all, and the ones left out multiply.
That’s internet retailing: The snakes are out of the box. Companies can try to prevent retailers from marketing products on the internet, but market forces will just create more desireable brands that people *can *buy readily on the internet.
Cnsumers vote with their dollars, and the ballots are in: The most affluent consumers with the greatest degree of discretionary income buy on the internet. That won;t change. Every year it grows larger and larger.
For a bike company to say “No Internet Sales” is lik them beginning to pen their own death warrant.
They will have to change. Or die.
Why does a retailer have to have a storefront to sell bicycle products from some companies?
Because they haven’t figured out e-tailing is the single fastest growing segment of our market.
3 bikes shops in Michigan have gone out of business in the last 5 weeks. None had websites.
I just signed our corporate tax return for '04: Our biggest year ever with record profits. Because of the Internet.
Roo,
I think suppliers have realized that they would damage themselves in the longer term if they did not require brick and mortar stores. Owning a bike shop/ tri store is not about getting rich and much more about community involvement. If QBP did not require store fronts where “Freds” could go and oogle over stuff and get honest (ie not magazine) advice, learn local routes, meet with other riders and get support for local events; cycling in the long term would suffer.
I say this because if you could all buy everything from Tom’s e-comm site, your LBS would suffer, wither and probably go away. While some of you probably have crappy LBS’s you would still freak out if they were not there - doing backbone stuff like Liberty Bike Shop in Asheville, NC (props to Mike and Claudia). Bike shops should be in the local neighborhoods and develop with the neighborhood/ community that they help foster. Most online retailers don’t give a crap about your local events.
My $0.02
“I say this because if you could all buy everything from Tom’s e-comm site, your LBS would suffer, wither and probably go away.”
I am an LBS. That is what people don’t realize. An LBS has to be both. To be a storefront you have to have building. To be an e-tailer you just need a computer.
There is no excuse for every single LBS to not be an e-tailer also.
At 800 X 600 my store is exactly the same size as Colorado Cyclist, nashbar, Performance or Supergo.
The age of “LBS” or “E-tailer” is going away. You will simply have to be a retailer who does in store sales and on line sales to profit.
That said, some of the retailers with the best online stores also give some of the best service in their stores. Nytro and Inside Out come to mind, but I’m sure there are more. Online shopping is simply an evolution in the way people shop. Some people will always want to get hands on help and contact with stuff before they buy, and some people are content to buy online. The smart shops will allow their customers to choose how they buy, and give good service to both the in shop and online patrons.
Triumph,
well said - I think Tom would agree with your assessment as well - but they key to LBS survival in internet & eBay age is being able to add more value to each bike purchase. Whether that is leading local group rides, offereing fix your bike (or learn to be an Ironman) clinics, or supporting local racing - the only way LBSs will survive is by becoming part of the cycling community.
bicycle retailers are an almost extict brand of shops now - the only other thing i see like them are small surf shops which only really exist in surf town. Many are still family run and are run by people who are passionate about cycling. not just racing, not just free-riding, not just bike touring, but cycling in general and who encourage all aspects of cycling. What many of us who ride $2000+ bikes forget is that the majority of bikes sold each year are $300 - $500 hybrids or comfort bikes. These bikes propell all sorts of people all over all sorts of bike trails, and the key to future bike access for those of us who ride a lot is these people who ride a little. Because if they demand bike paths, and parking for bikes and bike lanes en mass - then people will listen - politicians will listen.
When a “yuppie” buys a $300 bike to commute 5 miles to and from work he is making a huge difference that most of us don’t realize. Because he is someone who will ask for showers at work, and a bike lane on the bridge and will take part in the “ride for a cure 40 miler” in July that exposes cycling to more people.
Tom is right - the bike shops that learn how to embrace their community will be the ones who thrive. But they don’t have to move ALL their business to the web to make it work, they just have to be willing to work with their on-line community in the same way as they work with their brick and mortar community.
Thanks Tom
The LBS that I used to work at before I went to work for myself was always moaning about the web retailers, but now I can see a real void inbetween the managements ears as they didnt get involved with the snakes. Let them RIP!!