I frequently hear about bikes giving people “pro deals”, just out of curiosity how much of a discount does that normally work out to be.
The “pro deal” concept exists in many sports: skiing, tennis, golf, etc. etc. The thinking being that a person in a position of influence (as in influencing retail sales) will often acquire a piece of equipment at a special price so that they will use in front of perspective buyers. Generally speaking pro price is a percentage above wholesale and drastically below retail that it can seem generous.
Ian
The “pro deal” concept exists in many sports: skiing, tennis, golf, etc. etc. The thinking being that a person in a position of influence (as in influencing retail sales) will often acquire a piece of equipment at a special price so that they will use in front of perspective buyers. Generally speaking pro price is a percentage above wholesale and drastically below retail that it can seem generous.
Ian
Pro deal from a “shop”. is generally going to be “cost+10%”. The 10% covers the expenses that the shop incurred in bringing the product into the shop (generally).
Pro deal from the manufacturer is much trickier to establish a baseline for, manufacturers will usually work backwards from “wholesale”, as in 20% below wholesale.
Nowadays a pro deal from a shop isn’t much better than what you could source from an online retailer, but when you get a deal from the manufacturer…it can be decidedly sweet.
A lot of high end bike stuff- follows this ballpark markup- about 40-45% from their purchase price or in reverse- about 70% of retail. So a bike or frame or whatever that is $3500- might have cost the shop- 70% of retail or $2450… and getting a pro-deal is going to be below this price- say- 10% or maybe more under that- so a $3500 retail, $2450 wholesale, $2200 (or under) pro-deal direct from manufacturer. Softgoods- like clothing, glasses, shoes, etc- typically have a 100% markup- so the $200 pair of shorts, cost the shop $100…
When I was an employee at REI I could get Cannondale and Look frames at 50% off retail or more. I would imagine it is like that with a lot of companies.
Some soft-good/accessories vendors (Descente, PI, Pedros etc) would offer stuff at 60-70% off of retail as well.
Bob
Just look at www.3point5.com to see whats the deal 
They are usually 60-70% off retail or 30-40% off whole sale prices.
You have to work in a retail store that sells those products and the items can only be shipped to work location.