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| Thank you Dorel |
While this practice is fairly widespread in the sporting goods industry with people like of Patagonia, The North Face and Montbell all having concept stores the bike industry has been a bit slow on the uptake.
Concept stores are fairly widespread in Europe and are slowly gaining traction here. Trek has had concept stores for a while, same with Rapha, Bianchi and Public but if I were an independent dealer I'd be very tempted to phone my local sales rep and have them haul out any brand that condones concept stores, sells their merchandise customer direct or has any other online distribution network. When my distributor does an end run like that it says to me that my distributor simply doesn't have my back so screw them. Why would I sign a dealer agreement if you are simply going to stab me in the back.
Any way, it's just another sad day in the industry so maybe I'll just console myself by assembling some bicycles manufactured in Cambodia and Indonesia.
Adam
ReplyDeleteI hear what you say about concept stores and the impending fate of the IBD store.
May I suggest there is a different view of the ‘bigger picture’ that could be taken.
The IBDs have their future in their own hands (don’t we all?) Major bike brands have structures and overheads they built up prior to the ‘lowest pricing wins’ era induced by the Internet. They now need to ‘get sales at any price, in any way’ to cover those overheads, as large companies don’t have a great track record of deploying innovative changes, unless brought on by the prospect of facing Chapter11. They are going to place even more pressure on Dealers to become a ‘one brand’ location, as per automotive dealers.
If the IBDs acted collectively, they would have by far the strongest, most formidable cycling sales channel in existence. They could not only sell their own exclusive lines/brands, but actually develop most of the new products to emerge within cycling, as they have a wealth of product knowledge and customer-demand awareness that the bike brands don’t have.
There is, of course, one major obstacle. IBDs do what they do because they are ‘mavericks’,
individualists, entrepreneurs. For the sake of saving the IBD from extinction, or at least losing all semblance of what a ‘local bike store’ once was, I believe it is time to put aside at least a portion of that individualism and join forces, to take control of your future and once again become the ‘must go to’ locations for anyone who wants more than a Wal-mart cheapie.
Peter Clutton
Laterelle
As a rider, this bothers me because top-notch mechanics are hard to find. This cutting them out of the retail loop has put a number out of business. So in a few years I'll be able to buy a great bike at a great price but not be able to get it fixed locally. The best mechanics need to be able to work at both repair and retail.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if I understood you correctly, Peter. It's not like selling cars and I don't think it should be. When was the last time you heard someone say "I need a new car, boy oh boy I can't wait to go the car dealership and deal with a car salesman for half the day"?
ReplyDeleteThe manufacturer decides how much the bike will cost and IBDs don't have the luxury of being able to adjust prices, and loose distributor rights if they try. Sometimes IBDs near concept stores can still deal a given brand but at lesser terms, ie. no access to the flagship models, high prices and poor margins on slightly better than Walmart bikes.
Max, you have a really good point. Keeping mechanics in close quarters with new product is part of what makes them good mechanics.
Adam and Gang ,,, let me interject and additional thought here.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason why the bicycle industry has not had more
"Concept Stores" is simply the service department . The bicycle store
as we have come to know is a two part business entity , retail sales
and service .
With the blue jean , fancy hand bag or sports brand "concept store' there
are but two ingredients - display the product and take the cash.
Other than folding a garment or ringing a register there are no special
skills required to work.
With the service department there is a space requirement besides grease & dirt
which in a concept store hits on image... Yet the bigger problem is the interaction between
the service technician and the public in diagnosing the problems and also billing
the labor...
We have an industry with no requirements to open a store and absolutely no requirements to
service bicycles. Go into any car mechanics bay and see as many framed documents
as one can hang on his/her training and accreditation, not so in the bicycle industry.
Billing is also a problem in that there is no standard price for any particular job. And much
in problem solving is based on the technicians interpretation. Remembering the tech can be
a junior from the local HS there in lies the problem .
Concept Stores / Factory Showrooms don't want to deal with training repair technicians or
trying to establish standards for service billing . The Auto industry(although not perfect)
has now for some time in place computer diagnosis alleviating much of the interpretation..
Overall the service department adds a liability nightmare which does not fit into the plans
concept store brands.