should bike shops continue selling bikes?

[jonnyboy666]

ok, tough one, relevant to my shop. now before you answer please don't let this turn in to a "my local guy is a miserable git" type thread, i'm asking you guys because you have been riding and buying bikes etc for years and have seen the changes the internet has made, so i want genuine opinions that are helpful.

so here's a situation i find myslef in, now my shop isn't struggling as such but i am seeing trends in shops around mine. so my circumstance is that i ordered a bunch on Genesis bikes in february, they were supposed to be in the shop late july, they eventually came in in late august, obvs i had my cancer surgery in september, as a result only a couple of the entry level ones sold, realistically i'll sit on the rest till atleast march now. i look at this and think, if i hadn't have ordered them i'd have a lot more moeny in the bank now.

i consider a bike sale a bonus when it happens but the last bike i sold was a heavily discounted Orange Speedwork, probabaly about trade plus vat so nothing made there.

my point is, i have maybe 12 bikes in stock, 4 at 800 to 900, the rest between 1000 and 2000, in real terms they are all gonna get dropped in price to sell them, competing against online discounters is basically impossible, i have a rocky mountian bike that was £1300 at retail, i got it on a deal, so i could retail it for £1100, i've seen it online for £550, wayb less than i paid for it.

i've always made my money in the workshop, and on accessories and spares, i don't want to be a shop that doesn't sell bikes but i'm getting to the point where i feel it's a waste of time and money.

the buying habits of customers have changed, and i don't think it's gonna get any better for shops, RRP was created to avoid haggling in shops, a combination of factors meant that RRP meant the shop made enough money to be a workable retail business and the customer got a fair uninflated price, but now RRP is just a place for customers to start haggling from, so the shop just has to accept that and therefore make less than they should. i would also point out that when the bikes shops stop selling bikes and it does go all online they will have full control of the prices and the only time you'll get a deal is when they want to have a sale, and unlike a shop you can't ask for a discount/deal because "computer says no", at that point you have no choice but to accept the price and buy it or not.

so i find myself thinking that i might gradually sell out the bikes and just not replace them and go back to what i started as which was "jon's bike repair".

so is the bike shop in terms of selling bikes gonna go the way of the butcher and the baker? because i think it is.

thoughts?

 

[d8mok]

Doesn’t make sense for a small bike shop to stock bikes in my opinion.

Too much money and space needed for something that needs multiple sizes and specs to suit each consumer.

I buy quite a few new bikes compared to probably Joe average. Always online or over the phone. As nobody ever has the model , size and colour you want - and then the price too.

I went to Evan’s in Shirebrook (biggest uk one) and they had every bike , in multiple colours and sizes. It’s huge and likely appealing for a customer looking to buy a low end bike as you can see everything and take one away in your size. How can a small shop compete with that ?

Sell the stock and use the space / cash for something that makes money

 

[bikeworkshop]

We still sell bikes
Often to people unsure about what they want or need, and want experienced input.
Most of them understand it will cost 10-20% more than if they bought it online, but its what they actually want in terms of function and quality, and if it isn't, or it stops working, they have a point of contact to come back.

Functional bikes don't fall out of fashion like lifestyle machines, so you don't have to have a fire sale because the graphics are outdated.

Oh, and money in the bank doesn't earn you a living.
We had proof of that in the pandemic

 

[novocaine]

parts, trinkets, cycle wear, repair and fit. everything else is a pointless effort that only caters to a few.

you want to sell bikes, sell second hand or go bespoke, new bikes are sold to the wealthy (ok, wrong word, but hopefully you know what I mean) and they aren't in the market to head to a shop unless it's next to their lease car maintenance shop.

bikes aren't going to make you join the wealthy I'm afraid. it's time to look at other niche's and find one that works for you for the foreseeable.

 

[Totoro]

The last bike I bought brand new was from my LBS and I was glad to pay more and wait longer for the great service they provided but not all people are the same so I have no idea and can't help. If I did want another new bike though then I would gladly go back to them again but as I said I have no idea what other people would do.

Good luck either way

 

[jonnyboy666]

like i said, i always considered a bike sale a bonus, my shop doesn't need bike sales, i looked at a bunch of the bikes in the workshop a while ago and not one was supplied by me, so it's not even like i need to sell bikes to create a repair market. alot are from halfords, apollo, carrera etc, alot from 99bikes (formerly hargroves cycles) up the road, the rest mostly giants as there were 2 to 3 Ginat dealers in years gone by, none now.

 

[Russell]

I’ve not purchased a bike from a bike shop for 17 years.

 

[doctor-bond]

I’d say yes, but serving a specific market is probably the way. A certain level of specialism (folders, steel rigid, fat bikes, second hand commuters, etc) and you become a go-to place: stock can be scarce and not full range and while it’s on the shelf won’t loose £.
There’s a YouTube somewhere with Grant Petersen of Rivendell discussing just this.
With specialism your parts and accessories also make sense and become goto (Blue Lug, Freshtripe, etc)

 

[Wyndbrook]

Like Russell I had not bought a new bike since 2007, but have just bought a heavily discounted bike direct from a manufacturer.
Also picking up a mystery bike for nothing this Thursday, much more exciting.
But my wife, who was recently left a cuople of thousand unexpectedly has updated her bikes and has bought one from our lbs and another also from a bike shop 100 miles away. I've been the collecting them.
My local shops seem to be now filling their shopfloors with electric bikes, and trying to persuade me it's the future.

 

[Takingabreak]

I was thinking along the lines of what Novocaine said but then thought, what about your own brand of bike? It might give you an interesting angle that the other bike shops dont have