Consumer Warning!! - Page 3

I am sure any business that sells to 120 customers p/hour in a retail shop would be more than happy to give away the four dollars... your maths is great but your commonsense is lacking.

Yes, I can imagine. BUT, many customers will say, if some idiot wastes your time as you describe, why punish me for my 30 sec tube transaction?

I said that many or most of you higher store prices are cheaper than others anyway - but it is the perception. Perception is reality.

Yes, CELL bikes can do as it pleases but I thought we were discussing what can turn people off. I am giving my opinion of what turns people off.

As I said, all power to CELL. I just thought that Kakman made a good point.

As for ANACONDA, they are the classic eg of usually being cheap but having staff who have no idea about anything outside of their one size fits all brouchered view of the world.

Scotty

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www.bikenorth.org.au

2006 Scott Speedstar S10

So when our prices are the same on the net and in store you'll be rapt?

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All bicycles weigh fifty pounds. A thirty-pound bicycle needs a twenty-pound lock. A forty-pound bicycle needs a ten-pound lock. A fifty-pound bicycle doesn't need a lock. ~Author Unknown

I accept that people can have different interpretations. But my simple reading of it is that Cell was just trying to develop their online business. And as pointed out earlier, if the prices were the same, then I won't bother with online orders.

The other way to look at it is this, customers are given a discount for not being able to directly examine a product when buying online. Pretty fair as far as I am concerned.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

As we expand throughout Australia, we'd be looking to have more people visit our shops than buy online if they live near a shop, however some people may be too busy or have a hectic schedule, so having an online option may be suitable.

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All bicycles weigh fifty pounds. A thirty-pound bicycle needs a twenty-pound lock. A forty-pound bicycle needs a ten-pound lock. A fifty-pound bicycle doesn't need a lock. ~Author Unknown

Overwhelmed with joy! I will feel that I am not being discouraged or punished for walking into the door. You know, when banks charged people for over the counter service rather than doing it online - there was outrage. Same here.


People who use the hectic schedule, too busy etc excuse are often those who say the same thing when you ask them why they don't ride more. Then again, if they bike then ingnore the bike - you probably don't care too much - then again, they aren't coming back to buy consumables etc.

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www.bikenorth.org.au

2006 Scott Speedstar S10

When someone establishes a business the cost of staff is just one of the costs along with capital expenditure, taxes, insurance, rent and any other of a million things. This should be wrapped into the price of the goods. It should also be understood that retail is still a service business. Customers - rightly or wrongly - expect to be able to get service.

(I believe) it's patently wrong to have a strategy where a box of Gu or a pair of pedals are considered too service intensive to justify being able to buy them at the store for the same price as online. At the end of the day, the online store still has to have someone get the goods from stock, package and post them. Then there's the cost of the online transaction. I'd find it hard to believe it costs more for someone to spend 30 seconds taking the money and issuing a receipt.

I'm not worried if that's the way they want to do business, but it's a very strange business model and no matter what anyone else says or thinks, it turns me away from using them.

Not trying to turn this into a sh1tfight, just stating my position. They ask on the website why I don't buy, I'm being good and telling them

/k

no - he's a potential customer - all the more reason to offer him great service.

/k

depends on whether you reduce your in store prices or increase your online prices.

/k

....don't disagree with that, but we've already established that price, regardless of service, is the driver....that'd be why 80 % of the bike shops around are struggling to make a quid

hmm, I put a deposit on a frame just this week and didn't go for the cheapest price (could have saved @ $600 buying from US). I went for the local place that offered me the best service - a good fit and an offer to build the bike for free (in lieu of a discount).

They seem to be doing quite well. I don't really care if poor businesses close down - they usually only have themselves to blame.

I'm happy to support my lbs when their service deserves it, but I'd be an idiot to get ripped off every time I need a tire or tube. Would you pay more tax than you need to?


/k

Key word here is "I". You, as an individual made a conscious choice. But for the mass out there, the majority of the money still follow the best price and reasonable service.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

True, but that is the art of business; be you a bike shop, a plumber, a lawyer or a dentist. You need to provide things that others don't, provide a service level worth paying for and stop trying to compete when you can't.

If I can change a tube / tyre, I don't want to pay a service factor. However, others can't / don't even know which is the correct tube to use. They need the service and are usually happy to pay for it.

Having said that, I will often buy a tube for nearly double the price of PBK etc. because I go in, spend my $10 - $20 bucks, have a chat and use that opportunity to ask some advice on something I am unsure of. I get my tube, tyre levers whatever, they get my $$$, everyone is happy. For the $10 bucks extra, I get a bit of inside info, advice etc.

I don't understand why a bike shop would want to chase the K-Mart end of the market. They want champaign and they want to pay beer prices. Let them go to K-Mart, buy crap then learn their lesson and blame K-Mart (not you). They'll probably come to you to fix the old or get a better one anyway.

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www.bikenorth.org.au

2006 Scott Speedstar S10

It indeed is an art isn't it? But in order to be good and be able to attract premium paying customers, you have to be really good. And not all proprietors can be like that. So based on law of averages, a big percentage of them won't be in the running for that business model. Also at the end of the day, there are only so many customers who are seeing the additional value of LBS, it won't be enough to support every premium seeking LBS.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

which I'm sure you can attest too with your many years of running a small business?.....you've actually investigated the economics of importing your own frame?...I have, many times & by the time you cover all your bases, it's hardly worth it. By the tiem you source the frame, pay for shipping, insurance, duty, GST....then all you have to worry about is the warranty issue....so I doubt your noble sacrifice of sourcing a frame locally was really that much of a financial impost on you