Video transcription…
As you have probably noticed, the local bike shop scene has changed a lot over the past couple of years. And there’s several different factors to that that I actually want to get into now. The first one is the obvious one, and that’s consumer buying habits. We are a lot more accustomed to buying online now. There’s a reason that Amazon is as big of a company as it is. It’s very easy to one click and it shows up to your house in a day or two. So it makes it a lot harder to get into the car, go to a local bike shop, look for the part you want, and then come home and have it on your bike or any other type of gear. Especially when it comes to things like nutrition and other just turn and burn items. It’s a whole lot easier to just one click those and have them at the house.
So what that’s created is a little bit of a problem for local bike shops where they’re not that one stop shop to go to for those type of items. That brings down their revenue and profits over the course of the year. And then when you add to that, there’s so many products out on the market right now that it makes it so the inventory has to be so diverse that is really hard to stock items. So when you have so many different standards and so many other different products on the market, you really can’t expect a local bike shop to stock every single thing that you individually want. So not only is it easier just to shop online because you have a lot bigger catalog, but it’s also a big stress on the local bike shop to actually stock things that people are going to buy.
And then there’s the whole direct to consumer model that has started in the past couple of years. And it really started off with smaller brands, but now it’s growing into bigger brands like Trek and Specialized. So now you can just hit that add to cart on the actual brand’s website and have the bike delivered to your front doorstep basically fully assembled. This is something that is brand new over the past 10 years or so. And it was a big draw for local bike shops to get people in fitted on a bike to the brand they carry and start that relationship. So at this point with the direct to consumer model, they don’t get to start that relationship early in the buying process.
And the consumer has a lot more options to go get different brands they might not be able to get locally. This also makes it so these large brands aren’t nearly as loyal to local bike shops as they used to be in the past. They almost used to be militant about it, where you had to go to a very specific shop to get a very specific brand. Now you don’t have to do that since you could just buy them online.
So that relationship between the big box brands and the local bike shops is not nearly as good as it used to be in the past. And then there’s the third thing, which is what happened during COVID. And that was the demand went through the roof and inventory went to basically zero. So these local bike shops were left with nothing to sell and a lot of frustrated customers that needed parts and other items that they just couldn’t get. So the relationship between the consumer and the local bike shop during that time really got stressed for things that were outside of the local bike shops control.
So where do we go from here and how do we keep local bike shops thriving during a time where the entire consumer landscape has changed? Really not in their favor. So there’s one thing that’s really playing into the local bike shops hands right now, and that is service. And the reason for that is bikes are becoming increasingly more complicated. When you have even electronics attached to suspension and dropper posts these days, the need for quality service that keeps your bike up and running might be at an all time high. While we might complain about how there are so many more standards and it’s getting so much more complicated to keep your bike running, it is something that the bike shops can actually leverage to create more of a community and create more service work versus retail sales.
So while there is a huge opportunity here to capitalize on the increased service need over the retail sales, that is going to take a difference in mentality from some local bike shops when they’re used to doing business like this in the past. It really reminds me of a memory I had from about 10, 12 years ago when I walked into a local bike shop just taking a look around and there was someone who came in with a bike that they had bought online. The owner of the shop literally chastised them for not supporting local and not buying a bike for them. And it really ruined that relationship between that rider and that local bike shop to where they weren’t coming back there again.
So what you have to really embrace now is bringing in all these people that are actually buying these bikes from outside of your shop and doing the fitments, doing the service, maybe selling them some nutrition and other things while they’re in there and really create an experience that is really good for the rider no matter where they bought the bike or the part from you to begin with. You’re really going to have to leverage on that service and to make up for the retail sales aspect. And to that same token, really create a community around the local bike shop that makes people want to support the shop and want to be a part of it no matter if they bought their bike there or not. So do things like local group rides, fitment workshops, repair workshops, anything you can do to get in someone into the shop and generate that relationship that you have with them. They’re not always going to buy everything from you. They’re still going to do their one click wonder online a lot of times. But if you can foster that relationship with them and actually create a community around your shop that’s more than just a retail shop, it’ll allow you to actually bring in more of that business through service and retail. So what is the future of the local bike shop and the consumer industry look like going forward? And I really see it as kind of a hybrid direct consumer and service.
You’re going to be able to create a community around your local bike shop that really fosters a great service business with some of the retail, but just not to the same level that it was before. So you really have to make up for the retail aspect with the service and the community, because there are certain aspects to riding that a lot of riders just cannot do themselves. And it’s going to be that service end. So even if they buy their bike from somewhere else, even if they buy apart from somewhere else, the ability to bring those people in and make them feel welcome and work on their bike is going to be crucial moving forward. If you’re looking to survive in an atmosphere where a lot of retail shops and other industries are failing. So, guys, I want to hear what you think. What are you seeing at your local bike shop level where you live? Is this what you’re seeing as a trend going forward or do you see it going away altogether? I want to hear what you think down in the comments section below. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up. Consider subscribing to Bike 198 for more videos like this in the future. And until then, on to the next one.