Cost of Bike Gear in Australia

On Dec 31 2007, 6:53 pm, "Nick Payne" wrote:
It's not just bike parts. My Koss headphones needed a new pair of foam
earpads. I bought three pairs of the pads from an Internet site, and the
cost, plus postage, was less than the price a local audio store wanted for a
single pair...


Quite - it's many goods. I recently landed two Timex watches from
Amazon in the US, including extortionate freight charge, for less than
the price of one locally.

Going back to the comment by cfsmtb - you won't find bargains in a US
LBS - I've visited them and walked out with empty hands, not even a
shop jersey was worth it. It's the bulk discounters, like Cambria and
Performance, where you save money.

Plodder Wrote:
I've noted of late that it's not just my shop (which I've only had for a
year) has dropped the range in stock. It seems to be a common thing
around the traps. The start of the decline of your LBS...


hmmmm.. It will be interesting to see what new ideas/angles we'll see
LBS introduce to compete with the online stores. I remember a
particular LBS being banned from advertising in a particular cycling
magazine because their prices were too low (or so the story went).

On a similar subject, I'm on the campaign trail for new personal
sponsor(s) for the year, I'm hesitant to approach any LBS at this point
because the standard discounts offered to "shop" riders are not
competitive with online purchasing. From my own experience, it's
cheaper to ride for yourself than to be a loyal "shop" rider. I'm
sending out the resume for a real sponsorship at this point - aiming for
the stars!

(If anyone wants to discuss any potential offerers please contact me!)



cheers,
Lama


--
gplama

Plodder Wrote:
I've noted of late that it's not just my shop (which I've only had for a
year) has dropped the range in stock. It seems to be a common thing
around the traps. The start of the decline of your LBS...


hmmmm.. It will be interesting to see what new ideas/angles we'll see
LBS introduce to compete with the online stores. I remember a
particular LBS being banned from advertising in a particular cycling
magazine because their prices were too low (or so the story went).

On a similar subject, I'm on the campaign trail for new personal
sponsor(s) for the year, I'm hesitant to approach any LBS at this point
because the standard discounts offered to "shop" riders are not
competitive with online purchasing. From my own experience, it's
cheaper to ride for yourself than to be a loyal "shop" rider. I'm
sending out the resume for a real sponsorship at this point - aiming for
the stars!

(If anyone wants to discuss any potential offerers please contact me!)



cheers,
Lama


--
gplama

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 2 Jan 2008 11:58:07 +1100
gplama wrote:

On a similar subject, I'm on the campaign trail for new personal
sponsor(s) for the year, I'm hesitant to approach any LBS at this point
because the standard discounts offered to "shop" riders are not
competitive with online purchasing. From my own experience, it's
cheaper to ride for yourself than to be a loyal "shop" rider. I'm
sending out the resume for a real sponsorship at this point - aiming for
the stars!


What can you do for the shop?

can you come in on weekends and talk to customers about racing? Can you
coach customers give them a lesson in pack manners when they buy a new
racing bike? Can you do more advertising than wearing their name on
your jersey? Write content for their website about the races and the
gear you have tried?

If I was a bike shop, I'd want value for money from the rider. Just
being there with the shop name on wouldn't be enough, why would that
encourage people to come to the shop? Name isn't enough, not enough
people are race spectators to make that matter.

What can you do for that shop to make you worth them spending real
money on?

If you can come up with a package to give value to the sponsor then
you'll get a lot more result.

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone Wrote:
In aus.bicycle on Wed, 2 Jan 2008 11:58:07 +1100
gplama wrote:

On a similar subject, I'm on the campaign trail for new personal
sponsor(s) for the year, I'm hesitant to approach any LBS at this
point
because the standard discounts offered to "shop" riders are not
competitive with online purchasing. From my own experience, it's
cheaper to ride for yourself than to be a loyal "shop" rider. I'm
sending out the resume for a real sponsorship at this point - aiming
for
the stars!


What can you do for the shop?

can you come in on weekends and talk to customers about racing? Can
you
coach customers give them a lesson in pack manners when they buy a new
racing bike? Can you do more advertising than wearing their name on
your jersey? Write content for their website about the races and the
gear you have tried?

If I was a bike shop, I'd want value for money from the rider. Just
being there with the shop name on wouldn't be enough, why would that
encourage people to come to the shop? Name isn't enough, not enough
people are race spectators to make that matter.

What can you do for that shop to make you worth them spending real
money on?

If you can come up with a package to give value to the sponsor then
you'll get a lot more result.

Zebee

How about flogging potential customers up the Kangaroo Ground climb?
Does that count?

Ritch


--
ritcho

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 2 Jan 2008 14:14:47 +1100
ritcho wrote:

How about flogging potential customers up the Kangaroo Ground climb?
Does that count?


Only if you then tell them "If you buy from X shop you can get gear
that means you beat me" and then let them beat you

Zebee

Zebee Johnstone Wrote:

What can you do for the shop?

can you come in on weekends and talk to customers about racing? Can
you
coach customers give them a lesson in pack manners when they buy a new
racing bike? Can you do more advertising than wearing their name on
your jersey? Write content for their website about the races and the
gear you have tried?


Cheers for you post/ideas/questions... I wouldn't usually put this 'out
there' on a public forum due to the default negativeness that blowing
ones own trumpet usually results in.. but bring it.. In effect I'm up
for public sale

1 - Offer the 'Shop'/Sponsor:
Positive and professional representation both on the bike and off.
Clean and honest racing and training (I'll have no issue providing
references on that!)

Recent achievements a

'07
- 1st place in GC M1/2/3 Great Doherty Tour (2 Stage Wins, 1 Second
Place).
- Tour of Bright Stage 2 winner (ITT) M1/2/3. 9th in GC.
- Mt William Classic - 1st place M1.
- Northern Combine Elite ITT Champion.
- M1/2 Pinnacle Series leader
'06
- Hawthorn Cycling Club Road Champion (Elite).
- 2nd place Mt William Classic (B grade).
- 9th place GC A Grade – Great Doherty Tour.

I also appreciate that good results do not mean $ for a sponsor, though
shaking the hand of the owner of Great Doherty Sheetmetal makes for a
good photo opportunity!

Also not forgetting - Simply adhering to road rules (red lights,
pedestrians on shard paths, etc), which is standard practice for me
anyways.


2. Talk to customers about racing?: Absolutely, anything to get people
into bikes as much as I am is a good thing. Test rides, skills
sessions, if I can integrate those into my training even better. I
first met FlyingDutch on the Kew Boulie which led me to joining
Hawthorn, racing crits, and catching the bug from there - so I know the
knock on effect a few basic tips can provide... (and I'll also blame FD
for my cycling addition, my lifelong scars, and my collarbone bolt...
All things I wouldn't trade for the world!)


More advertising/Blogging:
For sure. My race/training blog currently gets over 100 hits per
update (stats taken after my Tour of Bright post) fyi the blog is at
http://gplama.blogspot.com As for more advertising - it would depend
on what was asked. I'm no model - but would stand at a demo/stall
answering questions about racing on bike X, or riding for company Y.

Zebee Johnstone Wrote:

If I was a bike shop, I'd want value for money from the rider. Just
being there with the shop name on wouldn't be enough, why would that
encourage people to come to the shop? Name isn't enough, not enough
people are race spectators to make that matter.


Agreed.. IMO, sponsorship is not unlike a second job - if someone is
paying you (or for your equipment) then you're working for them! No
free lunches or etc .. There is a lot of "x% off RRP, so I'll wear
their kit day and night" locally, but IMO this is basic 'support' more
than a sponsorship. If this is what shops want, it gets them
exposure... but it also means they may not have the professionalism and
commitment that comes with having a smaller team or group of core riders
out there as their representation. Again, only my opinion and from my
own experience, its cheaper to ride for yourself than most LBS (happy to
be proven wrong here!)


Zebee Johnstone Wrote:

What can you do for that shop to make you worth them spending real
money on?

If you can come up with a package to give value to the sponsor then
you'll get a lot more result.


An article on sponsorship I read a while back sums it up... Product
endorsements, exposure, research and development information and
feedback, corporate goodwill, community involvement, and corporate
marketing campaigns.

Apologies for hijacking the thread and soapboxing myself.. but to bring
it back on track I guess if the state of LBS is that they are in decline
due to the current popularity of the online LBS, then the oppertiny that
I'm seeking may be difficult to come by.

cheers,
Lama


--
gplama

Zebee Johnstone Wrote:
In aus.bicycle on Wed, 2 Jan 2008 14:14:47 +1100
ritcho wrote:

How about flogging potential customers up the Kangaroo Ground climb?
Does that count?


Only if you then tell them "If you buy from X shop you can get gear
that means you beat me" and then let them beat you

Zebee

"You know my 10:50 up here was done on a Giant... and I didn't get
speed wobbles ONCE!"


--
gplama

In aus.bicycle on Wed, 2 Jan 2008 14:39:21 +1100
gplama wrote:

Apologies for hijacking the thread and soapboxing myself.. but to bring
it back on track I guess if the state of LBS is that they are in decline
due to the current popularity of the online LBS, then the oppertiny that
I'm seeking may be difficult to come by.

NOt if you offer them more than a mobile billboard

They have to get people in to buy bikes - the one thing that few will
buy online.

While the people are there, then selling them extras is a lot easier.

I was thinking you might focus on say the young lads buying racers and
offer to do training rides where they can ride with you and learn how
to work in a pack, tips about pacing and all that. Rather than
commuters.

But if you regularly commute then maybe the bike shop can do a weekend
"riding on the road" class for local people (it is a Local Bike Shop)
and you can show them commuter routes and tips about how to ride on
the road and how to find sensible commuting routes. When I got back
on a bike after years away, I had forgotten that I needed to find a
bike friendly route rather than just go the same way I did on the
motorcycle. So a commuting rider who can show people safe riding
might be useful too.

(Liability might be a bitch I suspect)

Link to the shop on your blog should be a good selling point, taking
the stuff they want to flog to a race meet to let people see it maybe?


Zebee

On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 09:40:24 +1100, cfsmtb wrote:


That's it pretty much. Actually the online wholesalers are contributing
to the problem, how can the LBS feasibly order, hold stock, rent
premises, pay staff and keep prices at a minimum compared to online
distributors would have vastly more purchasing power and less overheads?

They're online retailers not wholesalers, but that slip does reveal part
of the problem. I have been round Wiggle's warehouse. It's enormous:
bigger than any Australian wholesaler's that I have seen.

You don't buy in the volumes necessary to fill an aircraft hangar and not
get substantial discounts.