Can anyone tell me why bike shops only open for half a day on Sunday?

[merv]

So even if bike shops were open on Sundays...they still would've missed out on the sale right? Because Mrs 'I' hates them? I rest my case.

No, because if you followed the rest of the suggestions she'd find the places surprisingly attractive after all, but only if you went to the trouble of attracting her. That would be my take on this.

Update, now I've read your next post: Ah the old computer has changed syndrome - surely you should've found a way to carry your customer database list over? Don't worry though mate I'll PM ya, and remember I wasn't one looking for Sundays, just an evening if that's possible, could give you a point of difference. It certainly seemed to be working for Motomail in Auckland they open to 6pm all week and 7pm one night.

How busy are you Wednesday or Thursday - what would happen if you opened 10am-7pm? Are there too many early birds that would grumble about the morning service diminishing?

[Crasherfromwayback]

No, because if you followed the rest of the suggestions she'd find the places surprisingly attractive after all, but only if you went to the trouble of attracting her. That would be my take on this.

And if we made the place attractive to Mrs I...I dare say we'd scare off 80% of our customers Merv.

[240]

And if we made the place attractive to Mrs I...I dare say we'd scare off 80% of our customers Merv.

thats dead right you need to market to your target audience no good trying to sell meat to a vegetarian!

[merv]

thats dead right you need to market to your target audience no good trying to sell meat to a vegetarian!

Interesting but my daughter is more extreme, she is vegan, but she still shops at an ordinary supermarket in Zurich, because it stocks her needs too, and she just doesn't go to the meat and dairy product fridges.

Perhaps (and I think I said this before) is it time for a change or retail model? - Honda bikes at Honda cars for example and include a fashion centre etc and do stuff like Ixion is saying. Funny that cars are always on display at shopping malls it seems but where are the bikes?

[240]

Interesting but my daughter is more extreme, she is vegan, but she still shops at an ordinary supermarket in Zurich, because it stocks her needs too, and she just doesn't go to the meat and dairy product fridges.

Perhaps (and I think I said this before) is it time for a change or retail model? - Honda bikes at Honda cars for example and include a fashion centre etc and do stuff like Ixion is saying. Funny that cars are always on display at shopping malls it seems but where are the bikes?

Fashion centre?? Vegan??? farken hell mate no offense as you seem like a reasonable bloke but WTF???

[merv]

Fashion centre?? Vegan??? farken hell mate no offense as you seem like a reasonable bloke but WTF???

Just trying to help these guys extract money from Ixion's pocket, and maybe mine haha. Me and Mrs have little reason to go to bike shops even though we own a fleet, because they are reliable and don't need much. So what else can these guys sell us? They don't do the social Friday nights like denill did back in his day so what do these guys do? Motorad are hosting the annual e-riders AGM this Wednesday night - that goes a long way with goodwill in my view.

[325rocket]

interesting thread. one of these seems to pop up each year.
personally sunday opening has never been an issue for me as im a 40hr mon - friday. in saying that, i have spent over $1000 on general bike gear in the past 2 weeks and it was all done online.
the only problem was sizing of (dirt bike) pants as i wasnt going to try some on in a shop then get them from somewhere else so i had to take a punt. i punted wrong so had to return them and swap for a different size. this was sorted in two days so no problem at all really! thank you mr motorcycles bloody good service.

first time bike / gear buyers are where you have to build the relationship. if you get that sorted you should have a loyal customer. if not, well they know their helmet / jacket / pants / gloves .... size now so if theres no loyalty or bond there they will just jump online and do the business there.

i would like to add that the counter guys at WMCC are always very helpful and friendly.

[Crasherfromwayback]

i would like to add that the counter guys at WMCC are always very helpful and friendly.

And I'd like to add if you come and see me, I'll personally make sure you get a special KB price.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Ah the old computer has changed syndrome - surely you should've found a way to carry your customer database list over? Don't worry though mate I'll PM ya, and remember I wasn't one looking for Sundays, just an evening if that's possible, could give you a point of difference. It certainly seemed to be working for Motomail in Auckland they open to 6pm all week and 7pm one night.

How busy are you Wednesday or Thursday - what would happen if you opened 10am-7pm? Are there too many early birds that would grumble about the morning service diminishing?

Merv...if I'm not wrong...you purchased your bike from WT well before we even captured customers email addys?

Motomail are great...but don't forget...they have a captive audience nearly 10 times the size of ours. Auckland = 1 million...Wellington = 180,000

We could and never would open up late during the week Merv, as we have to be there for the office workers and out of towners that need to drop bikes off from 7.30 etc.

[merv]

Merv...if I'm not wrong...you purchased your bike from WT well before we even captured customers email addys?

Motomail are great...but don't forget...they have a captive audience nearly 10 times the size of ours. Auckland = 1 million...Wellington = 180,000

We could and never would open up late during the week Merv, as we have to be there for the office workers and out of towners that need to drop bikes off from 7.30 etc.

No worries Pete I sent you a PM and I did wonder about the early birds - funny they aren't popping up on this thread though - we all seem to want later or weekends - so who are these 7.30am people?

.... and you weren't capturing emails in 2004, really?

[SS90]

And if we made the place attractive to Mrs I...I dare say we'd scare off 80% of our customers Merv.

Amen to that!

No disrespect intended to either Ixion or his wife, but, erm, I feel that Ixion's wife was taken for a ride with some manipulative sales tactics "Ohhh, that's a lovely dress, this $200 broach will go lovely with that", "now, to go with your $100 dollar scarf, you will need some washing powder, that's price per gram is comparable to Cocaine"

Who actually washes their scarf?

Just as a side line, does anyone know what the margins are in clothing sales.......... about 150%,making the internet $30 scarf quite possibly "legit", but, the "sales woman" (after controlling Mr's I's emotions with some well timed compliments), has created an aura of trust (because, the sales woman is correct, it is a lovely dress) has easily convinced her that any scarf purchased off the net "cannot be legitimate" (because the honest, clearly tasteful sales woman said so)

If this sort of rubbish was tried in a bike shop, and was successful, then I'll see you all at the Gay Pride parade in Sydney! (oh ah)

I don't mean to imply your wife is a simpleton Ixion, just a victim of "sales manipulation".....a common effect in the world of the sales industry,particularly one that caters to women over 40, and, as 240 has said, that sort of shit will not run in a bike shop in New Zealand.

Your wife will never be a target demographic of the motorcycle industry, and to cater for her is foolhardy.

Bikes for men, $100 scarves for women.

[SS90]

I did wonder about the early birds - funny they aren't popping up on this thread though - we all seem to want later or weekends - so who are these 7.30am people?

I just wonder if these people are happy, and feel no compulsion to bleat.

[Ixion]

I just wonder if these people are happy, and feel no compulsion to bleat.

Perhaps they are happy. But self evidently they aren't enough to keep the industry flourishing.

Bottom line (where it all counts) is that by the trade's own statements, the motorcycle trade in NZ is in trouble (or else bike shop owners just like bleating).

The present model isn't working. The trade can simply sit back and continue to complain that riders are stupid , inconsiderate, interfere with shop owners' lifestyles, and should be forbidden to buy from the net. While the bike shops shut their doors.

Would it personally inconvenience me if every bike shop in NZ closed? Not much. My needs are simple, and apart from tyres can readily be met from non-bike-shop sources or the net. So , personally, I don't really care. If the trade is committed to its present death spiral , so be it.

But, it would be a pity in a more general sense. And oblivion is not inescapable. Pretty much every business is exposed to competition from the internet. Most deal with it, by a sales model that provides better VALUE even though PRICE may be higher. Price and value are not the same. I gave an example of a business which is coping with internet competition successfully (very successfully if the big new Mercedes parked outside is any measure) .

Of course a sales approached based on complimenting bikers' on their pretty dresses won't generally work. Except maybe for some Honda riders But it's bullshit to imagine that bikers are hard headed Scotsmen who can't be flim flammed. It's just a different flim flam. Helmets double the price because "it's the same colours as Rossi's". Toothpaste suits with race humps (like they're necessary on the public road). Not to mention the whole "wall of chrome" thing. "What a pretty dress" = "Nice bike , mate- bet it goes like stink" . It's up to the bike shop owners to actually SELL - to find the sales approach that does work with bikers, and makes them happy to pay more at the bike shop than the internet. Because they perceive they receive better value.

It doesn't matter whether the cusomer is manipulated or not, if the customer is happy with the transaction. "Sales manipulation" is what a salesman's job is all about. If he can't or won't do that, then he should be in another job.

Sell, or sink. The choice is up to each individual shop owner. But I can say with certainlty that bleating about how stupid customers are , and how unfair the internet is, is not the answer to business survival. The internet is here to stay. And the demographic of bikers has changed. Some of them nowadays maybe even wash their scarves. Accept that reality and work within it , or go broke. The choice is yours (generic yours, not you). But if you choose to ignore reality, don't bleat about it.

[Swoop]

Face it, NZ dosen't have enough bikers to keep shops open 7 days.
Then, if there were enough bikers to achieve that, the roads would be full of bikes out for weekend rides... (making midweek riding even more enticing!)

Be happy with the situation we currently have, and build a relationship with your favourite shop. Hopefully they have staff like DMNTD and CFWB (to mention only a couple).

What we need is a bike shop that lends out Porn Stars.
Then they could bring them back in on Sundays and change the plastics.

Hopefully they would have the correct size of nipple wrench for that task.

[scott411]

i think this has gone on to far, not all riders are

are stupid , inconsiderate, interfere with shop owners' lifestyles

and people that work in bikes shops are not all like

The sleazy cheesy salesmen types are there hovering like vultures, none of them know jack shit about motorbikes in the real world, all they've ever done is read the publicity blurb and glossy japanese brochures. Ask them any detailed or important questions and you'll have them stumped within 5 seconds. These dreamers wouldn't know what work was if it bit them on the nose.


The spare part departments are a sick joke, never anything in stock, go to buy a visor or an oil filter and the pimple-brains behind the counter will just creep off into an empty room out back, hidden from view, stand there for 30 seconds stroking their cufflinks, then come back and tell you they just sold the last one that very morning but they'll be able to order one in for you in two days time.

swoop puts it well when he says that the country is not big enough to support sunday openings on mass, i know of a few shops that have tried, and most gave up after it just did nto pay for itself,

in the 15 odd years i have been selling bikes bits i have met some really cool staff, and customers in bikes shops, but i have also met some right fuckwits on both sides of the counter as well,

your right in that the market is changing, and i am not in the boat that thinks anyone that brings stuff in themselves is a traitor, i can understand why it is done, and we will get stuff to keep good customers happy, the internet is still small in percentage here at the moment, and different shops are doing different aspects of it, motorcycling is very niche in alot of areas, between off road that there are 4 or 5 different different parts, and prob at least 8-10 different sections of road bike customers, that all demand different thing, NZ's a small place and putting yourself into a small niche is pretty hard, most shops try to be something for everyone and its a hard mix at times, Welllington MC is a shop that i think has done very well for a long time, from when i was a sales rep it was one of the shops i took alot out of when i brought my own, and i think motomail and cycletreads are places that have shown what can be done as well, like most industry's, you learn and adapt, or you die,

interesting discussion at least, when people get away from the petty name calling,