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

[merv]

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!)

So what is the industry doing to make sure there are "enough bikers"? Old Mr Honda way back started the "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" campaign and sales rocketed. OK so maybe there was an appetite for it then, but what is today's equivalent, where are all the smart marketers to get stuff selling? Where are the displays in malls to attract attention and other ways to hype up the experience to make people want to try being a biker.

Do other businesses give up saying there aren't enough people out there, instead of figuring out ways to increase their market?

[Crasherfromwayback]

So what is the industry doing to make sure there are "enough bikers"? Old Mr Honda way back started the "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" campaign and sales rocketed. OK so maybe there was an appetite for it then, but what is today's equivalent, where are all the smart marketers to get stuff selling? Where are the displays in malls to attract attention and other ways to hype up the experience to make people want to try being a biker.

Do other businesses give up saying there aren't enough people out there, instead of figuring out ways to increase their market?

I actually think motorcycling on the whole has a greater profile now than in the past few years Merv. I've noticed more young riders both male and female getting involved which is great. I think a fair bit of it may be the whole global recession thing that's hit the whole motor industry (car and bikes), may just be starting to bite here a bit. I know it's different...but have a look at the housing market too right now. I think Kiwis are starting to tighten their belts a bit.

[Brian d marge]

i

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

Aww

It will get boring

Honestly , I would ( as i have said ) A small stand with universal parts and a bike or to and attend the trail rides on Sundays You lot can all close , I dont care Im as happy as !


Profit or not ,

Stephen


then

[scott411]

Honestly , I would ( as i have said ) A small stand with universal parts and a bike or to and attend the trail rides on Sundays

it has been tried before, but never really been that succesfull, most dirtbikers will carry basic spares for there bike, and anything apart from levers and tubes everything else is pretty specific, but the really hard thing is to watch everyone else riding while you sit in the pits not being able to go for a ride yourself, so you do not get your fun either

we do it differently and we run the trial ride, we do not take parts for sale but very often bring parts out that have been ordered by customers the week before,

[Scorp]

Face it, NZ dosen't have enough bikers to keep shops open 7 days.

True. But they could stay shut on Mondays and open on Sundays. Probably sell more gear that way too.

[Crasherfromwayback]

True. But they could stay shut on Mondays and open on Sundays. Probably sell more gear that way too.

A few shops in NZ do that...but we find we have too many customers wanting to drop bikes off for repairs etc on Mondays (after the weekend riding) to be able to do that.

[rachprice]

So maybe what is happening is that what you are getting coming into the shop is only the people who CAN'T buy from the Internet. Either because they are illiterate, or because they have no idea what they want or need.

While the more clued up ones have said "Bugger buying locally, just too hard" and headed for the net.

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.



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.

I didn't hear any of the people who work in the bike industry complain about how customers are stupid, you did though

[HenryDorsetCase]

I actually think motorcycling on the whole has a greater profile now than in the past few years Merv. I've noticed more young riders both male and female getting involved which is great. I think a fair bit of it may be the whole global recession thing that's hit the whole motor industry (car and bikes), may just be starting to bite here a bit. I know it's different...but have a look at the housing market too right now. I think Kiwis are starting to tighten their belts a bit.

Definitely agree on the belt tightening, not so much on the recession driving motorbike sales thing. I believe that no one rides a motorbike because they HAVE to, we all do it because we WANT to. Cars are much cheaper than bikes and at that economy (setting a random price of $5k, say) level that five large gets you a roof, heater, bangin' tunes and a place to finger your girlfriend plus carry your mates around. that five grand on a bike (four if you have to buy gear first) gets you wet when it rains, can only carry one passenger (and most chicks dislike bikes) and the INHERENT DANGER of bikes gets you lectured by everyone from the drone behind the counter at the servo, to your Mum and your relatives, and your gf's parents too.**

That, incidentally, is why I believe everyone who rides a bike is worth talking to, no matter the make, model or age or how much money invested or not: that self selection, that conscious choice that "I will use my money in this way". Sure there are some dicks on bikes, but a lot less than in the general random population, or in groups self selected by other sporting or lifestyle choices (rugby heads for example)

** I do realise the very broad brush I am painting with, I'm making a point.........

[HenryDorsetCase]

A few shops in NZ do that...but we find we have too many customers wanting to drop bikes off for repairs etc on Mondays (after the weekend riding) to be able to do that.

One of the shops here (YEARS AGO) was open on Saturdays when no one else was, and closed on Tuesdays. Lindsay Williamson at Chch Motorcycles when they were on Tuam St.

[Crasherfromwayback]

and a place to finger your girlfriend
.

You can finger 'em on a bike too dude!

[Ixion]

I didn't hear any of the people who work in the bike industry complain about how customers are stupid, you did though

Try a selection

Ahhhhh, the tell tale behaviour of the " slack jawed customer ". A common breed found in all areas of the retail & service jungle. Display an inability to relate the consumer premises & it's payed inhabitants to their own method of revenue accrual. Generally fail to engage on most human levels at first acquaintance.

The motorcycle industry is different, a good percentage of the customers (think) they know everything about their bike, and, most of the time simply want to come into a bike shop and talk about either how fast they are, how fast their bike is, or tell you that your tyres are too expensive.

n 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,

Don't think I did though.

[Robert Taylor]

Bikeshops these days are just a waste of space. They're just big fat pink elephants of little use, full of shifty dodging employees and bosses with halitosis, strange facial features and nervous tics.

All hell bent on fucking anyone and everyone over, just to pay the rental on their glitzy showrooms of shiny gleaming motorcycles that no bastard, unless they win fucking lotto, is going to buy anyway.

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.

Go to swap some shims and they'll have every fucken rarely used size bar the ones that are really needed. Go to buy a tyre and all they'll have available is hard-line soft sticky crap that wears out in a fortnights riding at 400 bucks a pop.

It's only the snotty nosed sportbike riders that think they need that sticky crap on the road because they've all long ago been brainwashed into believing everything that the 'fast bike' and 'super speed sportbike' and all the rest of the fly-by-night bullshit hyped-up magazines in Whitcoulls at $18.95 a pop are telling them.

And the bikeshops love that and are on their hands and knees grovelling to the flashy Givi one piece leather goons like politicians licking the publics' rectums at election time.


Walk into any bikeshop during the day, all you'll see is pot bellied lard-arses sitting in front of computer screens making out that they're working at something. It's just bullshit.

That's all these bikeshop losers are doing, sitting at their desks scoffing cakes and cream buns at 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock and twiddling the day away scrolling on keyboards in some vain attempt to try and look busy.

Come the end of the day when people have knocked off work and are actually wanting to call in for parts/service, the bikeshop wankers have all shut shop and fucked off home.

Come saturday morning, there's fifty fucking customers queued up waiting whilst the only two available bikeshop pimpleheads are yapping on the phone or scrolling their fucking keyboards again.

Time all you bastards stopped your bloody whining and starting sorting your shit

There are some good shrinks that attend to anger management issues...................

[Crasherfromwayback]

There are some good shrinks that attend to anger management issues...................

Lost cause I'd say. He's way to bent out of shape even for professional help.

[SS90]

True. But they could stay shut on Mondays and open on Sundays. Probably sell more gear that way too.

No, that's incorrect, that subject has been discussed to death....... I know 4 shops that tried it, and now all are back to 6 days, closed Sunday.

If it worked, it would happen.

The market dictates opening hours.

The end.

[SS90]

Try a selection



Don't think I did though.

Actually Ixion, I am of the opinion you are giving examples to (apparently) support your claim that workers in the industry think that all customers are stupid...... none of your "examples" support that.....

"The motorcycle industry is different, a good percentage of the customers (think) they know everything about their bike, and, most of the time simply want to come into a bike shop and talk about either how fast they are, how fast their bike is, or tell you that your tyres are too expensive."

Is simply a statement of fact, used to show the difference between a person buying an Ipod ("My Ipod is faster than yours ")?, or "My Ipod play's music louder")......not the sort of comment you hear at Dick Smith.