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

[R-Soul]

SCREW how golf shops operate- you'll only catch me playing that game at gunpoint.

You are losing focus here.

My main message was to seriously consider what it is you are selling...

[R-Soul]

Green rep gone your way for that post.

Thanks - and while there are a lot of golfers, there are also a lot of golf shops- its not about being the best shop in the world. Its being better than the next one in cheap creative ways that draws out the passion. When you walk into a bike shop, the colours and widgets and stuf is indicative of potential for passion. The bike shops must follow this trail as far as it goes.

Most buyers are probably like me - I compare it to going into a Mitre 10 Mega - its like DIY porn. Facinating stuff seeing all the colourful accessories and widgets etc. Bike shops should be similar- but more personalised because they can't have the size - anything you need for any biking fun you could possibly have- and all the right people to show you how to get there.

[FROSTY:Me]

R sole--I think you are bang onto something there.
The need for real passion in the staff .Passion for the product and for offering the best service they can offer.
I also think its about making every customer feel dare I say it a bit special to that shop.

2 parts shopping experiences recently highlighted the difference. One shop I went into NOT ONE person even said hello to me. I was there for about 10 minutes.
In another shop the owner said "gidday frosty" and the parts/accessory guy was helpfull and knowledgable.
In shop 1 I spent --yep nothing In shop 2 about $300 and I must say the price in shop 2 of some items was about 10% higher than shop 1.

[Brian d marge]

You stick Rossi on a big screen with comfy chair and a good start-bucks like cup of TEA and my wallet gets REAL loose
Stephen

[merv]

I mentioned on another thread that my WR250F popped a head plug and that I'd contacted TSS parts guys about it. Rang and told them that a replacement non OEM was available on ebay as they don't seem to be listed as a Yamaha part, so young guy says email it and he'll have a look. So I emailed last Friday and said if you can source one of those or something like it I'll buy it from you. Now do you think I've received an email back yet, acknowledgement that he received my email or otherwise?

The electronic age was supposed to speed things up. Others have said this is the norm for NZ shops, they don't call back, they don't answer emails. Why is that? There is more needed about changing the business model than opening different hours. Responsiveness would help for a start.

[Robert Taylor]

I would suggest that it is because their costs are so high because they pay people to stand around scratching their bums at times that most customers cannot or dont want to get to them.

The rude thing to say would be they can only afford to pay peanuts ( too true ) and are getting what they paid for. So true for many industries and retail outlets. Largely Kiwis have lost that work ethic and in the younger generation social skills have very often been bypassed. I think if you sat down and analysed why this is so thered be some interesting correlations appear

[SS90]

Its good- adds to the profit centre and diversifies the points of differentiation- not just relationships and range, but good coffee. Although you dont want to diversify your business model too much.

I feel that you need to focus and decide what you are selling. are you selling bike parts? Internet sells bike parts. Or are you selling a common PASSION? because if you are, then make the shop a place of passion for bikes. A place to see bikes, to talk about bikes, to get advice about bikes, to modify bikes, to make biker friends, to be respected as a fellow biker, to ride real (and virtual) bikes, to compare bikes... you name it! A magazine rack of all the latest bike magazines. PS3 games with MotoGP that customers can play on against each other (Helps teach riding lines).

How about having an experienced/pro rider around (like a pro golfer in a golf pro shop) answering riding technique questions - maybe even riding out around the block with customers in their new suits/bikes, giving advice. Have a few videos going of the latest MotoGP/AMA supercross videos, showing all the fun that the new gear is going to bring. Maybe a dyno where you can see other customers testing their bikes, and which can encourage debate and ribbing??

A customer may come through more for coffee and advice from the rider and less to buy gear, but WHEN he does buy gear, its going to be there in your shop. Because it will be a place that excites him and reminds him of his passion, and he will want to go there and be around there. And there is coffee for the missus. It certainly beats Westfield...

Everyone whinges about NZ markets being too small to run shops with good service. It only has to be better than all the other dull shops in the same town, and there will be more than enough market fo it.

PS3 games? Magazines to read?, Dyno for "ribbing your mates" From the way I see it, you want a bike shop to be a flippin club house.

Add to that, you want some one ELSE to pay for the toys in your club house (do you want a key so you can come and go as you please?)

s
"PS3 teaching riding lines"," experienced rider giving tips/ riding lessons" Christ on a bike man, I am sorry, but you fit the "unrealistic customer" like a glove.

This is an example of a drop in centre for delinquents. Have you seen Dick Smith after school at 4pm Monday to Friday.... shit, why don't we add free internet and a pool table, and while we are at it, a shuttle service home, after the shop shouts you all a few free Beers.

That is the most unrealistic expectation of a bike shop I have ever heard!

Do you know how much all this would cost?

You use a Golf club as an example....are yo a member of one? They have a little thing called "Green Fee's", and "membership fees".....all this talk of pro players etc comes at a cost.

$100 per month should start to cover the costs it will take to bring your wet dreams into reality.

Really, get your hand off it.

[R-Soul]

PS3 games? Magazines to read?, Dyno for "ribbing your mates" From the way I see it, you want a bike shop to be a flippin club house.

Add to that, you want some one ELSE to pay for the toys in your club house (do you want a key so you can come and go as you please?)

s
"PS3 teaching riding lines"," experienced rider giving tips/ riding lessons" Christ on a bike man, I am sorry, but you fit the "unrealistic customer" like a glove.

This is an example of a drop in centre for delinquents. Have you seen Dick Smith after school at 4pm Monday to Friday.... shit, why don't we add free internet and a pool table, and while we are at it, a shuttle service home, after the shop shouts you all a few free Beers.

That is the most unrealistic expectation of a bike shop I have ever heard!

Do you know how much all this would cost?

You use a Golf club as an example....are yo a member of one? They have a little thing called "Green Fee's", and "membership fees".....all this talk of pro players etc comes at a cost.

$100 per month should start to cover the costs it will take to bring your wet dreams into reality.

Really, get your hand off it.

Yeah the last thing you would want to be is the drop in centre for BIKE RIDING delinquents.... or a place where BIKE RIDING POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS would want to hang around...

I was illustrating what focus on your market and on what you are selling, and a little imagination could come up with with very little thought in a short time. Its not a business model for you - if you want that, I would have to charge you for it (and frankly you would be better at understanding the cost limitations - although you might surprise yourself). There are also degrees to which you can go towards that vision. There are many other examples of ways to draw the passion in through the doors- when that is what you are focussing on.

And lots of stuff mentioned just about pays for itself. Coffee shops have TV's that THEY can somehow pay for. And FFS get a PS2 off TM for $150. Hardly a bank breaker is it? Dick smiths would probably sponsor you one if you put their name there. Dynos seem to pay for themselves in dyno shops. Sponsored pro-riders could be convinced to hang round on weekends as part of sponsorship deals. Maybe not full time at first , but hey you never know right? Or imagine if the owner trained himself or a sales person up to be an instructor. Actually thats probably part of the problem - you cant or dont want to imagine.


Nah mate- its not me being unrealistic, its you lost in your own imagined harsh reality. A shop with a targetted market is EXACTLY THAT - a wet dream for that market.

[R-Soul]

This is an example of a drop in centre for delinquents. Have you seen Dick Smith after school at 4pm Monday to Friday....

Do you think Dick Smith would allow those "delinquents" to hang around like they do if they wern't making money out of them? Gee I wonder who the largest target market for mobile electronic goods are. Now lets see....

And while we are thinking about it, lets get the combined buying power of all of the delinquents parents out of the shop so that we can see the wood for the trees shall we?

[SS90]

Do you think Dick Smith would allow those "delinquents" to hang around like they do if they wern't making money out of them? Gee I wonder who the largest target market for mobile electronic goods are. Now lets see....

And while we are thinking about it, lets get the combined buying power of all of the delinquents parents out of the shop so that we can see the wood for the trees shall we?

I have a question.

Ixion has put forward (using his wife as an example) very valid points of view and opinions.

How would Ixion and his wife feel if every Bike shop in NZ adopts the business model you are proposing?

Already, Ixions' wife (a big spender by all accounts) does not like to come into bike shops, even though they often need to to purchase their motorcycling requirements.

In your opinion, how would she feel with the idea of a "club house" atmosphere, cluttered with Playstation playing kids (etc)

[R-Soul]

I have a question.

Ixion has put forward (using his wife as an example) very valid points of view and opinions.

How would Ixion and his wife feel if every Bike shop in NZ adopts the business model you are proposing?

Already, Ixions' wife (a big spender by all accounts) does not like to come into bike shops, even though they often need to to purchase their motorcycling requirements.

In your opinion, how would she feel with the idea of a "club house" atmosphere, cluttered with Playstation playing kids (etc)

Geez its all black and white to you isn't it? No shades of grey here..
How would she feel? How the hell would I know. Have you consiodered WHY she does not like going into bike shops in the first place? Maybe because its because its a dour place where she does not like being ignored? Maybe its because she can't get a decent cup of coffee. Maybe because she would rather be home playing on her Playstation? Ixion? Any ideas here? And no, I am not using the term "Playstation" as code here...

I am not suggesting you turn your shop into Dick Smiths, full of teenyboppers. That is THEIR target market. Your target market is riders of ALL ages, having one common passion- bikes. And bikes are not known for being dull dreary things. People dont buy bikes to be bored to death.
I am saying that you should provide a facility so that when your target market walks into the shop, they go "cool! This is the world I am part of and its exciting and I want to immerse myself in it MORE and so I should buy more gear".

Regular rides organised by bike shops are great and gives teh riders an outlet for their chosen art. Increasing the price of a bike, but including personal instruction and a track day thrown in instead of "cashback" is another way of getting them wanting to be more immersed in teh culture.

Remember that even 13 year olds also evetually grow up and buy bikes if their passion is ignited enough. The way that you think you can ignite that passion is up to you. But igniting it is non-negotiable- as that is the ONLY point of difference that you have to the Net.

I have a suggestion: Why dont you keep pandering to bike riders that DONT like to come into bike shops and dont have a passion for what they do, while your competitors do, and we'll see who is in business a year later.

[R-Soul]

And another thing that bike riders buy ito when they buy a bike is the sense of "brotherhood" that they have with all the other owopel having their common passion. Hence all the bike clubs.

And becauise of clubs, news and opinion spreads virally. If your store is a regular hangout for main members of a club, the word gets around fast about how good it is. Have a look at the book "tipping point" for ideas on viral spread of ideas and news.

Because bikers dont mind travelling long distances so much (and typically do so for fun), it is not beyond expectations for them to organise a trip to the shop on an extended ride past Auckland from Hamilton on a Sunday ride for instance. If the shop is good enough and word of mouth of teh cool experience it is has travelled far enough, you could have the potential customers from TWO cities wanting to come and see what the shop is about...

Its about getting potential customers through the door. Get them in often enough, and they will buy.

Many bars show rugby on large screen TV's. Why not MotoGP or WSBK? Together with breakfast...

[merv]

So I emailed last Friday and said if you can source one of those or something like it I'll buy it from you. Now do you think I've received an email back yet, acknowledgement that he received my email or otherwise?

.... and a little boy waits. A week will be up soon and no answer to my email nor my reminder email. Guess I'll be heading to ebay soon.

Also, R Sole - all good comments from you.

[BoristheBiter]

Over the last month that this thread has been going we (myself ad the misses) have spent over $5k on diferent things for both our road and dirt bikes (tires and gear).
After looking at different shops (7 in total) we have spent it in only 2 shops, why? because not only are they open but they have a good range of gear and helpfull staff. Sure some staff are better than others.
this thread has now become pointless because those who are open will stay open and those who close will continue to stay closed.
People will choose where they shop for a vast range of reasons and nothing will change that. I myself am a loyal customer that will shop at a few places because in general those shops have given me the best service and are open when i need them to be and therefore I will look at them first every time.
If the other bike shops want to stay closed so be it, i will just spend my money elsewhere.

[Ixion]

..Have you consiodered WHY she does not like going into bike shops in the first place? Maybe because its because its a dour place where she does not like being ignored? Maybe its because she can't get a decent cup of coffee. Maybe because she would rather be home playing on her Playstation? Ixion? Any ideas here?...

Pretty much I guess. Just an alien environment to her. And inhospitable. Nothing pretty there, nothing feminine, no coffee.

I said somewhere earlier, that the chick market should be a valuable one in biking now.

So why not provide a chick friendly area ? As well, or instead of. Not every bike shop has to target the same demographic, y'know. You could have one shop targets the sprotsbikers , as suggested. Another targets the old gits, with more emphasis on DIY and classic stuff. While another targets chicks. With chick friendly show rooms, and some female staff. Bigger shops, have one corner of the showroom for each.

If you were a woman would you want to get undressed in a typical bike shop (to try on the new gear you're looking at) ? I wouldn't.
?
(This does already happen to some extent amongst switched on shops)