The chance of a lifetime: You are asked to start a bike shop. How should it be done?

[jellywrestler]

To buy in 10 Hesket cranks is not the answer...

whats a Hesket?

[98tls]

whats a Hesket?

Its a Hesketh with one H,the 2nd H was found to to have a suspect oil pump so was subsequently dropped.

[Conquiztador]

Fwiw awhile back a bloke in Stralia that works/own whatever a Warehouse type bike related outfit posted up on here,fuck me the replies were similar to those i would expect to someone asking to shag your mrs,made a point of asking some of the Stralians on the TL site if they had dealt with them and what did they think,all came back with very positive comments regarding what they could buy/the price/delivery times and if there interweb service was better than what they got down at the local franchise.Not to mention they didnt have to deal with someone wearing more pimples on there face than hairs on there sack.

I have never been to the shop of Econohonda. But if I want some Honda bits, they are the ones I contact. Friendly, has bits, fast and has knowledge. Add to that good prices.

[Big Dave]

>>No wonder the customers are up in arms!<<

People who like to complain on the internet are 'up in arms'.

I'm very satisfied with my current choice of suppliers.

[Robert Taylor]

Who said everything (or anything at all) would be carried in stock?

The point I'm making is taking into account furthur postage and GST we can get parts into NZ for similar prices to buying from UK to NZ. If this is possible using pricing available to the general public, what could be done with more buying power and going direct to the source?

Because you CANNOT buy direct from the source, you need to begin to understand distribution.

Bear in mind that sterling and greenbacks are currently very weak. When in the future that get back to their more taditional levels ( or our dollar weakens ) a lot of your arguments will haed more toawards being academic.

[Robert Taylor]

Not at all, but the valid reasons have been absent so far

Bollocks, many valid reasons have been put forward. There are also those of us who can see both sides of the story

[Robert Taylor]

Agreed,spent many years selling Toyotas in Wellington years back,Even with a Brand name as bankable as Toyota the only way the place stayed afloat was through the workshop and used car dept.From memory there was about 12% profit in selling a New one at full retail,very seldom it was done in fact ive seen them sold at a loss if it was say at the end of a 1/4 just to have a sale.

Another point that has largely been overlooked is that we only have 4 million people, and ( seemingly ) half of them are on welfare. We dont have economy of scale because we dont have people! If you overstock on a certain line of product that doesnt sell well the consequences can be a whole load more costly than in a large economy where you have more people to ''buffer the risk''

Also, look at the large amounts of capital involved to have a huge inventory, this would be dependent on the business owner having a huge amount of his / her own capital as no bank would take such a huge risk. And anyone with a huge amount of capital would certainly not be risking it in a low margin and fickle , small economy. There are a lot easier and less risky ways to make a return on your capital

Valid reasons, yes plenty of them

[bogan]

Bollocks, many valid reasons have been put forward. There are also those of us who can see both sides of the story

If theres a valid reason, It'll change mind mind, I haven't, so there isn't.

Because you CANNOT buy direct from the source, you need to begin to understand distribution.

Bear in mind that sterling and greenbacks are currently very weak. When in the future that get back to their more taditional levels ( or our dollar weakens ) a lot of your arguments will haed more toawards being academic.

Yeh I don't really understand distribution, heres a nice simple question for those that do, could a company be set up in NZ which buys parts from the same people that wemoto.com buys from? and if not why not?

[Robert Taylor]

If theres a valid reason, It'll change mind mind, I haven't, so there isn't.



Yeh I don't really understand distribution, heres a nice simple question for those that do, could a company be set up in NZ which buys parts from the same people that wemoto.com buys from? and if not why not?

Because its up to the manufacturers. We are an insignificant little country at the bottom of the world and dont have any muscle. Have you travelled a lot overseas? If so you will know that.

[imdying]

Another point that has largely been overlooked is that we only have 4 million people, and ( seemingly ) half of them are on welfare. We dont have economy of scale because we dont have people! If you overstock on a certain line of product that doesnt sell well the consequences can be a whole load more costly than in a large economy where you have more people to ''buffer the risk''

Also, look at the large amounts of capital involved to have a huge inventory, this would be dependent on the business owner having a huge amount of his / her own capital as no bank would take such a huge risk. And anyone with a huge amount of capital would certainly not be risking it in a low margin and fickle , small economy. There are a lot easier and less risky ways to make a return on your capital

Valid reasons, yes plenty of them

Exactly why nobody in NZ should be selling any of this gear.

[Robert Taylor]

Exactly why nobody in NZ should be selling any of this gear.

I creited you with more intelligence unless you are doing a wind up. Whos going to be left to turn the lights out?

[bogan]

Because its up to the manufacturers. We are an insignificant little country at the bottom of the world and dont have any muscle. Have you travelled a lot overseas? If so you will know that.

So thats a No then, and I take it that means the like of wemoto.com buy directly from the manufacturer?

I realize we are very small compared with other countries, but I figured NZ would still have enough trade to get significantly better prices than those available to the public anyway.

[imdying]

I creited you with more intelligence unless you are doing a wind up. Whos going to be left to turn the lights out?

Oh course it's a wind up... conincidentally, I credited you with far more intelligence than to waste your time hijacking what was never dressed up as anything but a pub racing fantasy thread.

[imdying]

I realize we are very small compared with other countries, but I figured NZ would still have enough trade to get significantly better prices than those available to the public anyway.

No. I've been to a single store in CA that had 300 different Pazzo levers in stock. In stock. 300 of them. In one store. In a city with over 100 stores.

I'll say it slowly so you guys can put it to bed and let the guys have their fun in a thread that should have been nothing but. Nooooooo weeee caaaaaaan't.

[T.W.R]

Alot of shop's have no say in what they charge,eg....shop has to buy bike from wholesaler/importer for xx amount, then 2 months later the wholesaler decides to have special pricing, all the shop's now have to lower their prices (reduce their margin) giving them even less to play with........when there's only $1500-$2000 in say a $20k+ bike thats buggar all to play with when the outlay has been made already. And then they are expected to give top dollar for a trade in..........its pretty tight.

Not totally correct....... kawasaki dealership/franchise yep each month you place an order of what you want, x items at wholesale price, recieve the shipment then have x amount of time to front up with payment for x items. In the interim the dealership has the difference between RRP & wholesale as their profit margin to work with and it's tough pigeon if Lyntech decide to have a price reduction on those items which will further reduce the dealerships possibility of a reasonable profit. Most other marques have no transferal of cash for items until they're sold by the franchise so there's no profit or loss until the item is off the shop floor.

All dealerships have access to any of the wholesale distributors for aftermarket items, it's up to the dealership whether or not they want to deal with certain wholesalers. Some wholesale distributors are very easy to deal with and some are as useless tits on a bull.
And due to this some dealerships take the attitude that it's too much hassle to source items from a particular wholesaler even though a customer has asked for a particular item..... customer comes into shop asked for said item, shop says yep will source this, once customer has left says naff that to much of a headache get blah blah instead, item arrives customer returns gets spun some bollock story and is left with a take secondary item or go elsewhere or source original requested item under their own steam.

Same boat with certain bikes that arrive in the workshop for certain jobs....some dealerships just can't be naffed putting in the effort.......so called technicians see a repairable item can't really be bothered actually doing a repair and just throw in a complete new unit........ item could easily been repaired for x amount but a total replacement will cost xx amount take less time and increase the profit margin for the shop. A lot of what are considered top line technicians aren't a proper mechanics arse, they may know it all on paper but rarely seriously get their hands dirty, though a lot of it boils down to the restraints the shop owner puts on them (time is money) and all the firendly firendly interaction towards customers disappears when the customer isn't in sight, it's just a case of baffle them and they'll keep coming back. Most shops couldn't give a monkeys..... if one customer heads elsewhere there'll be another along shortly to replace him