Zitter wrote:Tymon, you're just proving that you don't know how the bicycle industry works and have no idea what kind of money it takes to run a shop.
of course not, I don't even ride or own a bike in the first place
Zitter wrote:Shops aren't making most of their money on bikes; it's on aftermarket components, accessories, and labor.
oh? tell that to shops that sell hundrets of bikes, and stock almost no clothes and maybe some basic accesories. yes, the cheap bikes, they exist too. your own perspective isn't the only one, the high end bike shops aren't the only ones, and your attempt to undermine my words (btw, where have I written "bike shops make most of their money on bikes") is a mishit
Zitter wrote:If a shop isn't making around 30% margin on their total sales, they're most likely running in the red. That few hundred euros you're talking about has to cover rent, utilities, inventory, wages, insurance, store improvements and a myriad of other costs.
no. see, you're missing my point. again. these few hundred are either gonna land in shop's cash register, or not. it's that easy. cost of running the shop is more or less steady - the staff, the bills, in most cases, this is a fixed monthly amount. whether they take my money or not, the cost of doing business remains the same.
Zitter wrote:It's pretty standard to offer a discount on the parts you want to replace on the bike, but to have them do it at no cost is bleeding money on a sale they're already not making much money on in the first place is silly.
where I live less income is still more than 0 income. and please define "much". IMHO selling a high end bike is making a decent coin. for you it's a drop in a bucket. I've no clue how to even discuss this...
Zitter wrote: Some shops are willing to bear the cost and inventory space to sell take-offs to stay afloat, but it's not a standard practice unless they're doing a high enough volume on higher margin parts to offset the cost.
wow, this is a lot of smart words for describing occasional selling goods that are technically brand new, but lack a box, and are more or less 10-15% cheaper (on the shelve) than those ordered from distributor's. again, the costs are fixed. you don't pay extra for every freakin item stored at your shop do you now? you don't even pay more for the delivery, because that one single item will arrive in a larger box with all that nice stuff you'll sell at 100% retail price
Zitter wrote:Maybe you're used to some mom and pop shop who don't mind losing money and don't care about growing as a business.
sure, one of the shops is a father and son, second a bunch of pals. they all make money, live in nice places, drive nice cars, and very nice bikes. oh wait, you're gonna tell me now it's their wifes that support them.
again and again, 0 profit is less than a smaller profit. how's that for losing money
Zitter wrote:You should take a look at this, but then again business practices may be different from where you are
http://nbda.com/how-to/want-to-start-a- ... p-pg70.htm
looks like you're trying to kill a fly with a cannon, throwing bunch of statistics and data to counter the common sense. yes, the environment is different, the costs are different, everything depends on everything. you think you can quantify every business and draw a chart on how to operate? but that's not even the case, but you won't know that, I'm affraid you don't want to
so let me say this one last time, because this is getting way too ridiculous. plain and simple. you can make an effort to make a sale, or let it pass. you can sacrifice few minutes of your precious time to meet your (potential) client halfway, or say no and go pack to playing solitaire. you can either earn less than you would selling at 100% retail (btw, who does that?) or not earn the the full margin. you can either earn a couple hundred or not. you can gain a customer (and that's a conclusion that requires a bit of understading what the costs of gaining a client are in the first place) who will most likely make another purchas(es) at your store (and to assume that, you need to know what type of customer you're dealing with, whether someone who spends a significant amount of money on a single bike is likely to buy other stuff, like accessories, clothes etc) and who can recommend you to other potential clients. or not.
so you can do all that, or tell him to shove it up his arse, because you won't be able to sell an ultegra 12-cassette that's not in the box, and the prospect of ordering, swapping and later having a set of chainrings (or a whole crankset) burning a hole in your inventory is simply unbearable.
and who's talking mom and pop shops here...
this is some coarse math behind my atrocious attempt to sink that bike shop ('my' currency, prices are 'give or take'):
bike price - 15.0000
shop income (at very modest 15%) - 2250
cassette distributor price - 200
crankset distributor price - 700
2250 - 900 = 1350
cassette and cranks MSRP - 300, 1000
selling them at 15% discount gives us approx. 1100
1350 + 1100 = 2450
oh no, we've earned 2450, we'll go out of business soon!