• This topic has 95 replies, 43 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by Daffy.
Viewing 16 posts - 81 through 96 (of 96 total)
  • 'Price fixing' by the Bike Cos?
  • mikewsmith
    Free Member

    puddings – Member
    People in general will not pay for regular servicing when they see the market rate costs for it

    Places vary but I’ve seen plenty who do. It also depends on the demographic, what is your time worth to you? I can do everything bar build a wheel, I’ve had all the space and tools I’ve needed and plenty of time. Slight change in circumstances and I didn’t have the time so paid for a new chain, cassette and cables to be fitted and set-up as I was working too much and had the cash.

    ghostlymachine
    Free Member

    Minor detail. Everyone knows what is being talked about. (And it wouldn’t surprise me hugely if the manufacturers were collaborating on pricing…..)
    It does.

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    As Konabunny said, I thought Price Fixing was where Brand A makes an underhand deal with its main competitor Brand B, to keep prices artificially high. Illegal.

    Retail price meddling is not illegal, Spesh are renowned for it, they also demand that their dealers stock the whole line of Spesh accessories don’t they? Want a few bikes, find 6 sq metres of floorspace for our entire retail merchandising range then come back and ask again!

    theotherjonv
    Full Member

    I’ve deliberately dipped out because this thread has been hijacked into a value of the LBS thread, which is not what I posted about. I value the LBS – they help me with parts and advice and servicing, and I try (tried) to support them in return when I can. You can argue I don’t value them enough, if I won’t pay them £150 extra for something I can also buy online, and you can criticise me for that but it’s not illegal or immoral to be a savvy consumer and around, particularly when I then offered them the chance to price match or at least negotiate a compromise. Instead they moaned to the supplier.

    The online shop called me yesterday and I now have a delivery date. I asked whether they’d had problems getting the bike, and if I’d caused it then I apologise. The shop response seemed to confirm that, saying that their supplier has no right to tell them what to charge for their business and they now understand that. I don’t know if they have been following this thread but again, if I’ve caused a problem with your supplier I’m sorry. Price fixing or Retail Price Maintenance or just sharp practice, I don’t know, but it’s left a sour taste.

    TLDR: I’ve got a new bike, but I need a new LBS

    konabunny
    Free Member

    Retail price maintenance is illegal. I don’t know what retail price meddling is 😉

    If you have any evidence (however scant) of retail price maintenance, you should report it to the competition and markets authority. They are quite well funded and have impressively scary powers to search and interrogate companies that are suspected of engaging in illegal activity.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Want a few bikes, find 6 sq metres of floorspace for our entire retail merchandising range then come back and ask again!

    Well, almost all manufacturers have dealer networks – I can’t get you a Specialized or Cannondale, the local Specialized dealer can’t get you a HPVelotechnik or Hase. Because it’s better for everyone when the dealer knows and cares about the bikes they’re selling.

    wrecker
    Free Member


    Cooooool…….

    eshershore
    Free Member

    in my experience many customers are willing to pay the price for quality workshop labour, especially for full services where the bike has been ridden into the ground and it really needs some expert help to get it back to near new condition

    our workshop is completely rammed full of bikes for repair at the moment, we have a lead time which is nice…

    we are also making good money providing technical support to events in London, this was the RBC “V-Series” event on Canary Wharf last year, we assisted 100+ riders with technical problems during the event

    we also do corporate training events, this was last week for a ratings agency and formed part of their team leader training programme

    there are many opportunities out there for savvy bike shops to diversify and start raising revenue from other channels than selling ‘branded goods’

    gofasterstripes
    Free Member

    I’d just like to chip in here and wave the flag for togetherweride.co.uk

    This site has been set up by my longtime friend, Mike. He’s a guy with a big heart and big ideas (he’s pretty short though, you can’t win ’em all 😉 ), and he’s made a site that allows physical shops to compete against online warehouses.

    In their own words:
    “Together We Ride allows customers to order online and collect from one of the network of independent bike shops. Customers benefit from the convenience of online while still receiving the personal service that can only be provided by an independent specialist. This enables the independent community to answer the increasing online demand for bikes, parts, and accessories without distracting them from the core of their business. Namely: providing unmatched quality of service and expertise directly to the customer.”

    At the moment it’s a London only network, but that is allowing them to roll the service out organically. If the orders come, they will expand the scheme. The bigger the scheme gets, the more you and the shops all benefit. The more you interact with your LBS the better the whole shebang gets.

    I am in no way employed etc by them, I just want to put what I see as a great idea out there.

    Have a look, make up your own minds.

    It would certainly help to counteract this sort of thing, which is sadly becoming more common.

    Ewan
    Free Member

    And actually the customer ends up losing out as well. Remember when there used to be two mail deliveries a day? People get obsessed with making things cheaper, and forget that there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

    . It was really good that the consumer suddenly had no choice. Crap meat and veg from asda or crap overpriced meat and veg from sainsbury. Nice. It’s taken 20 years to get back to having a reasonable choice. And the suppliers are still being royally shafted.

    Gotta say I disagree. Give me the choice between slightly lower quality food (not convinced this is the case either – artisan butchers are not representative of what it used to be like!) And vastly cheaper and more convient food, and I’ll take the later every time (as would the vasy majority of UK consumers, no matter what they might say to the contrary – look at the evidence) The amount of time, effort and money I save by being able to do an online food shop each week rather than mess about on the high street visiting 5 different shop is huge. Yes it has put companies out of business but this is the way of the world and the consumer doesn’t owe anyone a living – harsh as it sounds.

    bencooper
    Free Member

    Cooooool…….

    Aye 😀

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    The bike shop as we know it isn’t going to die a death any time soon. Some will but bike shops will still exist for the less experienced, the new cyclist and those with money and a passion for cycling but no interest in fixing the thing. The bike shop I used to work in pumped out mainly £300 hybrids, and worked mainly on student bikes worth buttons. But we also got a lot of very expensive road, and especially triathlon, bikes to fix for people who rode them but didn’t know, or care, how to fix them. Because that’s what the bike shop is for, in the same way you drop your car in a garage.

    People fixing their own bikes and buying very expensive mountain bikes are like people fixing their own cars and buying Lamborghinis- it does happen, but it’s certainly not the majority.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    local butchers round here dont seem to be able to keep up – they do good meat at very competitive prices.

    i got sick of the grey sick looking tasteless meat you get in the asdas and tescos etc

    Aldi and lidl meat tastes slightly better and looks a damn sight better but i still take time out to go to the butchers as much as possible im afraid its far from a slightly lower quality of meat – my dad was a butcher so i was brought up on good meat i know what it tastes like – unfortunatnly people have been fed on the supermarket tripe for so long they have forgotten what good meat tastes like.

    like wise with my fish.

    equally i do believe shit shops deserve to die – be they fish/butchers/candlestick makers or bike shops….

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    stepping up from behind the parapet here, I’m not sure I agree that retail price maintenance is such a bad thing, certainly not bad enough to be made illegal. Unless I’m missing something, it just seems to allow for a race to the bottom, meaning that those who can shift large volumes at tiny margins win, meaning there is no room for any sort of ‘value add’ (urgh, hate that term) for small retailers, as they have to price match or lose the business of folk like konabunny, who don’t care about the people who make/sell the product, as long as it’s as cheap as possible.

    I think it’s necessary (perhaps the wrong word, but at least required) to keep the industry going.

    Flame away

    eshershore
    Free Member

    Wiggle’s reported margin last year was 4%, and its carrying a high debt load

    Chain reactions reported margin last year was slightly higher (I’ve hard 5-6%) but the company was relatively debt free

    makes you wonder why they bother…

    Daffy
    Full Member

    Wiggle’s reported margin last year was 4%, and its carrying a high debt load

    Chain reactions reported margin last year was slightly higher (I’ve hard 5-6%) but the company was relatively debt free

    makes you wonder why they bother…

    BAE’s margin on an Astute class submarine was (in percentage terms) MUCH less.

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