If there was a different way, with an easy to use interface for uploading stock info, free to list, SEO already sorted, ability to list stock items directly against competitors with visibility of their pricing, just a small commission to pay on sales……would LBS owners be interested?

Would you, as a potential customer, be happy to buy from a marketplace where LBS owners are shifting kit, from all manufacturers and you would have the opportunity to browse bikes, kit, spares from different brands but all in one place without having to skip from one site to another?

I know of two examples of this, one being the aforementioned Ultimate Pursuits.

I can’t help thinking that this particular path is trying to fight fire with fire. As already said, LBSs, as a rule, cannot compete with CRC etc. on price. There is something there with LBS unity, but I don’t think going head-to-head with the online retailers is it. Initial thoughts are that you’d need to get a service or workshop element in there too. Even a comprehensive guide to shops and services they offer could be something.

Could there be a geographical element to this?

On Saturday I had to ring round all the shops in Cardiff looking for some brake hose. Pain in the bum it was. If I could’ve just searched in one place for shops within 10 miles of me, that would’ve been useful.

To be fair to the big online companies- I think that they’ve all (with the exception of Wiggle) built their businesses up, in one way or another, from the starting point of an LBS, by dint of hard work, imagination, and a bit of a business plan for their investor/bank manager.

This route is still available to any shop that wants to give it a go, and thinks it viable- I don’t really think that an online marketplace which aggregates all the prices in one place, leading the consumer to choose by lowest price with least effort is really helpful to an independent shop- far better as said above to play to LBS’s strengths.

Two further points- how would you discriminate to decide who can and can’t participate?
Do shops have the resource (staff, time, money) to update and monitor an online inventory?

As a LBS I’d also be looking to buy my service items from CRC etc if cheaper than the distributor, and make them aware I’m doing so and why. The undercutting of price needs feeding back up the supply chain.

Is that not the bit where the distributor then pulls your account and you then have to buy from CRC etc.?

What about working capital? Do the distributors not give shops credit terms? If they have to buy retail, they’ll have to pay upfront, and have enough working capital (which has a cost to it) to do that?

I think that they’ve all (with the exception of Wiggle) built their businesses up, in one way or another, from the starting point of an LBS

Didn’t Wiggle start out as Butler Cycles in Pompey?

Do the distributors not give shops credit terms?

Yes – the more you buy, the cheaper the product gets. However CRC etc. often get preferential rates unavailable to LBSs due to the volume they are buying, or even circumnavigate distributors completely if buying OEM for bike brands. I imagine (and this is speculation) that excess then gets sold as grey imports (without boxes or instructions).

Didn’t Wiggle start out as Butler Cycles in Pompey?

I believe it did. I believe it’s also now owned by an investment company.

As a small independent bike workshop, we _do_ buy some of our stuff from Wiggle / CRC / whoever’s cheapest, mainly when our usual distributors are out of stock and we need a part urgently, but sometimes also for big-ticket items that Wiggle’s buying power means they can sell way cheaper than the distributors. (but they still presumably somehow scrape a profit.)

I have no problem at all with customers buying stuff online and bringing it to us to fit – they recognise that they’re paying us for our expertise and / or specialist tools and / or the convenience of not doing it themselves.

There’s a quote somewhere on the first page,

You, as the consumer, is finding what you need….the LBS is shifting stock…..

…I’m not going to go to a lot of hassle just to “shift stock” if we don’t make any margin on it. That margin pays the shop’s overheads, including wages, rent, business rates, heat, electricity, water, insurance, broadband, and everything else. If I “shift” £2 million worth of stock, I may get to brag about my high turnover, but if it’s cost me £1,999,000 then all that work has paid me and my staff £1000. That doesn’t go very far.

I doubt you’ll find many business owners who will sign up to a scheme whereby they can sell stuff for little or no margin. Because, basically, there’s nothing in it for them. That’s not profiteering, that’s being realistic about how to run a business.

Thanks for all the feedback guys – very helpful 😀

I’ll be working on this over the next few weeks and will post some further thoughts as I go