I have no idea what any of this really means

The LBS owner has missed an opportunity to charge over the SRP for the bike?

And often in the US you only find the true price at the till (taxes).

5% in some States as opposed to 17.5% 20% soon to here?

Aye but VAT in this country is included in the marked price. In the US, both taxes are added on at the till.

Most retailers operate at roughly the same margin, regardless of the product. The obvious one that doesn't is fashion, but they have huge write-downs at the end of a season so it does balance in the end.

The reason for this is pretty simple. High street retailers have similar costs regardless of the business, and a certain percentage is needed to cover these costs. Go much above that, and somebody will undercut you – much below and you're out of business.

A bike shop will try to hang on to RRP as hard as they can. It's **** mercenary, cheeky gits want to pay their staff and rent, rates, and VAT bill and…

A well ran LBS might get to the end of a year and have made enough profit to pay the owner a salary. It might be a half decent wedge (it probably isn't more than an average teacher), but nothing spectcular. And for that he's risked his house (probably) and lost plenty sleep worrying about the resposibility he has towards his staff finances too.

A strong brand like Lapierre is a god send to an LBS (are they a strong brand, really?) because it gives them a chance to actually achieve close to recommended retail and survive for another year.

I have never met a really wealthy bike shop owner (they'd make more money as reps).

I have never met a really wealthy bike shop owner

Likewise any Retailer. You get the smaller one-shop operations and you get the more successful multi-site/mail order retailers.

How did CRC become so huge? (Circa 5,000 orders a day). It wasn't by offering a cheap symbolic 50p cup of coffee to make their customers feel cosy about spending two grand+ a year just with them was it?

They are a business like any other at the end of the day. You make out that they are 'at the heart of the community' like a small village store. Sorry, its a business. If someone is scraping by year after year then they are in the wrong location or should work for someone else IMO.

Most retailers operate at roughly the same margin

That is plain crazy to make that statement.

I like small bikeshops however I dont like the 'support your LBS' stuff thats sprouted on here. We all have tough jobs, so our downtime spend is SMALLER. Dont lay the guilt.

Sorry, its a business. If someone is scraping by year after year then they are in the wrong location or should work for someone else IMO.

Hang on, who are you to say that? Maybe the LBS owner really enjoys what he does or maybe he bought a dream, stuck his mortgage on it, and now is stuck there because selling the business at break even isn't an option.

I agree that there's no room for pity here, I just absolutey disagree with some of the posts (and the OP) that somebody is taking the piss somewhere. FWIW, I do shop at my LBS, but spend a lot with Wiggle, CRC and other online retailers when it suits (stock availability or offers).

That is plain crazy to make that statement.

Really?

How did CRC become so huge? (Circa 5,000 orders a day). It wasn't by offering a cheap symbolic 50p cup of coffee to make their customers feel cosy about spending two grand+ a year just with them was it?

I'm not sure what that has to do with it. If I wanted to run my own business and be wealthy I'd open a chippie in a sink estate or an Italian restaurant in a secondary city. I'd enjoy neither job and the money wouldn't motvate me (I wonder what their gearing looks like though)…

I imagine many LBS owners don't do it to make pocket fulls of cash, but rather enjoy looking after customers and talking about bikes, rides and so on. CRC is a great business, but it's hardly a people business.

I imagine many LBS owners don't do it to make pocket fulls of cash, but rather enjoy looking after customers and talking about bikes, rides and so on.

I imagine they go into owning a shop or stay in it hoping they will make money. No one would pay corporation tax, NI, rates and take an annual risk etc etc for a hobby. They do it to make money out of what they like doing.

For instance I love coffee so if I was mad enough I'd open a bestoke Cafe. If I the balls, start up money, found an opening, a customer base/location that could make it work.

CRC make money because they found an opening, sourcing goods and not always from the official distributors in the early days? Sometimes grey-market wasnt it? Then fronting the warranty returns themselves?

(This is from memory and might be wrong so dont sue me!)

I imagine they go into owning a shop or stay in it hoping they will make money. No one would pay corporation tax, NI, rates and take an annual risk etc etc for a hobby

Of course they go it to it hoping to make money: they have to make money to pay themselves a salary.

People always assume CRC are a low margin business. I'd happily wager a nice new pair of socks that CRC's gross profit is about the same as your LBS.

Some people running LBSs just aren't quite as mercenary as you Mark – you should go into recruitment 😉

Off out for ride.

At the end of the day lapierre's are hugely popular at the moment and there is high demand as many people have decided, just as this guy has, that it's the bike for them because of great reviews and styling. Demand is higher than stock availability and shops know they probably won't be able to replace the ones they sell so why sell at a lower price? They know that in a week or two someone else will be in and pay full whack. It's basic supply and demand economics.

The medium zesty 514 is sold out for the year and the 714 and 914 is sold out in every size already so if you want one chances are you're gonna have to pay full whack. If you want somehting discounted you may just have to go for a bike or brand in less demand, although I think yo uwon't want that.

Best idea is to find your local dealer for the brand you want and go in, tell them what you want, how you intend ot finance it and see what their best deal is rather than just looking at advertised prices online.

Bike shops make a net profit of 2% on average and I think many dealers now realise they need to protect margin wherever possible by not discounting items that they can easily sell, simple business so you'll just have to face facts as it's life.

There is plenty of competition on the market, if you don't like the price of a lapierre then buy a Trek or a Giant or a Spesh or an Orange or a…. you get my drift?

Some people running LBSs just aren't quite as mercenary as you Mark

Good point, more LBS's should run cycle schemes for disadvantaged local children, donate to a local cycle group to them or offer free training classes regularly to local disadvantaged children.

After all, bike shop owners are in the game for the love of cycling and dislike customers who thrown down a wad of cash on the counter and demand service.

Whilst that is a good thought Hora we tried to donate/offload some old bikes we had kicking around to a local charity. We were obviously going to service them and make sure they were safe.

Sadly that wasn't enough for the charity, they wanted an assessment and meeting. Precious time I could do without losing.

They suggested it would be better all round if we gave them some new bikes. WTF?

They suggested it would be better all round if we gave them some new bikes. WTF?

That is genuinely sad and crackers at the sametime 🙁

MarkyD, my mistake about CRC being Lapierre retail arm, should have read that they are Lapierre's importers retail arm.Early in the morning and busy etc.

I must admit my post above Ziggy's was sarcastic however Ziggy gave me Mea Culpa

People always assume CRC are a low margin business. I'd happily wager a nice new pair of socks that CRC's gross profit is about the same as your LBS.

I suspect their margins are probably a lot bigger than most LBSs.