What’s the deal about Trek and mail order

So Trek (and GF, etc.) won’t allow their dealers to ship bikes to customers, it’s in store collection only. What’s the deal with that; seems to me like some sort of fancy way of ensuring a RRP policy is adhered to, since if a shop can only attract supply customers from a particular catchment area, same for all the other dealers, essentially each shop is operating in effect a sole dealership?

How do Trek justify it?

I think it’s supposedly something to do with making sure people get the right size bike for their needs, and making sure it’s set up correctly before it leaves the shop and is ridden.

I could be wrong though! 🙂

It’s a bit of both.

However most manufacturers now state on the box they are shipped in words to the effect that the warranty is void unless fully assembled by an official dealer.

Stops third parties obtaining products and ruining the reputation the brand name through poor service.

well its very borderline on being an anti-competitive practise, now i could write any Trek stockist a disclaimer that says i know what size i want and i’ve got all the tools and experience to put a bike together – will you ship it to me?
noticed this yesterday as want a specific bike to replace mrs antigees existing trek wsd
thinking about translate borderline as blatant

by the way my nearest Trek specialist regularly features on here for very poor service am midway between their Rotherham and Sheffield stores but wouldn’t choose to accept the attitude to customers have experienced in either
so i guess Trek will lose a customer – now lets look at specialized wsd sizes

I’m inclined to agree. After all, what does ‘fully assembled’ mean? Every bike I’ve bought mail order has come ‘assembled’, all I’ve had to do was turn the stem to face forward and put the wheels on. On the other hand I’ve had a bike given to me from a showroom for a test ride with one lock on grip not locked on, and the QR barely done up.

my memory on competition law says that sales of products that require extensive technical support and trained staff can be sold thru restricted channels – what is interesting about the Trek situation is that seen comments on the retailers sites that say the mnfr is driving the policy and they aren’t really supportive – read into that

it’s to do with stocking, manufacture numbers and a fair pricing policy. a trek employee explained it to me once but i forget the full reasons. it’s a carefully thought out policy designed to aid shops and the consumer. i’m sure if you emailed trek they would explain it. i remember thinking it was a good policy when it was explained to me. it’s one reason why you see less massively reduced trek products at the end of the season which benefits the retailer as they don’t have to sell off lots of surplus stock.

It’s a way of supporting retailers. And protecting Treks brand. And is best for the majority of consumers in the long run. I know a dealer who lost his Trek account for doing mail order, because he failed to read their terms and conditions. I laughed for weeks on end!

the altruistic aim of supporting independent specialist retailers is an easy claim when manipulating routes to market to maintain pricing – that is what is meant by protecting brand in this context

the alternative is to maintain more than one route to market – the lbs for those that want and need specialised service and availability thru e/mail order for those that want a lower price with no bullsh1t

i’ve yet to see a market sector in which etailers or mail order have destroyed shops which provide good choice and good service

price maintenance and refusal to supply product are illegal for good reasons
– to protect the consumer

if you don’t like their policy, just buy something else. they’ll soon change their ways. (well maybe not that soon, if ever… but you won’t have to go and pick the alternative up in person)

they’ll soon change their ways

not usually – such cosy arrangements maintain the status quo because usually the parties involved are happy with the monetry returns and stability – the consumer loses out short term because inconveniences/restricts choice/costs more and long term because usually companies that are enthusuastic about such protection support bloated routes to market and stifle innovation

well no, as i mentioned i wouldn’t have thought they would. i’d just buy something else that you can get delivered, there are plenty of alternatives to trek.

I am extremely anti any market manipulation – unfortunately there is a good deal of it that goes on that is entirely legal like the trek bollox. I also reserve my ire for Bose, Brompton and SC/Jungle among others, for their own approaches to market manipulation.

Does it really benefit the retailers if it restricts them to their own local area?

Surely some would like the opportunity to flog their bikes over the web?

Can’t do Trek any good in the long run to be ignoring the existence of the internet as a selling tool.

Try Swinnertons, Craig delivers them by hand, fully assembled as stipulated by Trek. Good prices too.

http://www.swinnertoncycles.co.uk/

IMHO Treks policy is one of the best things they have introduced.

You will find a lot of Distributors in the US do not offer any warranty on bikes sent mail order.

For everyone of us guys who “knows what they are doing” and can work out what size they need, and PDI a bike correctly there are 100 others who don’t.

Speak to any of your LBS’s who sell mail order also and ask them about the amount of time they sped with support to mail order customers. Incorrect sizing, colour isn’t like the web site image, do you take the bit of brown cardboard off the steerer tube before fitting the stem, which side does the bell go on? (these are all real!).

If there is an issue with your purchase, you have to send the bikes back half way across the country. Explaining things in a phone call or email is not easy.
Also one critical point is that there is no way to bribe your LBS mechanic with jafa cakes for a quick wheel true etc!!!!

This is especially dangerous with kids bikes, most Dads think they can “put a bike together” (how many bikes have we all seen with the forks on back wards?).

The cynical may think it is to maintain rrp (ie profit) but I truly believe it is a dream that most other Bike companies aspire to.

The internet is a great marketing tool, but as a selling tool for products that can kill you, and is such a persoanl purchase, you cant beat a LBS who you trust. There feedback and advice is invaluable.

Local catchment area…LOL. Craig delivered two Remedy’s to Germany just before Christmas, and one to Aberdeen and Dorset…. I reckon its a good service

grimtech
surely the problems you describe are due to mail order and internet suppliers failing to explain and define the level of competence required to assemble a bike a not unusual problem and not unique to bikes but this doesn’t mean that a convenient and cost effective service should be terminated

agree there is a safety issue but believe this is overstated
as to warranty issues well my choice – if the price is right and its more convenient to have the product delivered maybe i’ll live with that risk

as to service from your lbs fine if you want it and need it – as they say you pays your money and takes your choice – that should be a choice not a decision made by those that manufacturer and distribute the product