This must end. Their prices and discounts should be investigated.
Seriously. There might be a diamond in the rough but they are guilty of price manipulation.
Ex demo bikes and soiled bikes should be considered used. Period. So the price should reflect this. Stop lying.
how are they lying?
Got an example?
I'd write to my MP.
It would appear the prices fluctuate constantly. No concrete examples but from watching for many months there are many inconsistencies.
Its like trading currencies for god sake.
It would appear the prices fluctuate constantly. No concrete examples but from watching for many months there are many inconsistencies.
Nothing illegal in that, Most websites have price matching, they keep their prices low. When one site drops they follow. When the price goes up theirs go up.
What would be fair is if everyone stuck to RRP, but i'm guessing you wouldn't want that.
Also price they pay can change with the change in currency if your buying off spesh or trek it will change if the pound is stronger or weaker than the dollar prices change. Granted these will be small changes that are not usually passed on to the customer but it affects profits.
Also price matching Internet sites in store could kill off local shops even big chains because selling over the net you don't have the overheads of a shop so you can offer it for less. Iv seen us have to price match to our trade price and below which puts us at a loss. You can't moan because its an expensive hobby and everyone likes a deal.
Not sure if a rant would be helped or hindered with some supporting evidence. It'd be more convincing, but less ranty, so it depends on whether the point is to convince people or just to rant.
over the net you don't have the overheads of a shop
Thats a myth, to be competitive online you need to spend as much as you would with a shop.
[i]This must end.[/i]
Who rocked your boat drama queen?
Its like trading currencies for god sake.
If anything it's more like trading commodities.
I don't see how the overheads of say crc are the same as Evans both offer online service yet Evans have 40 odd stores which in turn have over heads off shop staff, rent, electric, water, merchandising, delivery vans, delivery drivers to name a few. Now look at crc one shop with the above overheads the rest is just an website, wearhouse, pickets and operatives. Now Evans will have that as well because they offer online serices.
I cannot see how it costs as much to operate online as it does a store.
What I find funny about price match is people who come in a store to match the web price why not just buy it off line?
It would appear the prices fluctuate constantly.
Well yes, they want to shift certain things so they lower the price for the an offer email then punt it back up, they lower it for another offer. Or reduce the discounts so they can offset the 'vouchers' that they are mailing out. Its a business after all.
What I find funny about price match is people who come in a store to match the web price why not just buy it off line?
They're still buying it off line, but for less money. Not sure why you find that funny?
What I find funny about price match is people who come in a store to match the web price why not just buy it off line?
the free first service, the bike shop may feel more obliged to look after you because you brought the bike from them, you pick it up in store, no delivery problems/issues
No different to electronics/computer hardware.
Nobody is forcing you to buy a used / ex-demo bike.
Or are Evans / CRC sales staff dragging you into dark alleyways at night putting a gun to your head and forcing you to buy them? 🙄
Don't like it, don't buy it. Or just a rubbish troll.
Thats a myth, to be competitive online you need to spend as much as you would with a shop.
Bollox
I cannot see how it costs as much to operate online as it does a store.
I was comparing A shop with A website.
Shop needs:
The shop itself - online = warehouse
Shop Staff - customer service teams, warehouse staff
mechanics - graphic designers and web programmers (or spend on outsourcing)
Bills - affects both.
What the online business saves in not needing a premier location that a shop would goes straight in the extra wages needed for IT bods, SEO work and google adwords etc.
When you look into it there is actually very little difference.
(i'm not talking about bedroom sellers, but businesses that are there to make money and pay staff)
The main reason internet sites can afford the smaller margins is more in larger target audience than less overheads.
What I find funny about price match is people who come in a store to match the web price why not just buy it off line?
the free first service, the bike shop may feel more obliged to look after you because you brought the bike from them, you pick it up in store, no delivery problems/issuesThat's true but again we have in the past sold bike for no profit because of price match and you end up feeling like what's the point if your not making a profit? You get a better service from most bike shops than online yet your constantly battling to make sales and when you do you lose out.
I had one chap wanting to price match to an online retailer who had a deal on a certain tyre and had a discount code for spending over a certain amount. I told him that I could price match there web price but not the extra which was an offer by them. And I pointed out he would of had to buy something else off there website to get that offer anyway because he was £1.99 short so he offered to buy an in tube from us to make it over the figure to get there discount and was angered and moaned that I wouldn't do it. Now this was there offer that he was emailed not an offer we had on I think some people expect too much from bike shops at times.
Singlespeed but again if your a chain with more than 2 or 3 shops you will want to compete online as well and are going to need the same IT and wearhouse as an online retailer so your overheads are more. You will see Evans do on a lot of things an online and in store price that's worked out based on the profit margins which in a way is wrong because people still come in store and price match our own website so the store loses out.
I can see a change in retail you only need to look at the shops that have closed down or gone into administration like HMV. There is a massive swing to shopping online and I think if it does totally go that way it will be a shame.
Matt, I agree totally with chain stores vs online. I was only talking about standalone vs standalone.
Its a shame that things are swinging to online but sadly its what the public want, cheap and convenient. Some businesses will evolve and develop with the market and other won't. Both Wiggle and CRC where independent bike shops, as was Evans but they all took different paths.
I just looked at the Evans website and some of the soiled bikes have 50% off. Some are only 20% but I guess that's their choice, maybe the prices will drop for those bikes over time. They seem to describe if the bike is ex demo or not as well. All looks pretty legit to me. Might keep an eye on the Norco Range to see if it gets cheap enough to consider.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/norco/range-1-2013-mountain-bike-medium-soiled--ec051379
Or just a rubbish troll.
This. OP, have you managed to alert everyone with crap wheels of their grave error yet? or won the mega on a rigid 29er yet? with 'ironic' LX hubs?
Yawn. 0.5/10
The norco range won't go cheap there running out of numbers and cannot get anymore, they didn't think the 650b would take off like it has. There that short of numbers some of the models staff can't buy them.
Any chance of an explanation as to what your outraged by?
Mong.
Re. Matt 1986
Singlespeed but again if your a chain with more than 2 or 3 shops you will want to compete online as well and are going to need the same IT and wearhouse as an online retailer so your overheads are more.
Speaking as a developer for a medium sized multiple in a different but very comparable market sector who do a lot of business online - that's not really the case. We do [redacted large number] a year online without the need for a central warehouse. That makes us the largest UK based online store in out market sector. It just requires careful planning and organisation.
Sorry, I've just realised that was so vague as to sound ridiculous.
I was comparing A shop with A website.Shop needs:
The shop itself - online = warehouse
Shop Staff - customer service teams, warehouse staff
mechanics - graphic designers and web programmers (or spend on outsourcing)
Bills - affects both.What the online business saves in not needing a premier location that a shop would goes straight in the extra wages needed for IT bods, SEO work and google adwords etc.
When you look into it there is actually very little difference.
(i'm not talking about bedroom sellers, but businesses that are there to make money and pay staff)
The main reason internet sites can afford the smaller margins is more in larger target audience than less overheads.
+1 Been there done that.
1 shop vs online that is…
-100 for the use of the (American) word period, instead of the ENGLISH term full stop[b].[/b]
Now what were you ranting about? 😉
Sorry, I've just realised that was so vague as to sound ridiculous.
Yeah, stick to hard facts, like the OP has...
Don't under estimate how much running a web operation costs.
A website like CRC's will have cost well over £100k - probably more like a total cost of £250k.
They'll also be spending more in hosting costs per month than your LBS spends on rent.
I think the OP is just trolling. I seem to recall half his threads are of the "light the blue touch paper and stand well back" type. To stretch the analogy though, his threads are more like the cheap chinese rockets you get on bonfire night for about a quid for 10.
Now look at crc one shop with the above overheads the rest is just an website, wearhouse, pickets and operatives
Pickets? unionised staff...
but anyway I very much doubt CRC has invented the worlds first zero energy consumption distribution facility...
if it had, then i doubt they would be bothering with selling bikes stuff...
I image Evans has the best of both worlds, very few new but serious cyclists would buy a bike over the internet without ever seeing it so Evans is likely to beat CRC for that type of customer..
Iv had someone ask me to size them up on a bike so they can order it off line which I thought was crazy.
For a full warehouse integrated website business system, £250k is a reasonable guess.
Good call about the hosting costs being more than the shop rent at the LBS - although with cloud services (Amazon, et al.) the cost is dropping like a stone.
It's not "just a website" like the LBS has.
Iv had someone ask me to size them up on a bike so they can order it off line which I thought was crazy
Next time tell them they'll have issues ordering it offline as 100% of websites are online.
[quote=OP]This must end. Their prices and discounts [b]should be investigated.[/b]
[quote=OP soon after]... No concrete examples
That sir, is a FAIL by anyone's standards. 🙄
Good call about the hosting costs being more than the shop rent at the LBS - although with cloud services (Amazon, et al.) the cost is dropping like a stone.
Cloud isn't really any cheaper, it's just easier to scale so you don't need to pay for unused capacity.