The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.

Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year. 

Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.

The post Navigating Supply & Demand appeared first on National Bicycle Dealers Association.

In Part 1, Bob and Kristin discuss Bob’s take on global sourcing and supply, and how demand has surged in 2020. Take a look at Part 1 below and look below for Parts 2 & 3.

KRISTIN CARPENTER
Bob, It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard incredible things about you from so many people. Let’s dive right in. My understanding is that your area of expertise centers around global sourcing and supply. Can we talk more about this and what you do?

BOB MARGEVICIUS
Yes, I’m involved in sourcing and supply from a global perspective. Right now, together with key European bicycle leaders, we’re working to map out the global outlook for bicycles and cycling. The bike industry in the United States has been stable at 16 million (plus or minus two million) for over 30 years and the European market has been 18 million (plus or minus two) for about 30 years. So, what we’ve seen happening, starting in April was a spike. And the spike in demand was significant. It was close to double what we had seen in the previous April, May, and June. It has since toned down, but It’s still up 30%.

So what we’re evaluating is whether this sparked an interest in cycling that has legs going beyond where it is today? And if so, what is the new plateau? If the current plateau for 30 years is 16 million, is there a new plateau? Is the new plateau 18 million? Twenty million? And for the European community, is it 20 million, 22 million, 24 million? Because we’re the two biggest single developed markets for bikes in the world, it is critical we understand and service the market needs. From the supply side, the complexity of this is very challenging for us today. The key component factories like Shimano, SRAM, Fox, RockShox or others are geared up for 16 million (USA) plus 18 million (EU).

We need to go back to the suppliers, the Shimano’s, the SRAMs, and others, to get them to believe and to inspire them to invest, because capital investments are big. When I spoke to key leaders at these component makers a month or so ago, they said, “You know, Bob, it really sounds good. You want us to invest between $100 to $300 million, and we’re not going to see the returns on that for many years. Essentially, we’re not going to be ready to be able to scale up capacity until, at the least, two years from now. And so, two years from now, is the demand to be at the same pace that it is today?”

KC
And are we going to continue to see this growth pattern?

BM
Kristin, I wish I knew the answer to it. From the European side, as well as from the American side, we believe the market will continue to grow. We are investing. We’re willing to put some skin in the game. We’re all ready to start investing in whether it’s via social media, advocacy, promotions, marketing, and/or advertising to continue to keep those COVID riders engaged. We’re all aligned on that and we all are aligned on the fact that there’s a good opportunity to keep the excitement and the engagement alive. Engagement and keeping that excitement alive is going to be from three key market sectors.

The first area where we’re going to continue to see growth is with kids’ bikes. A lot of that has to do with parents. Kristin, you’re a parent, and you know what it’s like. Parents historically have been very cautious around the safety of their kids, and hesitant to send them outside and ride independently on the streets. What we’ve found during the COVID era is that parents don’t want their kids watching videos and playing video games all day. They also don’t want them using up all the valuable Wi-Fi while they’re working from home. So they buy them a bike and send them out of the house for the day. Their kid comes back happy and smiling, and the parents have found new inspiration. They’re now confident that they can trust that their kids are going to be safe and happy. I think that that trend is going to continue. We’re going to see a new generation of parents who have confidence in the safety of the product and safety of their kids.

The second area where we’ll see continued growth is with people graduating from sport bikes to performance bikes. There will be some post-COVID buyers who are going to want to wear Lycra cycling shoes and a helmet. It won’t be all of them, but we’ll be able to convert some of them. There’s going to be a graduation, and that could also create an upscale in growth.

The third area of growth that we’ll see is the use of bikes for transportation and utility, in particular, what’s happening with e-bikes. There’s no surprise to us in the industry. Globally, we call e-bikes “the smile machines.” We’re seeing a large population of people moving to transportation-focused and utility bikes as opposed to using public transportation. With the concept of personal mobility, there’s going to be some continuity with active mobility. It will be one of the biggest growth sectors for years to come.

These perspectives are shared globally. There are a few gaps, including with mid-priced sport bikes under 1000 euros or dollars. This area could potentially fall back to pre-pandemic levels, or they could stabilize where they currently are. This market includes people walking into a bike shop who are purchasing mid-level bikes because they can’t play soccer, basketball, or do their usual preferred activities, and have sought out another physical activity in biking. We think that when the pandemic is behind us, they may go back to their original sporting passion. We’re trying hard to retain those people and keep them interested.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: There is a significant spike in demand that has plateaued since April but is up 30% from previous years. The bicycle industry will continue to see growth in three key areas: kids’ bikes, people graduating from sport bikes to performance pikes, and with e-bikes and bicycles used for transportation and utility. Brands need to be inspired to invest in these new consumers from this surge in the industry.

Part 2 and 3 of this interview can be accessed by joining the Big Gear Show Retailers Only Private Group, along with additional resources, webinars, and strategic content created for The Big Gear Show community.

The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.

Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year. 

Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.

The post Interview with Bob Margevicius, Part 1 appeared first on National Bicycle Dealers Association.

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Jenn Dice & Amelia Kegel

Fri, 8/21 10:08AM • 44:09

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

bike, bike shop, people, ride, city, infrastructure, community, network, bicycle, mountain bike, years, important, places, projects, bike ride, retailers, talking, bike lanes, industry, helping

SPEAKERS

Jenn Dice, Rod Judd, Amelia Kegel, Kent Cranford

Rod Judd  00:10

You are listening to Bicycle Retail Radio brought to you by the National Bicycle Dealers Association.

Amelia Kegel  00:17

Hello, my name is Amelia Kegel and I’m here with bicycle retail radio on by the NBDA. I am the owner of Wheel & Sprocket here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And my brother Noel. We are second-generation bike shop owners. I’m also a board member of the NBDA. I have the intense pleasure today of interviewing Jenn Dice from people for bikes on a segment on how to be an effective bike advocate and why it’s more important now than ever before. So without further ado, welcome, Jenn. 

Jenn Dice  00:46

Thank you, Amelia. Great to be here. 

Amelia Kegel  00:48

So before we get into the thick of it, I was just trying to thank Jen, the first time that I met you, I think was actually in Las Vegas at a bike pack conference. And I just remember seeing this like this poised lady talking about some super important issues and just lighting up the room. And I think from the second I saw you talk, I was just like, Who is this lady? And how do I be more like her? 

Jenn Dice  01:11

You are so nice. Thank you very much every year at Bike PAC You’re an amazing dad, Chris, and you and your brother No, and you would bring a pack of folks from Wheel & Sprocket. I love that every year your dad would come, he would max out, he understood the importance of the political action committee, and he would just be this, bring everybody else along with him so that they could hear more about exploring and people for bikes work in Washington, DC. And Chris was a longtime board member, and it’s an honor and pleasure to work with him and get to know you all. It was always super fun. And you know, today we’re gonna dive into a couple of topics. We have some things to ask, but really at the beginning of things here, I just want to start off Jenn. Hey, how are you? Let’s get started with a little bit of your background and what got you into this whole Career focus.  A great question. I’m great. Thanks for asking. I actually grew up in the Midwest, I grew up in South Dakota. I went to an undergraduate there. And in college, I had a mountain bike and I just absolutely fell in love with riding my mountain bike and all these dirt roads around South Dakota. And then I went to Kansas for grad school, same thing, mountain bike, all these dirt roads. absolutely loved it. And then after grad school, I moved to Colorado. And in Colorado, I lived in Summit County and my first you know, Colorado boyfriend got me into mountain biking and taking that mountain bike out on true singletrack. And I just fell in love with mountain biking and my Colorado lifestyle. And you know, I’ve been here ever since. And the guy really lucky that my favorite hobby of mountain biking turned into my profession. Because I was always in public policy. I was a lobbyist, I worked a lot of state legislatures. And one day I met Ken Blumenthal, and he told me all about IMBA, the International Mountain Bike Association and we totally hit it off and I went to work with him. And so I’m getting to falling in love with bikes on the personal side between mountain biking, and then turning it into my personal profession has been really a great ride. 

Amelia Kegel  03:11

So, Jenn, you started with the bike industry and kind of a cool way. So you got to be able to ride bikes and then actually start going out there and advocating for them. But really, how to do people for bike start 

Jenn Dice  03:21

People for Bikes started in 1999, it’s about a 20-year-old organization, and, you know, sort of 10 of our forefathers, your dad being one of them. They came together and they decided to grow participation and to grow the pie for all of the bike industry. They were going to set aside their differences set aside competition, and say, Okay, we’re going to form an industry association to make sure that we get more funding and access for bikes. And so they came up with their first set of bylaws and they decided to tax themselves in air quotes, you know, the tax themselves rate for us sales, so that all of the bike industry would pay into an industry association to make sure that Congress continued to dry, a really big check for the bike. And then ultimately, they worked on public policy, bike access funding of all stripes. And so 20 years later, a couple of years ago, we changed our name from bikes blonde to people for bikes, we have a consumer-facing campaign of 1.3 million Americans United for more and better riding. So we decided to change our name from Bikes Belong to People for Bikes, and it’s been great. That’s an awesome history lesson. It must have been so hard, right? Everyone’s coming from all their different competitive fields. Was it really hard to get everyone on the same page? Or what kind of fun did that or feel that?  If Tim were on this podcast, he could answer that question because it was way before my time, I have to admit. But I think that I mean, truly people recognized that there was a need instead of just working on your bike random just selling your bike that they had this larger vision for what bicycling in America could be. And in order for that to happen, they needed to come together and truly set competition aside not to talk about sales, talk about changing America, through infrastructure, better bike lanes better singletrack more bike parks, and really to do all of that they needed a lot more funding from Congress and from the States. And so I’m sure there were contentious moments through the years as they sort of formed and evolved. And I know that several years into forming bikes blog, that’s when they formed the political action committee Bike PAC and really got a lot more active in Washington, DC and it took them to another level. And then actually now it’s another big moment in our history. July 1, we emerged with the bicycle products, the Players Association. So all of those leaders from the bicycle from BPSA are now even more part of our organization and we’ve been working really closely with them for the last three years, on dozens of different issues, to grow the bike industry to grow, bike participation, etc. Well, we decided to merge and July one, it was effective. And so now we’re a much stronger, bigger organization. So that’s another point in our history in his 20-year history. 

Amelia Kegel  06:19

I mean, that’s super exciting. You know, a lot of this stuff is a little bit beyond, you know, here we are a bike shop owners and we’re really trying to make a positive difference. And sometimes it feels like you know, we’re a little lonely and like in our communities, it’s kind of hard to bang that drum and tell people this is important. But I really do remember hearing the early days of the Bikes Belong and People for Bikes conversation. It really is if we come together and we can have a common goal and really put some main objectives for the year, we can get some real things accomplished. So I think it’s extremely exciting. You know, I think a lot of bike shops and a lot of bike shop owners are aware of people for bikes. I think it’s really interesting and it’s important to share this history. It really just happened with a few folks that came together as all something bigger in the room. So I think that’s super. Yeah, well, thanks for sharing. 

Jenn Dice  07:07

Sure, well said it really you’ve heard the saying that all politics is local. And it’s really true. So many bike shops have great stories of a local bike path or bike park or a protected bike lane that they helped put into their city or is near their bike shop that is directly responsible for their sales, and why they’re able to grow cycling in their particular communities. We do a lot with local bike shops, whether it’s calling their Mayor or showing up at their state capitol or bringing them to Washington, DC to make sure that their member of congress knows that there are many votes that impact small business owners back at home and so buy shops have the ability to make a big difference, both locally and nationally through MBDA for people for bikes, and really just caring about their local bike infrastructure because it directly impacts their passion for bikes and their sales for bikes.  For sure, and really kind of take a look at the national level to boil the ocean and make America a better place for bikes. That’s a hard task that really seems impossible. But if we all have a way and an effective way to kind of present ourselves, and then have a common message, it just seems a little bit smarter. Hey, if we do this at the same time, and a lot of different places, it really is amazing the result. So just a huge plug for people for bikes for helping us out there.

Amelia Kegel  08:27

A lot of people are always interested in ways that you know, how can we help grow the pie? And I heard a little bit earlier you were saying, you know, we kind of pinpoint ourselves against other countries, and there are ways to do things appropriately. But what do you think Jen? Like, what do you think really sets us apart from Europe? And the reason what sets us so differently? And what’s so different about Europe with the way that they’re creating bike infrastructure? Do you see that potential here in the United States? 

Jenn Dice  08:52

Definitely, and so what Europe does differently than the US is that they really prioritize bike infrastructure over time. The last 30 to 40 years and 30 to 40 years at first blush sounds like a long time, but it really isn’t.  that we have a lot of communities that are already down that path significantly towards building a connected bike network. We know that people are not going to ride their bikes unless they’re safe. They feel that they have a great way to get from, where they live to where they want to go. And so a lot of our infrastructure work and our measurement programs are really laser-focused and on building connected bike networks and helping cities measure those networks in a meaningful way so that they can improve them over time. Our places for bikes program and our city rating system is really a way to benchmark those goals and move in the right direction. And so what we’re trying to bring to the US is clear measurement tools so that cities can be focused on the right things. And euro shirt, they definitely have an advantage over us and that’s partly why We take dozens of people to Europe a year on our international study tours. So that will take them to comparable cities. So they can learn the best practices from just what are the things I can do now when I go home, to make a change in my community, we want to make sure that people aren’t overwhelmed by it. And there’s truly an action plan that we can help them put into place to start now to move in the direction of better bike network in the US.

Amelia Kegel  10:26

For sure, and I think you have an interesting point there. You know, a lot of this work has been done. What were you saying like in the last 30 years, we’ve really set some groundwork, and it’s really coming to fruition. I remember my dad would always say, you know, kind of like a bike path is like planting a seed and plant a seed at 20 years later, you maybe get a tree, but it was so amazing to me. You know, we’ve had these I’ve been very fortunate and been able to go a lot of places throughout the country. And it just sticks out in my mind that we went to Alaska one year, like maybe four or five years ago and there were bike lanes literally an Anchorage. I was just like, this isn’t something that they decided to do. This is something that came from the top down. I was so interested to see how all of this planning and this work in Washington and really devoting money and time and energy to the right things and getting the right people involved, has equal bike lanes, on towns even as far away as Alaska. So it’s pretty cool to watch. 

Jenn Dice  11:22

I love to hear that. I mean, that’s why we do the work that we do because Alaska on their own is not going to have the money to put in a connected bike network. But if we make sure that the federal government is sending Alaska as much money as we possibly can, to the federal government, for more connected networks and bike lanes, single track, etc. We start with a policy we make sure that bikes are eligible for as much as possible. We work on access for bikes and funding for bikes and if things come from the federal, state and local level, if we line that up, it’s that much easier for cities to do the right thing and give Americans choices about how they move around their city, whether it’s Kenya Getting for work or going to the grocery store, or going out for a fun ride with friends. You know that. So that’s kind of like our philosophy is we start with the infrastructure, and then we work locally. 

Amelia Kegel  12:09

That’s so great. So in general, if you could just give a tiny pitch on people for bike strategy, year in and year out, what do you guys try to do?

Jenn Dice  12:17

 The number one thing we make sure at the federal level is to be the guardians of federal funding per bike. So this year, the federal government will spend about a billion dollars and it’ll translate into about 1700 bike projects. And most projects are sort of 8020 80% from the federal government 20% from a local match. There’s a lot of nuances there. But we know that a lot of that money is a catalyst for really important projects for bicycling and walking. And another big part of our strategy with infrastructure is yesterday was election day. And we have this woman on staff Her name is Ashley Seward, and she is a watchdog of any state and a local ballot initiative that could be funding for the bike. So funding for bike infrastructure or open space preservation Bike Park, you name it. I think this year, Ashley sent out 197 actual words are ready this year, it translates into another $1 billion per bike. So cash for bike infrastructure and capture by the project is truly one of the most important things. And in my time here at people for bikes, we’ve gotten more and more sophisticated about playing in the local ballot measure election issues, you know, making sure that we’re out on the frontlines helping city counties and states make sure there are as much funding and opportunity as possible for bike network.

Amelia Kegel  13:42

That is so wonderful to hear. here in Wisconsin, we’ve had some awesome help from people for bikes, but then just taking what is one of the projects that you know really hit home for you or one of the ones throughout your career that you’re just really proud of? 

Jenn Dice  13:56

That’s a good question. So one project that leaps to mind that was really difficult that I’m proud of looking back is I worked at IMBA for quite a few years. And we were just absolutely losing out on a lot of public lands initiatives at the local level, where we didn’t even have a seat at the table for mountain bikers to negotiate where trailers should go, and where public lands protection should go as well because as a mountain biker, you really care about protecting the lands or on your trails. But you also feel like you want to continue to ride those trails that you believe in. And there are many other bike networks that are being planned to be built. And so the negotiation process that happens at the forest and the National Park Service and the BLM level is really important. And but we really didn’t have a seat at the table and dozens of those initiatives. And so one year at the Bicycle Leadership Conference, Mike senior from specialized John Burke from Trek, Tim Blumenthal from Bikes Belong at the time and remember, the four of us stood on stage at the BLC and made it clear for raising funds to really help IMBA launch into the public lands initiative category to really help negotiate a lot of those projects. And by the end of that day, we raised $800,000. From the bike industry, it was amazing. And we literally were able to hire lawyers and lobbyists and negotiators and facilitators, and we really got a seat at the table at 27 of those projects. And we had great success and actually 26 out of those 27 projects. So that’s something that I’m definitely proud of, of showing competitors in the bike industry coming together to find IMBA and Bikes Belong to really make it happen for public lands, protection, and mountain bike access. 

Amelia Kegel  15:41

It’s so awesome. It really seems as though you know, people for bikes have been around for you said 2030 years or so. And it seems like you guys are getting smarter with every project, right? So you’re taking what you learn from one area and then able to move it on to the next area of application. 

Jenn Dice  15:56

Absolutely. We try our best.

Amelia Kegel  15:57

That is really great. And so you No. people for bikes is a national organization that really is trying to provide great information and help and support to all different states and municipalities. But we’re kind of wondering, you know, so a lot of us listening or bike shop owners, and then I was just maybe interested, what do you think are some of the things that we could do as a bike shop, to really move the needle to help be better advocates to help make some of this stuff come to fruition? 

Jenn Dice  16:23

Well, one project we’re particularly excited about one program that we just released. It’s called ride spot, and we designed it with bike retailers over the last two years actually, we released it to the bike industry at Sea Otter this spring, right spot is all about keeping the conversation going with your customers and getting them on great bike rides for them. So when you think about it, bike shops do a great job of selling bikes, but when that bike goes out your front door, you really have no idea what happens to it. You know, do they get a flat tire? Is it in the basement with cobwebs on it? Did they go on a bike ride and get By cars or distracted drivers, and they’re just like, Nope, it’s too scary, you know, they’re sort of one and done. And so we work with bike shops to design a program that keeps the conversation going by showing people the best routes for them. So it’s really targeted at beginners and intermediate, basically talking to those customers that might be infrequent cyclists or might be insecure cyclists, and making sure we find the absolute best bike ride to the kind of bike they have and for what their goals are. So you know, is it a family ride? Is it a mom’s ride? Is it a tackle ride? Is it a brewpub ride? So so many times when people walk into your shop, they really want to know where it’s a great ride, and having a good answer through ride spot is part of it. But keeping the conversation going through events, through group meetups, through really mentoring people through fun community and great experiences, is really what it’s all about and you know, wheel and sprocket. There couldn’t be a better example of using events to generate people who ride bikes and get excited about experiences on it. So the new program that we have that we’ve designed with retailers in mind rides by is a great way to engage your customers on great bike rides, 

Amelia Kegel  18:15

For sure and done you know, so at our shops, we’ve installed these awesome displays, I have a map and through the help of red spot, and really with all of the infrastructure and help work that went into that, we have something that is so tangible for people to understand. So they literally go up to a map and they say, Oh, I’m looking for you know, a family-friendly ride, you’d be like five or 10 miles and we have a little card that we can give them that give them you know, a scan so I can get turned by turn directions. They can go on the website and they can see pictures and stories of what the ride is actually like. We’ve had this up for just a few months and the response has been amazing. So if you guys haven’t checked out rides pilot this thing is a really important not only sales tool, but Dan was saying like, selling the bike is just the beginning. I really do think that’s bike shops’ responsibility to be part of their community and to make sure that people are actually enjoying the ride as they leave the parking lot.

Kent Cranford  19:11

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Amelia Kegel  19:48

So what I really liked learning about too is you guys put a lot of research into this, you know, there are all these studies. What does it come down to Why do people not ride bikes? 

Jenn Dice  19:57

Through our research, we know the number one barrier Cycling is that people don’t know where to ride safe. And that’s fun, really. And the number two reason is that they want other people to ride with, they need that mentor. They want that sense of community, they want to go have fun experiences with other people. So we spent six months actually on rides by just really doing a deep dive into the barriers to cycling, you know, of the barriers that we can control. You know, we certainly can’t control the weather, we can’t hire people, babysitters, or give them more time. But the barriers that we can control or where to ride and who to ride with and the rides platform is entirely designed around that. We also know that when people see pictures of the terrain, when they see pictures of people that look like them out riding, having a good time, it’s a social network as well. So ride spot, helps you share pictures of the route where the route is, what their level of expectation is when they get there. So if I can see Oh, that train, I can totally do that on a mountain bike or that rail the trail. That looks like a good place for me to take my kids And I can see this as a family-friendly ride that my local bike shop is recommending. So rides that’s really all built around where to ride by giving people specific routes for their needs. And then showing them pictures of the route, the story of the route, and how much fun they can have out there. And then, of course, the icing on the cake is, we’d love for them to join us it was a group event. So we’re doing a lot of work with bike shops that specialize in beginner events because that is where this ride spot can truly be our industry campaign to get Americans riding bike. So if you can imagine the best bike shop, do a whole menu of beginner-intermediate rides that are casual that are fun, that are really inviting, and getting people out on a good bike ride for them. 

Amelia Kegel  21:49

Totally. And I think you know, a lot of us spend every day in our shops or every day in the bike industry thinking about bikes but the blatant facts as most people know nothing about bikes or Very little. But so many people are interested and they’re willing to learn. You guys know this, people need to be shown how and where to ride a bike, you would never just wake up one day and say, Hey, I’m going to go ride on this crazy road that has a bike lane on it, because I saw other people do it. You know, I think it takes a special person to be motivated to do that. But if we offer an easy way to get involved, and to be here, here are my favorite rides. I think it’s just really an effective way. And you guys all know this, we used to just take a piece of paper from the receipt paper and then draw a little map and say, hey, go for miles up the road here. And then when you see a barn on the left, that’s a great place to enter the Hager and stay trail. It just was so there was so much effort involved and now this amazing campaign and this amazing program have really come to fruition and I just have to say if you guys aren’t doing where I thought it’s something that you should use this prep season offseason to be doing it’s just so fun. I go I appreciate the commercial announcement. 

Jenn Dice  22:57

Thank you so much, Amelia. It does. Yeah. Ian Christie who owns summit bicycles in the Palo Alto area, I think it’s five stores and the Beeline franchise. Ian does that every time he sends the rides by email out with content, about great rides versus, you know, this bikes on sale or this percentage off of that he has a 35% higher open rate because people get excited about new bike experiences, where to ride that bike they just bought from you. And it keeps the conversation going with customers in a more sophisticated way that you care about their ride, care where they’re going, and that you’ve got a bunch of fun selections for them to keep it going. You also make paintings out of our red cards. So what we know from our research too, is that people they like the idea of a bike, they want to be healthier, they want to be out and about but they really can’t quite make the connection of the bike that they’re going to buy and where they should ride that bike. So by making ride or bike-specific hang tags for your client mix that also helps keep the conference Going so on gravel bike commuter bikes on mountain bikes, etc, you know having specific ride cards for the kind of clientele and the experience they’re looking for.

Amelia Kegel  24:09

That’s an awesome idea to put the right card on the bike, to begin with. And there’s a conversation starter. I love it. Exactly. So, you know, this is kind of cool. We’ve kind of talked about this big scale advocacy, you know, big projects that happen on a national level, it’s very clear to me that people for bikes is doing an awesome job to support cycling from the big scale. And I think this is awesome because now we’re really talking about a way that we can help as bike shop owners and people who work at the bike shop are just saying we should just get more people outside riding, huh? Exactly do what you do best and share your passion for bikes and your passion for writing and probably why you got into business in the first place. And really, when we designed rides bought with bike shops, that’s what we were fundamentally trying to get back to. Can we create a campaign to get more people riding bikes around what we love and know best and it’s great phrases derived and people to ride with. I love it. That’s super cool. And you know, all of these programs kind of work together. So you know, I know people for bikes have a lot of awesome programs that are going on, kind of we’re talking about that places for bikes program that nationally ranks different cities and creates like a universal grading system. But do you think if we start doing more rides and more routes and plugging more stuff and ride spots, does that help our city rankings? Do you see any parallels there? 

Jenn Dice  25:26

100% so in our places for bikes program, and our city ratings program, Ride Spot rolled all that up. So we’re basically dropping ride spot pins on great bike infrastructure in cities across America. So through our city rating system will rate probably 500 cities this year on a five-star scale of how they do for bicycling, and it’s a way to help cities understand and network ridership safety acceleration region, as you know, in a handful of different areas, how they measure up and how they can rapidly improve and writes about sort of calm are places for bikes and our big jumps getting worse, where we’re really pushing cities to rapidly expand, they’re connected that bike network. So to ride by, we drop a pin on this great bike infrastructure, we show people where to ride and new infrastructure that’s going in, and even more, you know, through rides, but we can reward people for doing it. So it really sorts of wrapped up a lot of our infrastructure programs in our praises for Beck’s program, with taking it down to the level of how we actually get people riding bikes on this great new infrastructure that we helped build with the city. Kind of the icing on the cake there too is through writes about, we will know we’ll have the heat maps and know where people ride. And we already work with cities and really try to pinpoint the best places in those cities where they could add a better bike network because a lot of cities like to go out and build sort of the low hanging fruit over here and over there, but it doesn’t necessarily move the needle for the number of people riding bikes by helping them know how to get from A to B and feel safe while doing it. So, red spot and our places for bikes program are helping us be much more strategic in helping cities be exactly where they should build up that bike network through, you know, a data-driven program on the back end, but a consumer-facing get out and ride your bike through ride spot on the front end. 

Amelia Kegel  27:20

Yeah, and if you guys haven’t looked at your score lately, maybe we can put a link to that in the podcast here. But it’s pretty humbling. So you know, like here in Milwaukee, I think we’re ranked below a tree. But for me, hey, there’s lots of opportunity. And then other things too. We don’t do a great job of even showing our public where these bike paths are. They’re not documented or not online. They’re not really easy to access. So it’s been really good for us. We now have a framework when we go to like City Council’s and you know, by the way, I do think it’s very important for bike shop owners to designate a person to show up to local meetings, so we have to show up to be a part of the conversation and if we want better bye infrastructure, we have to advocate it or it on a local level. But where I’m trying to go with that is the places for bikes program helps you give some ratings. And it’s also really easy for city planners to start looking at some of the metrics and then seeing where they could move the needle. So that has been an effective tool. Wow, people for bikes, so many great things to help us, like shop owners create a better experience in our local community. I learned from my dad really early on, it’s hard to do at all, but you really have to do a lot of things well, and for us to grow our business and really get new writers out there. It’s work. It definitely requires you creating an action plan and trying to figure out a strategy to it. But one of the best things that we do at wheeling sprocket is we really empower our employees to also be a part of the conversation. So you know, we have a few stores in different markets. And we really encourage our staff to show up to the public meetings and really be a part of the voice. Because we do think at the end of the day, a bicycle-friendly community is just the community to live in. And I think a lot of us do-gooder bike shop people like we really do want to be able to use our influence or whatever, to help create a better experience for our riders, because we’ve all been there, right? If you’ve taken a kid on a road, and it’s just been so unsafe, it’s a bad experience, and then all of a sudden, that person is never going to ride again. So I think there are some simple things that we can do. But then there are also some hard stuff that we have to do too. So I do like this conversation because there’s a lot of good ways to be involved. And recapping just a little bit, you know, I think pointing people to people for bikes in general, to support and become a member. You guys just did a big survey, right? That’s still going on, or is that done? 

Jenn Dice  29:41

Yeah, our community survey. So I think we’re above up to 65,000 people who have filled out a community survey, and you can push it out through your bike shop so that if your customers tell your city, what it’s like to ride in your community, it really helps our overall TV ratings and our bicycle network. And now This tool so that we can help cities be better for bikes. And it starts with what do local residents Think about your bike network? And how can we improve it?

Amelia Kegel  30:08

That’s an easy thing. We can all help with that we all have our networks. And you know, I think it’s really important to get that data from all over the country. So that’s an easy thing. Another easy thing is to really start looking at the right spot stuff. It’s an awesome website. It’s easy to implement. Have you heard some other good bike shops that are doing a good job with it? 

Jenn Dice  30:29

Yeah, no, it’s been great. We have 950 bike shops that have signed up this fall and winter, we’ll be working with bike shops one on one to have them upload great rides into the system. It’s, you know, 99% of this is free, we actually haven’t even rolled out the premium version of it. So it’s easy and fast for bike shops to get online with a ride spot. We have six super short and fun videos that take you through how to put a ride in the system, how to put some great pictures in and maybe a little bit of text and really make sure that you have a great mix of good rides by rides for your customers. Every single one of these rides, we’ve got the cards that you can put in-store, but each one of the cards has a QR code. So for tech-savvy folks that are used to navigating by their phone, they scan the QR code and they’re off to the races to the ride. You don’t have to write on the back of the receipt paper the 22 instructions to go Do you know the challenge loop is right there on their phone or right there on the right spot card. So it’s pretty easy and seamless and literally designed with retailers in mind. So red spot.org is the website there six retailer b2b videos of how to use it, but it’s been great. Yeah, we are been really busy working with retailers getting them in on the system getting their in-store displays up and running with ride spot and getting the cards in so it’s a good time for us to help retailers. Use the platform. 

Amelia Kegel  31:51

For sure. And again, like right now is a great time to do it. It’s you got a little bit of extra time wants to keep employees busy. It’s actually pretty fun to think about what is the best route in our area. And you guys all know those, you can probably think of like 20 rides in your head, that you’re like, oh, I would take a customer on that. So use this time, you’re really encouraged to really put some thought into it and get your cards ready, and the faces of the people who pick up the card and then download the app, and then get that first turn. It’s really magical. People are like, what? Whoa, cool. So I highly encourage people to give that a try. So those are some easy things. Are there any other easy things on your mind that could help us be more effective advocates if we all do it together, john, you know, we’re grateful for all the support. 

Jenn Dice  32:38

NBDA has given us and Ride Spot that’s actually a retailer membership. Now for retailers to be part of people for bikes, we want them to download ride spot and use it and that’s sort of how they give back to their industry campaign for getting more Americans riding. I appreciate that you also empower your employees to show up at local meetings, anytime. Time a retailer is interested in doing that, you know, call people for bike, we’re a hotline or the red phone to call us and we’re happy to give you talking points, we’re happy to give you a little bit of advice on how to be more successful there. There’s nothing more powerful than a small business owners that shows up and talks about the importance of a bike lane or a connected bike network or bike park project that might be happening in your local community. And we’re here to help those retailers be more effective that Ashley that I told you about that do our fall vote provide campaign and this you know, this call, like I said, we’ll secure about $1 billion more for bikes by helping local advocacy, and local state and local ballot initiatives. Any retailer that sees one of those across the country. We’re here to help and we’ll send that same action alert out to your city or your county or your state to help make sure that you guys have wins for bikes there. That’s why we formed our people for bikes 1.3 million grassroots army in the first place, so we can ready to help. Hello, try to put in more bike network near them. 

Amelia Kegel  34:08

I love that because I actually was going to classify that as a harder thing to do. But it sounds like people for bikes has resources to help make it easy. Because it is a little intimidating to have to go in front of people in speak. But again, when you’re talking about something that you’re passionate about that makes sense to you, it is so important to just go and say that so you guys are all smart enough. You know what’s good for your community, you’re a part of it. And it’s an important thing, just show up, start talking. Another thing that’s a little bit hard, but I have seen extreme benefit from john, you guys do such an awesome job doing some yearly fly-ins to Washington to really help put people in front of their legislators and senators and talk about why these things are important from the top down. So can you guys talk just a little bit about the flying program or where you guys see that going in the future? 

Jenn Dice  34:53

We do we take probably 25 to 40 depending on the year. decoratives bike shop owners to Washington DC through four to five clients where we do all the work. And all you have to do is show up and talk about your business. It’s important that members of Congress know what’s happening for bikes back at home. So every year we’ll do bike retailer, you know, NBDA executives fly in. And I think the last fly-in, we probably had about a dozen bike shops come to Washington, we help you with talking points. We schedule the meetings, we have all the handouts, staff, the meetings, and we go and we make sure that members of Congress know what the bike industry agenda is. And it’s usually funding its access. We’ve worked on small business issues like debit card swipe fees, we’ve worked on tax credits. We’re, of course really active on tariff issues in the last year to make sure that we bring down the cost of bikes. And so nothing is more powerful than a small business owner talking to their member of Congress about their real-world scenario back in the district as it relates to bikes and we make it so easy. 

Amelia Kegel  36:00

I will. Second I’ll give a testament, you know, I was kind of nervous going into it. And to give you talking points, you see examples. And then I think it’s one of my new favorite things to do is to be able to be an effective communicator to someone who, you know, their job is to really listen to people and members of their community. And if we don’t go and talk to them on a yearly basis, you know, how are they to know what the people actually want? So, I think that’s one of the batteries, or one of the awesome programs that you guys do as well. Thank you. 

Jenn Dice  36:29

We go once, you know, we have a team in Washington, DC, they’re super talented. And they’re there every day during meetings on the hill and with federal agencies, you know, talking for bikes, but we used to just sort of go with one big industry push once a year, and it’s just not enough. Now. We’re there four to five times a year with teams of people having meetings on the hill to accelerate our agenda, and it’s really made a difference over the four or five years of the program where we’re there, you know, basically every other month with a big team of people. 

Amelia Kegel  36:59

For sure, you know, my dad was very well known for, like these little known sayings. But you know, one of the things was that hard work is never wasted. And when I really take a look at people for bikes and just hearing some more about this history, it’s been the constant drumming of the drum, right? It’s been there regularly. So let people recognize your face. It’s not that they’re hearing these issues for the first time. We’re reminding them constantly that they’re still issues. So I think that’s a great way. It’s such good work. 

Jenn Dice  37:27

Thank you. It’s just and we’re not satisfied with biking in America, you know, there’s just it’s not good enough. We are impatient. We have a sense of urgency. And so we just constantly need to talk to them about building better infrastructure and paper infrastructure. And so that’s why there’s sort of this sense of urgency of showing up and making sure that we’re advocating for bike network bike participation in the bike industry. 

Amelia Kegel  37:54

I love it. I love it. We’re kind of wrapping up here on a high note, so I have to just ask you, Jenn, so you’ve been able to go In all sorts of countries all over the world, who really have some excellent infrastructure, and I have to just ask you who’s doing it right? 

Jenn Dice  38:07

Well, our international study tours are the Copenhagen Amsterdam, and to be a Spain and Barcelona sound like big cities, but we often take people to the suburbs and to communities that look just like their American communities. So they can learn from the best models of connected by networks over in Europe, in our city rating system. It seems daunting when you think oh, I want to try to go be like a Copenhagen or I want to go try to be like in Amsterdam, well, Seville, Spain, just built this amazing connected bike network and basically three years, they went from like a Houston to a Portland in terms of the number of people that were riding bikes, and rapidly implemented in three years and it was so wildly popular. They’re, you know, basically doubling the network in the next two to three years. So it’s encouraging. We know the playbook of how you can do that. And so we Have a lot of case studies to help people figure that out. Another community I’m really excited about here in the United States is Bentonville. I spend a lot of time in Northwest Arkansas, and mountain bicycling is world-class. And it’s absolute there’s, I think it’s like 300 miles a purposeful, single track and counting. And I think it’s 450. All in when you talk about their protected bike lanes or greenways. They’re on street network, while they’re on the street network is not that great yet. And so Bentonville and northwest Arkansas has been sending their leaders to Europe, and to some of our people for bikes conferences for years. And they’re really making a commitment to building a better on street-connected bike network to match their off-street mountain bike network. So there’s a lot of shining stars and unusual places in America that we’re seeing things rapidly accelerate.  That’s so awesome. So as we’re wrapping this amazing conversation up, I just have to ask you to we’re heading into 2020 we have a brand new decade ahead. Where do you think America will In the next 10 years at 2030, where do you see us. 

Amelia Kegel  40:03

we are working with sort of the best and brightest cities to rapidly accelerate their connected bike network. And we’ve gotten a lot more sophisticated in the last few years, not just working on their funding and not just working on their access and eligibility, but also giving elected officials and community leaders, sort of the political cover and power and community behind why people want choice and people want connected bike network and why building that out is part of a smart city, a green city, a city that’s concerned about climate change, cares about the health and mobility and quality of life of their communities. We say a lot of people for bikes. You know, it’s not about what the bike can do for the city, or what the city can do for bicycling. It’s what bicycling can do for the city in terms of quality of life and community. Unity and health. And so we see that cities 10 years from now, many more cities than we have. And our current city rating system will hit that threshold of 3.5 stars or a 50 scale and our DNA, and it sounds wonky. But when you hit 50, all these great things happen for bikes in your communities. And so we can see a lot of communities that have a significant amount of people riding bikes in their area, because of all these things sort of coming together, funding, infrastructure, community, political courage, and more.  I’m so excited for the future. And you know, kind of as a kid who grew up in the bike shop, you know, I have to say, back in the day, growing up and seeing all these cyclists, I really thought that bikes were a little bit touch on the nerdy side, but I have to be so excited because I really think that there are so many people who are interested in biking now. I think it’s cool. I think that people are really seeing the benefits. There’s so much empowerment involved. And I think a big part of the equation, Jen was saying earlier, people don’t feel a hundred percent safe. Everyone loves living, we all want to do things that are smart and intelligent. So if we can create awesome spaces for people to ride and really, as a bike shop owner or bike shop employee, really encourage them and point them to places that are awesome experiences. Of course, we can get there. So, you know, I always I love living in America, I think it’s really amazing to see, you know, we’re run by the people for the people. And if more people start riding bikes, the infrastructure will come along, too. And it’s just so encouraging to hear that we really have an awesome tactic as an industry. people for bikes is such an amazing organization. And I really think it’s the mindset where we all are stronger if we work together. I just have to be hopeful. I really think that we’re headed in the right direction. 

Jenn Dice  42:50

Awesome. I am, too. What a great note to end on. 

Amelia Kegel  42:53

Yeah. So thank you to all of our listeners today for supporting the NBDA and being a part of important conversations. Like this one today, we are always available to talk more to you guys and send resources your way. It really is such an important thing to be a bike shop ambassador and an ambassador for bikes in your community. And hope you guys got some good ideas today of how to actually implement that. So a huge thank you to our amazing guest Jenn Dice from people for bikes clip clip clip. Well, Rachelle, you should add some, you know, hollows and hoots in there. And then thank you so much for being a part of today’s conversation. 

Jenn Dice  43:30

Thank you so much, Amelia. And thank you so much for your and your brother’s inspiration to the whole bike industry and two bike shops across America. It’s a pleasure working with you and let’s go change the world through bikes. Yeah, let’s do it. Here we go.

Rod Judd  43:44

This has been bicycle retail radio by the National Bicycle Dealers Association. For more information on membership and member benefits, join us @NBDA.com

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The post Jenn Dice – All Politics is Local appeared first on National Bicycle Dealers Association.

On 5/29/2019, the NBDA hosted a webinar presentation: How Tariffs will Affect Bicycle Retailers, from Robert (Bob) Margevicius, Executive Vice President of Specialized. Bob has extensive experience working with trade on a national level and has a seat at the most important table in Washington DC. He not only represents the vendor side but also speaks on behalf of retailers when he advises. He currently serves as a USA Industry Trade Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce (Wilbur Ross) and the USA Trade Ambassador (Robert Lighthizer).

What does all this mean to retailers and, further, to the industry?
The proposed 25 percent tariff on these three categories-bicycles, bicycle components, and bicycle safety accessories-could have catastrophic consequences for the U.S. bicycle market. This industry supports thousands of jobs at companies like Specialized and, of course, the thousands of independent retail bicycle shops you operate that sell, repair, maintain, and service bicycles.

What you will learn:

1. What is a tariff?
2. What is the purpose of a tariff?
3. All the rhetoric about section 232 and 301 tariffs. What do they mean and why?
4. How do the section 232 and 301 tariffs impact the bicycle industry?
5. What are the tariffs that apply to bicycles and bicycle parts?
6. So, section 232 only impact domestic products (Racks, Kickstands, metal products, etc.), and DO NOT impact E-Bikes, bikes, bike parts, bike accessories directly
7. But section 301 tariffs apply directly to bicycles, E-Bikes, parts, and accessories from China. How much is this?
8. What companies and retail channels are impacted by section 301 tariffs?
9. How does this impact me?
10. What can I do to navigate this situation?

Support the show (https://nbda.com/articles/donation-form-pg511.htm#!form/Donate)

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The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.

Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year. 

Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.

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The post How Tariffs will Affect Bicycle Retailers appeared first on National Bicycle Dealers Association.

Tim Krone has been a P2* member for seven years, and Performance, Measurement, Accountability, and Profit are the four key areas that are studied intensely as part of this program. Tim joined P2 when his shop, Pedal, was young and, perhaps, stupid. In this presentation, Tim will discuss his experiences with the program and some of the methods by which the P2* program helped him be at least moderately successful. It’s worth noting that neither the P2 program nor this presentation claims to be a silver bullet that will suddenly make you rich. Instead, both are more interested in the skills and habits that will help you make more money.

*P2: Profitability Project P2: The Gold Standard in Bicycle Retail

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The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.

Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year. 

Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.

[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

The post Performance, Measurement, Accountability and Profit appeared first on National Bicycle Dealers Association.

When you want to learn how to run a profitable bike shop, you listen to a person who has actually done it. In this episode, Scott Chapin of Marsh & McLennan interviews David DeKeyser, former owner of The Bike Hub in De Pere, Wisconsin, and author of the Positive Spin series on Bicycle Retailer and Industry News magazine. David discusses how he built a successful and profitable bike shop and shares tips on what he thinks other bike shops can do to build their profitability.

About David DeKeyser

My name is David DeKeyser and my wife Rebecca Cleveland and I sold our highly profitable bike shop in DePere Wisconsin on 2/28/19.

We owned the shop and commercial real estate for 18 years and were profitable every year we were open. Prior to owning The Bike Hub I had been with Stadium Bike in Green Bay for 10 years and spent the last 5 years there as the General Manager of three stores. I and the eventual buyer of The Bike Hub tried to purchase that business, but could not come to terms. After being involved in a company with multiple stores and for two years an off-site spring sale I had ideas about running a business aimed at profitability and a great customer service experience. In 18 years we never ran a spring/summer/fall sale etc. we resisted the urge to open another location successfully many times as well. We wanted to have a certain quality of life and engineered that into our decisions on how the business was run.

The unfortunate part about all of the above was my wife and I had always held our desire to live in the Western USA in check to own and operate our business. We knew that eventually, we would relocate, and for various reasons, the timing became right for us to sell. Based on our profits, and prime retail spot it was a fairly seamless transition to sell to my old partner and competitor. We have since relocated to Fruita Colorado.

I have a streak in me that makes me question things and ask ‘what if’ and ‘why’ on a regular basis. I experimented often with things in our business always aimed at being as profitable as possible while delivering a great customer-focused experience. The phrase that did and still does drive me crazy is do you know how to make a million in bicycle retail? Start with two!†I feel many in our industry view retail as a noble cause, but do not feel it is a great way to earn a living. I believe and know first hand that bicycle retail can provide a great living, perhaps better than many retailers realize.

Support the show

David DeKeyser

Thu, 8/20 11:48AM • 41:28

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

business, profitability, buying, people, shop, charge, bike path, bike, years, rates, labor, discount, sale, margins, lease, customers, thought, Wisconsin, point, retailers

SPEAKERS

David DeKeyser, Rod Judd, Scott Chapin

Rod Judd  00:10

You are listening to Bicycle Retail Radio brought to you by the National Bicycle Dealers Association.

Scott Chapin  00:17

Hello, this is Scott Chapin. And we are going to conduct one of the first Bicycle Retail Radio shows. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m run our bike shop insurance program and other insurance programs. I’m worked for Marsh & McLennan, and a proud partner and of the NBDA for many years and I am going to be interviewing David DeKeyser, former owner of the Bike Hub. He and his wife Rebecca Cleveland had owned that for many years and I’ve actually David was a client of mine for quite a while and I always thought it was really interesting in our conversations, discussing sort of the business practices and now that he has more free time, he gets to do things like this. So, David, you want to just talk a little bit about your, your background, how you got into the bicycle industry, and then how you ended up owning your own shop for many years?

David DeKeyser  01:23

Well, I was hoping you weren’t gonna ask me a first question that could take an hour to a day answer.

Scott Chapin  01:29

I’ll give you a little much less than an hour.

David DeKeyser  01:32

Okay, I’ll try to make it as quick as possible that I grew up racing BMX bikes in the early 80s and then transitioned to mountain bikes, and I think it was my freshman year in college at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. I started working at a bike shop and just kind of fell in love with it. After college, started working full time and within a few years We were trying to friend of mine and I were trying to buy that business. After about 10 years of that, it just, it wasn’t panning out. So my wife and I decided to open up the bike hub in Superior, Wisconsin. And we ran that successfully for 18 years. And we sold it in February of this year.

Scott Chapin  02:23

Fantastic. And I’ve actually read a few of the articles that you’ve recently posted or written. And it was kind of interesting how you had definitely had a succession plan in and I’m wondering when you sold the shop, how long have you actually been thinking about and planning for that or did it happen really quickly?

David DeKeyser  02:48

I would say probably 10 years, so about seven or eight years into the business. My wife and I had always had a desire to live in the western United States someplace in Green Bay, Wisconsin is obviously not that it’s colder and darker and wetter and all that stuff. So about eight years into the business, we actually went through the process of trying to sell the business a little bit and things didn’t feel right. It felt it just it, I guess, for lack of better words, it just didn’t feel right at that point in time. But when we kind of wrapped that up, and we decided, what do we want to do next? As far as the business, I started concentrating on profitability, because the business broker that we were working with, it became really obvious to me quickly that you are only as good as your last two or three years’ worth of financials. And if you could build that business up, then you had something to sell and you can’t sell a business that isn’t profitable. Unless you find you know, the needle in the haystack type of thing. So we just really worked on becoming profitable. And in that, we started really harvesting every little bit of data that we could out of our point of sale system. And the last four to five years, we really ran the business with the intent that we wanted to sell it. And that was, you know, we were successful in the end. They’re

Scott Chapin  04:26

interesting. And did you get so we’ve had some conversations and I’ll ask you to tell a story about kickstands because I just I thought that was really interesting how, how you actually had drill-down data on that but you know, before I have you tell that little story, what resources did you turn to actually try to figure out how to become very profitable and to be able to have your books be so detailed to the nth degree of for any type of products? Service etc Did you try to figure out a lot of that on your, your own? Or did your accountant help you or tell me a little bit about how you actually became good at that?

David DeKeyser  05:10

Yeah so on the books end of things, we had an accounting firm that I had my accountant and then a QuickBooks pro advisor so I had somebody kind of on-call all the time that could log into my software and tell me if I had something goofed up but you know, the books part of it is is actually pretty easy. If you have a good accountant and a QuickBooks Bertie, we use QuickBooks Some people use something, you know, a different program. But if you have somebody that’s good, kind of watching your stuff and kind of tuning you up, you know once or twice a year before tax season, you know, so kind of late spring and then early fall it would only take a half an hour so for my pro advisor gal to go through everything and kind of make sure that it looked right for the business side to have things we use lightspeed point of sale which you know, is I’m thinking now is getting to be one of the bigger ones along with ascending. And through kind of trial and error. So you know, going back I said it took about 10 years to feel confident to sell the business and those last five years so that five years leading up to that we were really honing in on making sure that all the data that was in our point of sale was was really good. And I think it takes a while to start to understand what you’re actually looking at and pulling up reports and all of that, you know, it’s not something that happens overnight. And if you are putting in junk data, and just using your point of sale as a cash register, you’re never really going to get what you want out of it and it becomes so easy. You know, becomes second nature after a while to know what you’re looking at how to pull up those reports. But I loved to experiment, you know, with you know, we talked about the kickstands a couple of times. But you know, you would take a service item, you know, changing a flat tire or doing a tune-up and you would experiment with you know, could you get a few more dollars, could you add items on to that labor item on and that type of thing and you have little successes and you just start spreading those over, you know, the rest of your, your business, and that’s kind of how we got to that point, I think of you know, figuring out our point of sale and QuickBooks and all that was we just we made a conscious effort to really immerse ourselves in it.

Scott Chapin  07:49

So did with looking at, you know, hard goods, soft goods service, in that last 10 years of doing business? What’s sector actually grew the quickest once you started tinkering with, you know what you can charge was it the service side of that become from a growth standpoint, once you talk a little bit about that and maybe how you decided to look at that sort of carte blanche for everything that they’re doing, having a charge for that and how that really, overall affected your, your profitability on that side of things.

David DeKeyser  08:26

So I think the industry as a whole, what I always experienced was when people did tune-ups, somebody would come in and they’d get a tune-up and, you know, your say your tuneup is $50 or 75, whatever, whatever you’re charging, but then they would buy a pair of brake pads or get some new tires, you know, or what bar tape whatever it was, and nobody was charging to install the bar tape or the brake pads but if somebody came in and they just needed brake pads, we would charge him for the brake pads and in an installation fee, and even that was new Probably 10 years ago, you know, it used to be if you bought it, you got it installed for free. So we just started tack, you know, our labor skews, basically in the computer went from a couple of tuneups and like flat labor to all of a sudden there were 50 items in there and you are charging for each of those items. And it is you as anybody that’s worked in a shop can imagine it, you know, on a tune-up if you’re getting a bottom but you know, if it’s a good tune-up, you go from a $50 tune-up and, you know, 25 $30 worth of parts to all of a sudden you’re double or tripling that that repair ticket by adding these things on. The scariest part was I thought for sure people would push back at it. And the exact opposite happened. We had zero pushback and I think people are used to it. You know, if you went to the dentist or the car repair plate, you know, everything is itemized, and consumers expect that it doesn’t shock them, but in our industry, it’s just, you know, people throw everything on for free. We even got to the point where, you know, if somebody was buying a basket or something with a new bike, some of those things we would charge to install if they were, you know, hard training wheels were one of those things that were always hard. So we, you know, we started, if something took a little more time, we would, we would start tacking on a labor charge to it. So labor was the big one that opened it up to us. And so,

Scott Chapin  10:27

so that sort of you my next question you sort of alluded to, so you didn’t necessarily increase your shop rate per hour. It was it more just you’re getting more just by doing everything carte blanche.

David DeKeyser  10:41

Yeah, just making sure that we’re kind of line item and everything was the term that was always in my head as if a mechanic was going to do a tune-up, and you know, there are the items that are included in the tune-up. If something was going to be done extra, from a labor standpoint, then we charged for it and if that answers that question,

Scott Chapin  11:02

it does not do you think just in general, that a lot of shops feel that if they were to either do like you by actually individually having charges for specific service items, or just, in general, increasing their labor rate, do you think that’s that fear is unwarranted that the customer will push back? I mean, I know what your experience was. But if you talk to others and where they’ve had a similar experience, like I thought that we’d lose customers or I thought they would get upset at us or go to a different shop. How real or not real is that? Is that fear?

David DeKeyser  11:40

I think it’s a really unwarranted fear. And most of the dealers You know, when you talk to a shop, you get kind of two answers. There’s no way I could do that. My customers would push back I can’t rip them off. This is you know, everybody, all of my customers have smartphones and they know what everything costs. Well. That’s a funny argument. Several Everybody’s got a smartphone no matter where you are. And then the other side of it is the dealers that have started to implement, you know, making sure that they’re, they’re charging for things that are being done it from, from what I have experienced, I don’t think anybody’s really had much pushback. And if you do, it’s small enough that it’s, you know, it’s not going to warrant going backward.

Scott Chapin  12:24

Right. So you wouldn’t want to dictate Yeah, you don’t want to dictate your shop policies and procedures for the one half of 1% of people who may say something under their breath about the rate.

David DeKeyser  12:36

Yeah, and I think there’s a lot more that would say something under their breath about, I experience a lot of dealers retailers, that are really, really afraid that they’re going to offend that one out of 100 customers and instead of harvesting the 99 out of 100. There, they’re kind of bowing down to that one that might say something And I get and I get that it’s you know, you remember the one bad situation? You don’t remember all the good ones usually.

Scott Chapin  13:09

Right? Now, did you? Did you ever have a bike team like a lot of shops have where you fly the shop’s colors wear the jersey and you get a percentage off? Or did you? Did you just avoid doing that all together? Tell me a little bit about that.

David DeKeyser  13:27

So, my wife, Rebecca was a very avid and fairly high level, you know, regionally, right bike racer. So she, she was kind of the driving force behind the teams. And as time went on, and she kind of faded away from the racing scene. We did continue with the teams Yes, with discounts and you know, the shop flag and all that type of thing. And that was one of the biggest experiments. I think for me One of the scariest was we basically just stopped. We’re done. We didn’t do teams anymore. And all of the people that were on the teams that you thought were your best friends, they disappeared

Scott Chapin  14:15

overnight. So they are just they’re just doing it for the discount. Is that safe to say?

David DeKeyser  14:20

Yeah, I mean, we had a handful of people over the years that were on the discount program, you know, that was on our grassroots teams or mountain bike team, we had a triathlon team that we were sponsoring. There was a handful of people that I think understood what their role was in relation to the shop was to be an ambassador for our store, right? But it was such a small It was literally, I could count him on on one hand, and

Scott Chapin  14:48

so you would have been better off if you knowing what, what you eventually learned. Maybe there were three or four people who were good spokespeople. And if you were to give anything at all, just give it give them The discount because they were doing all the marketing and PR are we Yeah,

David DeKeyser  15:04

basically, you know all the referrals. So when you sponsor a team, you know, what are you really looking for, you know, the team, the racers are going to races where everybody else is sponsored, right? So they’re kind of preaching to the choir and they’re preaching to people that are in different churches, so they’re not going to come to your church anyway. So you want those per you know, the person during the week when they’re at work, and they’re a bike racer, and they’re there, you know, the person in the cubicle next to them says, Hey, I’m thinking about buying a bike instead of that person saying, Hey, I know where you can get a good deal because this is where I get my good deals. They say you want to go down there and talk to them because that’s the place to go, you know, they’re going to help you out. Price is not an issue, you know, that that shouldn’t come up. They’re sent, you know, they’re asking an expert where to go and they’re sending them to an expert. And that usually, you know, that usually doesn’t happen. So but for me, it was during this increase in labor, income. was where I started to realize that our best mechanic who is also our store manager, was doing the lion’s share of the teamwork, team mechanical work. And a lot of times that was, you know, no charge because it was somebody tubeless mountain bike tire that wasn’t holding air. I mean, he was just stuck in this time sinks all the time. And then if we were charging, it was at a discount. So I was tying up my, my best person on this discount rate business, and it was terrifying to cut it off. Because you know, you’re supposed to be, you know, that’s what you’re supposed to do if you have a bike shop is you’re supposed to sponsor racers and be involved and be, you know, part of the community in parentheses and all that stuff. And for us, as soon as we cut that off, it was a noticeable increase in our margins that you know, you can’t really so you’re able to track that right

Scott Chapin  16:57

away. I mean, how long did it take you to realize Like, oh, we would have been better off if we had never done that.

David DeKeyser  17:03

I would say, you know, so I think we stopped doing the teams in the fall of probably 2014 or something. I think it was probably by July of 2015. I could see the data right there are our gross dollars were the same, but our margin had shot up incredibly. staff was much more relaxed. They weren’t dealing with, you know, the Friday night emergency racers Yeah, yeah, yep. And I don’t have anything against racers or anything like that. I think that there are shops that probably do have it figured out but I think that if they looked at it as far as what it’s doing to the bottom line, I don’t I just can’t I can’t find the math to work for me personally. A be I just don’t know another industry that takes what should be its best customers and gives them discounts right on everything. You know, I have one of my closest friends on the fly fishing store, and he always laughed at me. He’s like, my best customers come in and buy stuff all the time. But you know, nobody gets sponsored, really for fly fishing. Yeah, you know, but so he had these great customers were in biking. It’s like they go through this progression where all of a sudden, now they’re a racer, they buy your shop jersey, and you give them a discount, and they’re your best customer.

Scott Chapin  18:24

No, and I can’t around because I used to be a sponsored racer myself. And I keep thinking about all the times the day before the race like something’s not working some like they never charged me for any of that. I’m thinking back of like, gosh, you know, that’s ridiculous and in for that, it just, it just seems strange that I would even ask that and this was, you know, 20 years ago, and now it’s like, No way like I just, you know, charge me more. charge me more to help me on Friday before.

David DeKeyser  18:55

Exactly. There’s just there are so few industries that have that mentality. We’re going to take the people that are coming in the most and start feeding them discounts.

Scott Chapin  19:06

Right. Interesting. Was your shop on a bike path? Yes. Yep. How does being on a path? I mean, was that like a pretty, you know, a fairly high dependent variable and your profitability or tell me a little bit about that because I talked to a lot of retail clients and there were like one of them that I work with, they’re about to move to a new location and it’s because they want to be buying the bike path. I’m just kind of curious what your sense of the value of being in that location.

David DeKeyser  19:37

So that’s one of the things that I never really felt like I was able to put a finger on really help other people. It’s a net positive for sure. Because you have such an incredible test ride experience, you know, somebody’s not riding around in a parking lot dodging cars. So so it’s an It’s a nice experience. We were on a very busy bike path. It’s a paved rail-trail the fox River Trail from Green Bay, way south in Wisconsin, it’s next to the fox River. So it’s you know, a lot of it’s pretty it’s in an urban area. So there’s, you know, lots of neighborhoods, so it’s extremely busy. You know, and you’d get the odd person that comes up with a flat tire or something that you know you would fix but it was so hard to quantify because it’s just one of those things that feel so good about being on that path. You know, you’re where things are happening. The flip side was the front of the store is on a really busy road. And I think that the exposure there was probably more important in the bike path, but I had a lot of people that would argue the exact opposite to me that would say that the bike path if you have a bike shop, and you can be within spitting distance of a place where people can ride it’s always going to be positive. I just don’t know how to measure it. Exactly.

Scott Chapin  21:13

Yeah, how to quantify it, but for sure from us, from our customer experience on the specific to the test, ride, and safety. It’s all it all makes sense. It just feels good. Yep. All right. So I self admittedly have a DD so I’m just jumping all over the place. And that’s just how this is going to be. So I want you to tell me the kickstand story with the buyer of you’re the individual that purchased your shop. And I think they were questioning whether or not they should be throwing in kickstands. But I just think that having these metrics is just a perfect example. So I’ll let it go from there.

David DeKeyser  21:52

Yeah, so I don’t want to give away too much here because the buyer still you know, right on it, give away any trade secrets or anything like that, but The wit I’ll go way, way back in time. So the kickstand story started. We were at a, I think I think it was like a trek event years ago. And there was everybody who gave away kickstands. When you were back in the 90s. You know it was when you bought a bike, you got a kickstand bottling cage. And you just threw that stuff in even though you had to pay for it. And we had some seminar and they brought this dealer out and he had started charging for kickstands. And this was a really high volume place. And the guy I would love to say who it was, but I don’t know I’ll get it wrong. Anyway, I think he bought a Cadillac or something based on him. You know what he had made and kickstands in a year or two. And it that always stuck with me. So we started charging for kickstands, obviously right away. So I’ve been charging for kickstand for years. And you know kickstands are now like 15 bucks or shops that you know are Getting 20 bucks for like a Greenfield kickstand. And if you’re a high volume recreational shop, you get to sell a lot of kickstands. And when we were selling the store, the buyer he hasn’t he owns another store in town and i and I think either they had been in he had recently bought that store as well. And I don’t remember if he was charging for kickstands or not for sure at that time, but I pulled up the data and it was, you know, I think he was pretty shocked at what those numbers were, especially when you go back, you know, five or 10 years do you think wow, I left all that money on the table. So to be able to pull up that information to know how to get it on on your kickstands or your grips or your you know, finish line lube or whatever it is, is so incredible because you start to see those little successes and I think that’s kind of the moral of that story. Right? is is is a CEP there are several models so that story number one charge for the things that you can which is basically everything consumers are expecting it. B track all of that data so that you can go back and see and see that success because it really makes you want to experiment with other things and kind of see what you can do. And I’m excited to see kind of what he does with the business as time goes on because you know that was exciting for him to see that. You could have success with just these little shifts in mentality and not just giving things away. Those little things that I think the general in the bike industry that people give away is where all of the hidden profits are.

Scott Chapin  24:49

Right. And did you Is it safe to say for the last 10 years have you won in the shop you in just about every situation sold? All everything at full margin

David DeKeyser  25:05

Yeah, that drove me nuts when so that’s another one of those things that you know is really common in the industry is when you’re buying a bike you get a bunch of stuff for 10% off, you know or, or even 15% off and I fought that tooth and nail you know don’t even give the person that deal and I don’t know why the bike business is still like that But you knew when somebody had been to one of your competitors who still was kind of giving away the farm on every sale so yeah, our goal was no discounts on anything, you know, the margins have gotten tighter the prices have, you know, been in business have continued to rise in the margins have kind of come down. There’s just not the room to be giving away everything to get a bike sale anymore in my opinion. So we didn’t do the discounts and we really never had an ad advertised sale and the 18 years that we own the business which could be, I think several podcasts. But yeah, we never ran a spring sale or a Summer Sale or an end of season sale or anything like that. The entire time that we were open.

Scott Chapin  26:17

Interesting. And there’s something you just said about margins profitability, it made me think of you so you did you own the real estate at your DePere location the whole time or did you end up buying a separate place or buying a place that you’d been leasing

David DeKeyser  26:40

so when we first opened up, we were in a strip mall, and we opened in March of 2001. And by about 14 months later, it would have been may of 2002. We made the offer on the on-property That we ended up buying. And that was obviously, I think, a great decision because it was on a bike path, which wasn’t even open really at that point in time. But yeah, so we, we, we rented in a strip mall and then moved just a year later to our location where the business still is.

Scott Chapin  27:20

Got it. So in my world, I review a lot of leases, mostly for the insurance and indemnification sections, but I see what the lease rates are. And I can only speculate that knowing what I see lease rates are in certain parts of the country, certain cities, that that is definitely a big problem for many retailers. I mean, what are your thoughts on is that really a determinant for profitability if you are unable to get into a position to purchase your own real estate, or what are your overall thoughts on that?

David DeKeyser  28:04

Yeah, I think that I think that this might be one of the elephants in the room as far as the industry kind of going forward is if margins continue to shrink, labor rates continue to rise. I mean, there’s an article every other week about mechanics aren’t making enough money. And I don’t disagree with that. But as a retailer, those things are all coming for your bottom line, you know, whether it’s your lease rates or the mechanics needing more money, etc. The sad part is in a lot of areas of the country it’s starting to feel like you can’t afford you know your occupancy expenses basically because Lisa Siri, they’re so expensive or commercial property is so expensive. It there’s a lot of areas of the country where it’s still in my mind a bargain and yeah, I can make a bunch of money. But I think that there’s there is some Really, I don’t have an answer to it, but I can’t imagine being someplace where you know, you’re, you’re spending an exorbitant amount of money compared to your, your peer that’s in Iowa, you know, and you’re in California margins

Scott Chapin  29:16

are the same if you’re ordering city of Hayward, Wisconsin and exactly a different Yeah,

David DeKeyser  29:22

yeah, everybody’s buying the stuff for the same price. So now when you’re in one of these kinds of the high cost of living areas, your labor rates are going to be a lot higher, your occupancy expenses are going to be a lot higher. So it’s a huge deterrent, I think, to not only profitability but to those areas being served by, you know, retailers eventually because they’re just going to kind of get priced out of the market.

Scott Chapin  29:48

So you’d recommend if, if possible if you can figure out a way to purchase your own real estate without burying yourself long term due to potential appreciation of the building. Cross lease agreements between the two different legal entities, those are all ways to help the bottom line.

David DeKeyser  30:07

Yeah, yeah, hundred percent. I think that if you have any chance to buy real estate to run your business out of I can’t really think of too many reasons why he wouldn’t. You know, I’m sure there’s something out there somebody could trip me up with but I just don’t see it, you know, because that’s not going to go away, you’re always going to have that and the beautiful part about it is that if you buy something and you can afford it today, it’s not going up your you know, your mortgage is not going to go up in price. And that was one of the things that I always kind of laughed about to myself was when we bought our property we paid our monthly mortgage payment was $600, less than I was paying in rent. And it was it wasn’t more space and you know,

Scott Chapin  30:56

that X for X amount a year and it was

David DeKeyser  30:58

it was fixed where That, you know, the lease was going to keep going up. And that’s, you know, in our market, I think we were, you know, I remember thinking $10 a square foot was kind of the going rate for good retail that was 20 years ago, 25 years ago and, you know, now these little strip malls that go up in kind of the,

31:19

the

David DeKeyser  31:20

retail ish type areas, I mean, they’re getting $25 a square foot, you know, that’s, that’s more than doubled what I always thought was the appropriate amount to pay. So, yeah, if you can buy and I think there’s a lot of areas of the country where commercial real estate is still affordable. I think we also get trapped as an industry, by people wanting to be in the best building or the best location and retail you know, I wouldn’t go in a back alley if you can avoid it, but people are going to find you a few. You know, if you have either A brand you know where they’re on the dealer locator and they punch it into their phone, they’re going to drive right to your door anyway, I just I don’t know if having to be in those best locations is really feasible in the future because the rates have just gotten so high.

Scott Chapin  32:14

Yeah, and we’re seeing a lot of, we actually are seeing a lot of the newer shops, basically say we’re not in the prime retail space, we’re a block off, our lease rates are significantly less. And we’re going to try to start out with a small, smaller footprint and make it work and they’re generally again starting from scratch. So there, they’re just trying to make sure they can get over the hump and a lot of our service-centric bricks and mortar locations, and it’s, it’s pretty interesting. And the clients that I’ve spoken to, they’re like, Well, yeah, people will go a block off, and oftentimes you have better parking too, so it’s easier to get it. Exactly. Yeah. So so with your little your internal science experiment Financial science experiment with all of the tinkering you’re doing with service and charging full retail. How great of a difference did that affect your profitability over say the last five years that you own the shop? What did it continue to improve? Or was there sort of a leveling off after you had done all these changes?

David DeKeyser  33:27

So I think it leveled off probably about five years ago, you know, as far as profitability, what we could kind of get out of it, where we were comfortable. I think we I think if we had wanted to carry on the experiment, I think we could have possibly gone up higher. But there you know, you do hit some points where you’re thinking, I don’t know if I can charge any more for this or that, you know, or you’re not going to be able to charge more for the product itself. Real You know, there are a few places where you can kind of write your own rules. But, you know, you’re kind of hamstrung by the vendors and what their advertised pricing is on things and then on labor there, there’s a certain point, you know, and going back to the beginning where I said that people aren’t surprised or at all about you their repair ticket being like line items, where they’re, they’re paying extra for the things that would not have been included in the tune-up. But there’s a point where I think, it does start to feel like you’re gouging you know, and, and, and so many retailers, I think to feel like that’s if they charge at all and that I’d argue is absolutely not the case. But those the 10 years that we had our point of sale system, and we’re working with it, the first five years were really kind of the experimentation. And then the last five years, it just, it became, you know, it just made it so much easier to run the business that then I think we were enjoying kind of the fruits of the labor, of having really dialed in the point of sale. were ordering was no longer a lot of work, you know, it becomes so easy that then I think we were just enjoying the, what the point of sale was given to us in terms of making it easier to run the business.

Scott Chapin  35:15

So would you say that for a lot of retailers, the specific changes that you did, it’s really going to be kind of specific to the market or type of products, but you have to kind of create your own own recipe for profitability is or do you think you’ve done is gonna follow suit for just about

David DeKeyser  35:36

anybody? I think what we did and there’s a lot and I’m not the only guy that that did this, I didn’t kind of invent this wheel. There’s a lot of really savvy retailers out there a lot smarter than I am. It’s basically you get away from the discounting. You know, it’s kind of is one of them you know, there are all these little areas that you do you get away from the discounting, you start charging for things you Get the employees behind it, you know where, I mean, you can have an employee that wants to throw on everything I did a mechanic once that every time he did a basic tune-up, he had the drive train off the bike because it was dirty. And you know, it’s like, they didn’t pay for that. But it’s dirty. You know, see? Yeah, you can’t do that. So you just have to get the employees behind it, where they’re not, you know, throwing everybody a water bottle or discounting you know, everything under the sun. So, it’s it, I don’t think anything was really specific to us. I think it’s just specific across the industry to just, you know, really make sure you’re holding your margin. And if you can’t, what does that telling you? It’s telling you No, is the product bad? Is the product oversaturated in your market? You know, if you’re, if you’re having to fight, if people are coming in and saying they can get, you know, product x down the street for cheaper. You have to look at that really hard because as soon as you start, you know, well I’m gonna I’m going to automatically match that price. If that goes on long enough, you’re gonna be in trouble.

Scott Chapin  37:05

Right? So to kind of back to when you’ve sold the business and having a really good set of books is there. You know, I know in some businesses, there’s, they’re sort of when you’re doing a business valuation, it’s the business itself, plus inventory, but there’s a factor based on profitability. We do you have a pretty clear understanding of what you should be able to get based on profit margins, gross sales, and those specifics?

David DeKeyser  37:41

So yeah, valuing a business is really is I think one of those things that most obviously from people I’ve talked to that nobody understands it but it’s actually a really, really simple formula and it’s based on profits. At the end of the day, your books are going to go to the SBA. really speaking they’re gonna go for a bank they’re gonna use an SBA loan to buy you know bike shop like this and you have to be able to show the profitability and everything just goes into a formula okay if this buyer is you know, they’re bringing some of their own money we’re gonna, the bank is going to give them x and the debt service to that loan has to be able to be shown by the business to cover that and pay the new owner there’s no black magic really in valuing a business inventory is always a separate deal. So and you know that the buyer is going to pay for your inventory. If you have a bunch of dated inventory then you know that’s you’re going to negotiate, you know a percentage off of that but the bank is basically buying the business and what the profits have shown in the past to be right to do there’s no while we think it could do better if you know the new owner. Just was, you know, on-site more or had more enthusiasm or whatever, you know, those are all. That’s all great to talk about. But the only thing that’s going to help you sell the business and value the business is what your profits were.

Scott Chapin  39:16

Alright, I think we’re running low on time. But I have one more question. So if you could go back in time and change a business practice, what’s the single greatest thing that you wish you either hadn’t done or had done?

David DeKeyser  39:34

Wow. Oh, boy, I wish I had been better at managing people. I think I had some really, really amazing employees over the years. And I had one employee that was that I had hired at the previous business and he was with me, Store Manager. He’s still with the business. And he and I really jelled. He, I think it was primarily him because he was just he could deal with me. But I think that if there was one thing I could go back and do better, it would have been able to I would have tried to be better at understanding some of the employee’s needs and wants a little bit better. Because it when you lose a good employee, it’s always really hard to replace them. And I think for me, that was the big thing was I think I was maybe too hard on some people not understanding enough others.

Scott Chapin  40:38

Perfect. Well, thank you. I think we will conclude. Thank you so much, David, and, and we’ll I’m sure you’ll be on another one of these. So

David DeKeyser  40:51

yeah, it’s a lot of fun. I love talking about this stuff.

Scott Chapin  40:53

Great. Thank you. All right.

David DeKeyser  40:55

Thanks, Scott.

Scott Chapin  40:56

Bye-bye.

Rod Judd  41:04

This has been bicycle retail radio by the National Bicycle Dealers Association. For more information on membership and member benefits, join us @nbda.com

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Being the bike shop of the future is all about being a great retailer of today.  The current retail world is not for the faint of heart. Bike shops are under pressure that they historically weren’t…to be legitimate retail leaders in terms of the product they offer, the people they employ, and the style/brand experience they offer. The great shops these days pay close attention to the retail trends outside the bike world and create experiences for their customers that rival the best retail from any category out there. In this fun presentation, industry veteran Brian Hawkins will share a ton of insights into the trends that bike shops should be paying attention to, and what the great bike shops of today and tomorrow will look like.

For more information about how to be the bike shop of the future, reach out to Brian Hawkins, owner of Fixture Lab.

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The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.

Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year. 

Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.

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The post Being the Bike Shop of the Future is all About Being a Great Retailer of Today appeared first on National Bicycle Dealers Association.

The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.

Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year. 

Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.

The post Supply in a Time of Uncertainty appeared first on National Bicycle Dealers Association.

1. Bicycle unit sales have fallen nearly 30% in the last five years. Of course, we are in the midst currently of a boom in sales, but the overall trend has been downward. Capitalizing on the current sales increases while attempting to forecast the future is challenging.

2. Tariffs. Currently, there are many exemptions in place set to expire over the next few months on Chinese made goods. About 94% of bicycles are currently made in China. The Tariffs are set to go back up to 25% in August.

3. Retailers are reporting some slowing in sales due to inventory shortages, but there are also some cancellations of pre-ordered bikes and returns happening as well.

4. E-bike sales are robust, but margins are not as high as retailers would like/need. This situation is tough because they are high dollar sales, which require top dollar inventory commitments that may siphon dollars from higher unit numbers and margins on lower priced bikes.

5. Very hard to forecast when it is hard to know what supply will be. Retailers are placing orders for bikes already for spring when a much more just in time model has been the preferred, and more profitable way of doing business in recent years, which has become impossible in light of current issues.

6. Even if sales stay high, it will be tough for the industries manufacturing partners to scale up quickly to meet this demand.

7. Finding a way to retain the new customers coming into stores. This situation is challenging, as there are so many things going on currently, and holding on to these new riders is a crucial way to build our future customer bases.

8. Margins are down for some, as it is much harder to sell P&A if you are running a curbside pickup operation.

9. Repair parts dwindling to nothing in key repair areas.

10. Lack of connection to new customers when sales spike to this level.

There are many things to consider moving forward, and no one seems to have a crystal ball. If inventory continues to be as challenging as it currently is, it may be tough to maintain sales, and develop relationships with customers by providing excellent service and selection if unable to meet their needs. The possibility of further lack of distractions for consumers such as sporting events, kids going back to school or not, an extra $600 in unemployment checks, personal fatigue, and anxieties for everyone and the potential for a very contentious political season all weigh heavy on everyone’s minds. It is an understatement that we are in uncharted waters. Some retailers will look for ways to exploit opportunities, and others will act with more caution.

The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.

Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year. 

Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.

The post Predicting the Top 10 Immediate Challenges for Bicycle Retailers appeared first on National Bicycle Dealers Association.

In addition, other bicycle producers are also temporarily halting production around the world as they struggle to get parts from China.

These are signs of how the Coronavirus outbreak is creating a domino effect in straining the bicycle supply chain.

Shortages of China-made parts have already begun to ripple through the bicycle supply chain. Southeast Asian and Taiwan manufacturers are temporarily idling assembly lines because of problems getting parts from China.

Everyone is continuing to monitor the supply chain and in close communication with Tier one suppliers to mitigate any risk to production. The bicycle industry is now in the Twilight Zone.

If it is going to last six or seven months, we will start substituting and moving production around. If it is going to be six weeks, it is too much trouble to change.

The outbreak has led the Chinese government to impose extended shutdowns of bicycle manufacturing throughout the country after the traditional break for the Lunar New Year Holiday in hopes of slowing the disease’s spread.

Some component makers restarted last week. It is not clear how many have and at what scale. General supply chain disruptions and worker quarantines make it difficult to anticipate when production will return to normal.

I do anticipate the outbreak to depress bicycle and bicycle component production by around 1 million bikes (globally).

Bicycle production factories will likely run out of frame tubing and therefore frames. Both are critical components for complete bicycles and E-Bikes and primarily sourced from China.

This is a day-by-day monitoring effort. If it goes on for more than six weeks. We have bigger problems.

Many assemblers are arranging for parts to be air freighted when available. Flights are VERY limited as the China government is restricting flights and cargo flights are being very carefully controlled.

So, what to do?

1. Connect with your key brands and inquire on the outlook for short- and long-term product availability

2. Investigate alternative sources for critical products

3. Prioritize brands, and products within your retail locations to capture opportunities by optimizing limited availability

4. Be proactive in Identifying substitutes (even at a higher cost)

5. Move inventory from one location to another as a precaution

6. Consider adjusting selling prices on high-velocity products with limited availability

7. Formulate a plan for rapid decision making to capture opportunities

Words by Bob Margevicius

The NBDA has been here since 1946, representing and empowering specialty bicycle dealers in the United States through education, communications, research, advocacy, member discount programs, and promotional opportunities. As shops are facing never-before-seen circumstances, these resources offer a lifeline. Together, we will weather this. We at the NBDA will not waver in our commitment to serving our members even during this challenging time—but we need your support.

Now is the time to become a member as we join together to make one another stronger. Whether you’re a retailer or an industry partner, your membership in the NBDA is one of the best investments you’ll make this year. 

Learn more about the benefits of being a member and join now.

The post How Coronavirus is Disrupting the Bicycle Supply Chain appeared first on National Bicycle Dealers Association.