Updated: Specialized Plans to Add Consumer-Direct Sales February 1
Specialized plans to add a consumer-direct option for online bike sales to US customers next week, our sister publication Bicycle Retailer and Industry News reported.
While the brand currently offers online sales, customers who buy bikes online must pick up their orders at local dealers or have them delivered to their homes by the local dealers. Those options will reportedly remain, but sales margins for the involved retailers will change: retailers that assemble bikes purchased online for pickup will earn 50% of their standard sales margin, compared with 75% currently, and retailers that assemble and deliver bikes purchased online will earn 75% of the standard margin, according to BRAIN. (It's unclear what they earn on bikes they assemble and deliver at the moment.)
Starting Tuesday, however, customers will have the option to have their bikes shipped directly from Specialized to their doorsteps. The bikes ordered online will be shipped mostly assembled, similar to what consumer-direct brands currently do, and will be pre-assembled at Specialized's facilities in Salt Lake City and Ohio. The shipping boxes will include the tools needed for customers to assemble them the rest of the way, plus QR codes to link to instructional videos.
Specialized has been leading the "hybridization" of traditional retail and consumer-direct models for years, as one of the major brands to offer click-and-collect sales options, but is the first major traditional sales brand to also offer a consumer-direct option.
Update:
Cycling Industry News published more details about the news and the following statement from Specialized: "As of 1st February we will be adding another way in which riders are able to purchase and have Specialized bikes delivered. Allowing us to offer the best possible buying experience to our riders, to understand them better and ultimately serve their needs better.
"After nearly 50 years of building the perfect bike for every rider, we decided to go one step further and come up with the perfect way to get the perfect bike to every rider. Now you can shop when, where, and how you want, from your favourite retailer to the comfort of your own home. We’re excited to announce Ship to Home and Specialized Delivery, two new ways to get your new Specialized bike without getting in the car."
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Sinyard: "How can we increase margin per bike whilst simultaneously screwing as many dealers as possible?"
Bob the intern: "Maybe we can just sell direct to consumer, but at the same price."
Sinyard: "Everyone meet Bob, our new VP of Sales!"
Dealers actually want your money, that's why they're in the business. They don't go 'yeah, not this guy, lets tell him that we can't get the 4k bike and just keep selling $300 kids bikes.'
While the LBS issue is sad and I believe it puts the consumer at a disadvantage, Specialized is a company that has to respond to investors and shareholders. If people don’t want them to flourish, they should stop buying their bikes. But they make rad bikes, hence the growth and the leverage to increase profit margins. Vote with your money, not a whole lot else anybody can do.
When new inventory becomes available. They will prioritize it to the D2C site and then if it doesn’t sell in a few weeks the LBS will get the scraps.
So yeah they’re screwing their dealers.
And also Canyon, if you disregard the design flaws and quality control issues.
I’ve been riding canyon for the last few years but consumables, riding gear and replacement parts have always been through my lbs. Sadly it’s been bought by Trek and the amount of stuff they can get me is greatly reduced but that just means I’ll be ordering more online.
If they do then your local dealer is being screwed big time,so much so there is no point being a dealer.
Maybe that's the plan. Oh what a cynic am.
Anodized $2k anything bikes fully customized to your door that look EXACTLY like your S brand.
And there will be no one to work or buy things.
In this model a store still make money on the build (how much, not sure, but hopefully profitable), build a relationship with a customer for future service work and can help their customers get the bike they need because they're pulling from a larger pool of inventory instead of being constrained to what they pre-booked or what the distributor still happens to have in stock.
There are actually a lot of positives to this model for consumers and shops alike.
The industry needs change for sure. Dealers should be demo, service and ordering centers. Stockroom should come a distant 4th. They should probably carry some lower end stock, but we need to move beyond the current asinine model for high end bikes. Consumers will of course dictate what waits are acceptable and I’m sure shops will still carry a few items for the impatient, but overall I think we’re all ready to move past a model that last made sense in 1995.
But specialized is not bringing that change. They are simultaneously going the way of canyon and GT while holding a massive dealer network hostage. Nearly every product in a specialized dealer is specialized, and the costs to transition would be enormous. And they will continue to enforce absolute exclusivity on their shops until the last potentially penny of profit is wrung out. Then they will discard them and commit fully to the direct to consumer model.
That is why many small shops like Specialized,cos they sold a few a them and not cheap. I have a Specialized dealer really close to my house,they have the showroom full of "more than 6000 € bikes easy" and every month they are all gone and put new one´s to display.
Specialized E bikes are everywhere here in Madrid,I saw 12.000 € Kenevo´s SL in pairs every weekend. Same thing for Santa Cruz bikes,you hit a stone an there you have one.
I made this point to my (*Insert Big 3) rep a decade ago, that the traditional model of in store sales and large preorders / stock holding would undoubtedly benefit from morphing into something more flexible & akin to that which you mention, in order to remain competitive dollar/spec wise (in an ever increasingly competitive market, not just D2C) while continuing to offer a service aspect that the internet just cannot match (and one which is still important to a big slice of the MTB buying public, and now the E Bike customer too; the personal & physical aspects that a shop can potentially offer)
A decade later and here we are, one of the Big 3 has started down that road. My bet is Trek and Giant won’t be far behind…
They have the same issue of getting / being forced to accept a lower margin as they are 'assembling' vs selling & that is only if the consumer picks the LBS as the pickup location
Exclusivity? We have none. We stock 20 odd bike brands including some of their biggest competitors like Trek. Margin? P&A margin is very good. Non S-Works bike margin is exactly industry standard, they sell extremely well because of the marketing and at a higher average sales value than others, because they’re quite expensive per spec. S-Works bike margin is low, but again incredibly popular for such expensive bikes and since they push framesets more than any other major brands do these days they lead to a lot of customers builds which are both high value and high margin.
Lastly, at least in this country, their customer service for both retailers and riders is excellent. So in short, it’s both quite easy and very productive for us to be a Spesh retailer.
Interestingly in the bike sector the brands who do this aren't dropping direct sales prices vs MSRP (afaik) so the motivation to circumvent a shop is not to save money, in fact anyone with half a brain and access to a shop would have it sent to a certified mechanic for build because there is no extra charge. But for folks who don't have reasonable access to a shop that carries the brands they want they now have an option to buy and build the bike they want.
If anything the consume loses because price negotiation is no longer an option.
Where are you getting that the shop makes any money from this?
Direct to consumer means exactly that.
There is no shop involvement.
My point is, if the MSRP is the same, and non-negotiable online, which shoppers are most likely to buy direct? Those who can wrench themselves (or think they can)... neither of whom are hugely profitable shop customers anyway or they simply do not live near a dealer, so they wouldn't have been prospective customer only.
Bottom line, the LBS model needs to shift away from selling bikes to servicing bikes, and shift their marketing strategy to figure out how to generate that demand.
Or they can whine about it, and end up shutting their doors.
This is far from new - tech has been doing this for a long time, and almost every consumer facing industry is moving in this direction (because they'd rather control the customer interaction than leave it to the likes of Amazon). Ironically, we will eventually reach a point (not too distant) where consumers get frustrated having to go to multiple sites online to shop so someone will build a solution that compiles all of that data in one spot for consumers to shop more easily (Trivago-like)... completely undermining the manufacturers push to interact directly with consumers (remember, we're in a data economy, the metrics related to that consumer, how they shop, what they compare, who they are is becoming as or more valuable than the actual sales data itself).
For most shops, service revenues pale in comparison to bike sales. I just don't see LBS replacing the bulk of this revenue with other services. When I imagine the bike shop of the future it's smaller: say 1600 square feet with two or three employees.
Overall, I think this is a net loss. The retail markup everyone complains about subsidized a lot of bike culture. It allows a lot of free service, shop rides, and just the hang out vibe that good bike shops still exude.
Of course, there's opportunity to do something cool amid this change. Whatever that is, Specialized certainly isn't helping LBD in adapting to the new reality.
I'm an LBS customer for life, so I do hope they survive! - 21 yrs with the same shop and I hope for another 21 and will keep buying from them as much as I can to make sure that happens.
I like the way modern Specialized stuff rides, and since Merida owns 49% of them, quality is good. But they’re the bullies of the industry.
Eff the big red S.
I didn’t realise Merida still had a big stake in them though.
First, since we are more of a road-gravel(kill me pls) shop and we sell very little mtbs, Specialized doesnt allow us to order big bikes(Demo , Enduro) anymore.
Second, there used to be two layers of discounts, one from the shop itself and another one from Specialized if the bike was meant for personal use of an employee, the scratched that too.
On top of that our margin has gotten smaller... Im happy I sold my Demo. I don't want to ride such a brand.
When I was speaking with another shop, to oder my Trek Session, I found out that their situation is much better. Ieven get a bigger discount from a shop that I dont work for than from the one I work for. Ridiculous...
Basic Stump EVO alloy on NX is 4200 eur?!
Carbon Stump EVO expert over 7000 eur?!
Good luck to them.
A frame going from 2500 to 3800 however has almost zero justification - almost 50% increase in cost, no parts to source, easier to ship than a full bike etc etc.
IMO all brands will have some consumer direct option, it’s only a matter of time.
Always reminds me of the scene in parks & rec where Ron walks into a home hardware: “hello sir, can I he..” Ron “I know more than you” *continues walking*
I’ve definitely bought bikes through both channels and plan to do the same moving forward.
The mechanic come down to check me in person while saying and S3 was my size...
I was like: thanks for being so annoying bitch! my cousin was there and he said I kill the guy with my eyes and the silence moment hahahaha
If you take away 6 of those 12 racers the race venue lose half the money from that category but the reduction in cost is minimal.
Thats why my store gives discounts to these kind of people. They are genuinely nice, want to improve and love riding their bike.
They turn up to every race irrespective of whether they’ll come 1/12 or 12/12 and they help keep the race scene going.
Let's imagine that right now, a dealer got a $500 commission when someone walked in and bought a Specialized from them.
Today, if I order a bike online for pickup instead of walking into a store, that commission will go down to $375.
After February 1, that commission would go down to $250 if I choose to pickup the assembled bike at the dealer.
If, on the other hand, after February 1 I choose to have it shipped directly to my house, the dealer gets nothing.
FWIW I called my dealer about 3x on a bike, and he told me with the bike shortage it was better for them to push people to the site for the buy online pickup in store model. The reason of course, they had almost no bikes, so linking a model and size to a person was difficult, but if they told a bunch of people to go to the site and buy they sold more than 2x the bikes, making about 50% as much, and did not have to carry as much inventory. and this is not a small dealer at all, pre-covid they had about 300 bikes built and of the sales floor.
Yes, however full inventory is rarely sold thru before term is due (in normal times).
As a former shop owner, balancing stock on the floor, and cash flow is the hardest part of operating.
Wrong. Currently dealers need to pay for all bikes within 30 days of them shipping. And with so many bikes on backorder you have no idea when the are going to ship.
Those Rockhoppers that you ordered in Fall 2020 to have for a spring 2021 didn't actually ship until fall 2021. And now the LBS has a massive bill due within 30 days and inventory to try to move during their slowest season.
There are a lot of trade offs between the old keystone model, and (in basic terms) the vendor maintaining ownership of inventory, and paying a lower 'commission' to the dealer. Current supply chain, and customer expectation of speed of delivery F's everything up.
From what I can see with Specialized, they get to be more vertically integrated, without having to expand their in-house operated retail footprint. This relieves some of the financial burden on small dealers, but decreases their income.
As best as I can tell, Specialized hates working with independent bike shops, and wants to have control over every point from factory to customer hands. The shop I was at specifically didn't carry Specialized because of what the owner saw when he was a shop mechanic. He told me stories about Specialized reps rearranging the LBS floor to make their product (tires etc) more prominent, and them pressuring shops to not carry other brands.
I'd rather walk into a bike shop and be allowed to browse than to be approached by three different people in 10 minutes time. It's a bike shop dude. But don't worry, that will never happen at the new 'Cafe Specialized Experience' bike shop and kombucha bar!
All joking aside, by no means does a place of business 'deserve' your patronage or charity. Doesn't provide value to *you*? Cool, don't go. Easy. But maybe, just *maybe* they do provide value for other people...so perhaps feather the brakes on being so ok seeing your LBS dry up and blow away because they don't cater to your high standards..
Also Pinkbike: I do all my service myself. I buy accessories from non-bike brands cause I'm thrifty. I know my bikes and don't need someone else to tell me. I go to all the free demo events to avoid bike fleet rental fees. Bully people who pay extra for small boutique brands like Yeti.
For some people it makes sense to go through their LBS and there's no judgement there. Personally I'm of the mind to save as much as I can. This is an expensive ass sport that just got even more expensive. Like thousands $$$ more in some cases. If the bike I want can be bought DTC and is cheaper, then that is the way I will buy it. I'll do most of my own maintenance unless it is something that I don't trust myself doing. I'm not here to help businesses make money bc they'll take any chance they can to make extra $$ from me. I just wanna ride my bike without having to take out a second mortgage on my home.
@dmondave: Rumor has it that Specialized lowballed Mike's Bikes, thinking they had no other choice but to sell to them. If that's true, Spec overplayed their cards. Lots of speculation on this, though, through 2nd/3rd/4th hand info.
It is no secret that D2C is inevitable for (most) brands in the industry. In Canada, Specialized is still fulfilling all dealer back orders on bikes and will be prioritizing their existing retailers first. Once all back orders are fulfilled, excess stock will make its way online for D2C availability. Long story short, you are unlikely to find an ‘in stock’ Specialized bicycle online on their website for some time due to shortages. This will give dealers that dislike Specialized’s new strategy ample time to sell through their on-hand inventory and jump ship if they choose without their sales being cannibalized by the same brand (online).
The decision by Specialized to begin this model is hopefully fuelled by a need to decrease current and future high retail prices of their bicycles to remain competitive in the market. If not, “The Big Red S” will assume all profits that used to prop up it’s retail partners. Was this move out of necessity? Maybe. Was it out of greed after using the LBS to establish it’s current market foothold? Maybe.
Thanks, Specialized…
All this does is increase the cost of repairs at the LBS as they get screwed. Bring a bike in you bought direct for a warranty to the LBS -how does that work?
Not a fan.
Thats not how it works, at least in the US. Online inventory is only sold thru the online channel. your only choice is deliver to store or deliver to home. You can't have the store order that inventory and sell it to you. Trust me, I just tried with my Aethos a week or so ago.
Shops will have a priority list based on the purchase transaction. Also -would a shop rate be applied to cover warranty work? Seems like both the consumer and shop will suffer all to Specialized's advantage. I am sure there is another memo coming out that Specialized will no longer offer terms on bookings etc....
During the pandemic this really harsh on dealers as the likelihood of them selling their booking is the highest it has ever been in history - so Specialized taking a share of that -then having the bike arrive at the LBS seems doubly unfair.
Not a fan x 10
They have the same issue of getting / being forced to accept a lower margin as they are 'assembling' vs selling. I commiserated with the owner - seems like a raw deal
The reasons you listed are some of the reasons I went with an Aethos, standard parts 10R frame, threaded BB, electro or mechanical, easy for me to work on.
I do respect what they do, but show a little humility. You're not the best, Specialized.
It’s a great model, because they can stock multiple models and sizes for demo.
For bikes, I need to demo one before buying also. Being at the extreme sizing of most brands means that many bikes are too small or ride terribly in the largest sizes. A good demo is an absolute must.
After demoing a stumpjumper evo for 4 hours on my local trails it made it virtually impossible to even consider other bikes. I had nothing to compare it to other than pavement feel, completely impractical. When I’m spending thousands of hard earned dollars I want to know what I’m getting, not trust another riders opinion or merely guess based on reviews and spec.
I have worked in shops that sell both Specialized and Trek and I thought that Trek was just a better company all around.
Specialized makes some really great stuff, but they have slowly been turning into an electric moped company.
Does anyone pedal uphill anymore? I still do.
Online you pay what you pay. The price is fixed. But with an LBS there is usually some room to negotiate or include some freebies in the sales price. With the LBS, who here actually pays full RRP? And that's before you get to the usual LBS services and setup with a bike sale.
For traditional LBS brands who now offer click and collect it seems like if you want the best price it still pays to go to your LBS and make some friends.
The golden rule used to be not to go into competition with your own resellers, but they already do that to a degree and this has to be about taking sales from YT etc. - not based on price, but on making that buy from home impulse purchase as frictionless as possible.
In the ebike future the retailer still has a big role for these bikes; sure you can get it direct from Spec., but when you're Levo's motor sh*ts the bed for the fifth time that's 5 trips to the local Spec dealer and income for them?
Just experienced this with YT and Santa Cruz
YT sent a new motor out the same day (first day) I called them. Shipped to me within the week.
Just had a EP8 shit the bed. Literally 4 shop visits because I kept having to come back for another thing shimano would come up with. After a whole week, 4 shop visits, a f*ck ton of wasted time, I have a motor on the way, who knows when it will get here.
My YT experience was seemless and easy.
I guess my post goes with the understanding that you can unscrew 6 bolts and understand how to plug wires in…
To some I guess that’s too difficult
How shops get paid for doing this work in this D2C model...flat rates/per job that may or may not be in line with your market or hourly shop rate may be kicking some shops while they're down, after losing sales/margin in the first instance. And if they continue to make shops the warranty hub then you're still using and employee's time to keep dealing with that but now for less $ return.
How long before the spec PR machine comes out and says "This was vital to maintain competitive in the marketplace" as if all their bikes aren't already perpetually sold out.
This is worthy of a "Hallelujah Holy Shit Where's The Tylenol" rant
No, there's not much value to the end user right now. But when the market cools off, this gives Spesh the ability to better discount/incentivize in order to move product.
Also, there's a place for both direct and brick-and-mortar. As product evolves, DTC will capture the right segments and LBS will retain the others.
Service needs will evolve and shops will offer more creative, appropriate local support.
This is a good thing, masquerading as a scary thing.
Oneplus could keep the flagship phone prices down with selling the goods directly to the customer.
Propain bikes does the same in Europe and they are almost always the best value for the money.
Speci now is the time to lower your prices.
Or do you keep the store profits too?
Isn't this unfair considering your business partners retail sellers?
just wish I could talk directly to Specialized when I have problems and not have to wait on some mechanic to send them a report, for them to respond, for mechanic to relay info to me, its really stupid when I could resolve quickly by talking to the source
First heard that the pressurized rep back in 1991.
Coolest specialized moment: being part of a game show quiz partner with Ned Overland in a Sun Tour clinic and then riding with him later.
Lows: being on the OE side and dealing with Specialized.
So their BRAIN system is now working as a PR agent/thing? At least something...
As a consumer I see a lot of good points, but not much on macro economy and how quickly things can change at micro level for instance bike industry.
First let’s consider all good points made:
Local bike shops can offer great service driving customer loyalist
Local bike shops typically make good percentage of gross revenue through bike sales. Gross sales profit ranges from 25-40%
Local bikes shops can’t carry all bikes consumers demand
High cost of holding inventory and risk of being stuck with it if consumers demands change due bike preferences, brand or cost
Local bike shops are not in all area of USA and Canada. Currently Trek, Specialized and few other brands require a level of exclusiveness to carry there bikes - a ban from selling other brands
Certain area have to many shops carry same brand products
Current changes from dealer to consumers direct have driven a wedge in industry - you can now order any part, accessories clothing online Amazon, Jenson, worldwide Cyclery, Competitive Cyclist and more. Jenson sells Specialized accessories, Ibis, Rocky Moutain. REI sell Bontrager gear and Cannondale.
The economy is currently very strong with higher demand than supply for bikes. This could shift due to few reasons: 1. Everyone who has wanted bikes finally gets one and it could be 2-3yrs before they buy the next bike - demand drops due to sales cycle slowing. 2. Consumers spending is stunted due to economy slipping into a recession - less buying power. 3. Inflation causes bike pricing in USA to continue to jump pricing out many would be buyers for premium bikes aka luxury goods. It could also be a combination of the above - at end of the day bike market slows down. There is more competition with dozen or more direct to consumers players: Fazzari, Ploygon, Commecial, YT, Cayon, Diamondback, GT, Guerrilla Gravity, Whyte, RBO, and more. These plays start putting pressure on industry again in pricing tactics - currently supply low and demand high direct to consumers bike companies are selling at close to retail LBS - why would you sell at discount if you can get maximum for your inventory. When economy shifts direct to consumers brands will drop pricing to a level traditional sales models will not be able to compete. Specialized I think sensed this in 2020 when sold off huge amount of inventory thinking we going into financial crisis and dropped pricing by 25-40% of huge amount of stock - it turned out they wrong last time and demand ended up skyrocketing. Though I believe they see future which will be a margin squeeze by direct to consumers who doesn’t pay 25-40% to dealer. Overall this change for now won’t do much damage to bike shops since loyal customers who don’t buy bikes from direct to consumers brand will continue to buy from them - as many point out why would you buy direct to consumers if you have a good shop that sells brand of bike you want. On other hand consumers who don’t have local bike shop that sells Specialized in there area will now be able to get bike shipped straight to them competing with direct to consumer. In future when day comes that margin pressure reemerges due to overage supply and lack of demand Specialized will be a position cut prices to compete against direct to consumers through online sales - it’s possible at this point they may trim there dealer network.
Overall if your manufacturing you want as much control both up and down stream supply chain. Specialized is clearly copying Apple in selling products through distribution, direct, as well as, building strategically located concept show rooms/demo centers. The question is if in long term there model will more reflect Telsa with only direct to consumers sales through there own stores and websites. I personally think they will continue to relay on dealers, but will consolidate them to ones they can do high volume and accept lower margins. Fewer dealers will allow Specialized to better track sales per territory - the real gold is if Specialized is able to focast marginal sales growth against there competition per market place and be able to assign dollar value for dealers involvement these growth or decline numbers. If dealer cannot show there worth what is Specialized giving up margin for?
I have to say Specialized is cunning in the way it does business and how it is attempting a mixed sales model. They have more Silicon Valley in there marketing foresting team than rest of the industry likely combined. There business savviness makes for enemies and hard feeling - many for good reason. Pricing transparency continues to grow in both B2C and B2B Specialized doesn’t want to wait. Lastly, Specialized came out with 2021 Status in 2020 it turned out they didn’t have components to supply frames being built due to Pandemic - this bike was a shot Commencial - Specialized knows that riders demographic is aging and they need younger riders. It’s very possible 2022 Status will be exclusive web only order bike along with a new line that is designed for an audience Specialized couldn’t sell to before due to a price barrier - these lower margins they may share with shops could be in cases for bikes shops will never have to hold inventory on. 3 Specialized, they drive innovative, make great products and follow smart business practices - you might learn in a leading B-Schools. Yes and the Status is truly a great bike if you can get your hands on one. Instead my steam thought typed on my iPhone above before I got sleep and prepare for another busy work week closing deals in an industry that isn’t my lifelong hobby - I’d love to see MBA quality case study shared on Pinkbike on Specialized or Industry as whole. Consumers like myself do like reading nitty gritty business details - it’s alot of time more fun than reading about tech or auto companies if it’s MTB. I didn’t know until reading through this thread that Merida owns non-controlling stake in Specialized. There a lot of great info that the Pinkbike editors could share in business review of industry quarterly. Look forward to see more articles like this one that at least draw a ton of comments share insight on the industry that consumers who wouldn’t find it outside of an industry journal or event.
As a business owner, i feel for the LBS. Any LBS owner should be anticipating this on a large scale from all manufactures and be ready or already pivoting to create stability for their business. Change is good but its hard.
www.cyclingnews.com/news/sinyard-takes-responsibility-and-apologises-to-cafe-roubaix-owner
Unfortunately most shop owners are only concerned with getting the most number of bikes built and think 30 minutes is all the mechanic should be taking to do it. At a shop I worked at a decade ago which offers "lifetime free tuneups" to people who bought bicycles there....throughout the spring, summer, fall... the bikes I assembled didn't come back in for adjustments/service for months and the ones some of the other mechanics built would be back within days as the gears were already out of adjustment. And the owner has a bad habit of making mechanics drop whatever they're doing for those customers coming in off the street without an appointment. Could be in the middle of an overhaul that a customer has waited 3 weeks to have done and expects to pickup that day... nevermind him just fix this other customer's bike that Josh didn't assemble properly.
Box store mechanics who work under contract typically get paid $10 per bike assembled, so they want to just race through the assembly so as to build the most bikes in the least amount of time. Then go onto the next location in the chain that they're also contracted to be at.
You forgot about them suing Mountain Cycle for having a bike named the Stumptown, and a wheel builder for using the word epic. SOPWAMTOS (society of people who actually make their own shit) gave them an award for excellence in litigation.
bikeportland.org/2006/01/31/specialized-mountain-cycle-disagree-on-stumptown-864
bikeportland.org/2011/03/10/epic-wheel-works-will-change-name-due-to-potential-trademark-conflict-with-specialized-49504
sorry for the shops but honsetly, like that I'd consider buying a Specialized again. So +1 potential customer
Intense no longer makes anything themselves anyway, with only final assembly and packaging for shipment done by them. All frame production and painting is outsourced. Also they ARE sold as Intenses in Costco...
www.costco.com/intense-951-xc-bike.product.100691780.html
As to garbage spec... SRAM NX Eagle 1x12 with a Fox fork and shock, and a dropper post....
"Specialized Experience Centers are our way of connecting riders with our culture and products. At Specialized Squamish Experience Center, we are here to provide riders with an unfiltered, world-class rental experience."
no shops any more
bikes will be dead as it lives from customer contact, bing able to test things....
strangely the bikes from direct sellers like YT or Canyon or such are not that much cheaper than others (not talking totally overpriced TREK or Specialized)....
really don't like the way business develops.
Now that a major has done this, the rest will follow suite eventually. Once again, I think this is good as in the long run it will give the manufactures better visibility to consumers trends thereby reducing waste(cost). Hopefully in the long run, giving all the manufacturers the ability to operate on skinnier margins thereby keeping MSRP's from inflating as fast. Hey I'm an idealist, so I like to think free market principles help keep things in check.
Most brands already allow online purchases to be shipped to shops and give the shops a cut, so that's not news. So yeah, the industry needs a change and online sales aren't necessarily bad for shops. But that's not what this announcement is.
The fact that the internet sale shipped to dealer option is news to you does not make it actual news.
Sales aren't about relationships anymore - they're about convenience. You all are kicking it oldskool by yourselves.
If a rear shock goes an LBS will either post it off for warranty work, or they'll order one in to sell you.
Take it from a former (regular town) small bike shop owner, surviving on service alone isn’t possible.
Service alone (in a small town) is not enough unless you enjoy poverty, I learned this from years and years of experience. So unfortunately yes, it is true. If it wasn’t, I’d still be open.
I personally don't see bikes moving in this direction as a bad thing. The current way of selling bikes does not encourage choice and competition, it also does not support LBS's.
Going back a few years if you wanted to become a Specialized dealer you would have to commit to so much stock that it would discourage most small to medium sized LBS's. The reason being that the 'best' stock was always offered to Specialized's biggest customers first and they would place large forward orders, these customers are not friendly LBS's they are large professional retailers. After the largest customers had bought up most of the best selling inventory the rest would be offered to 'real' LBS's who would have to commit to nearly a full years worth of stock tying up cash or forcing them into credit. What stock that was left (crap Specialized couldn't sell) could be offered to new customers.
This new sales model is a step in a direction that could level out the playing field amongst retailers. If Specialized don't sell all its inventory to a few large retailers at the beginning of a year it gives the smaller guys a chance to access it, it also gives the consumer choice as to where they buy their new bike from.
You want a specific bike but there are none available locally, this sales model enables you to get one.
You want to buy online and pick your bike up from the nearest bike shop to your house, this sales model could do this.
You want to go into a bike shop for advice as to which bike you need and feel confident that you have been sold what best suits you, this sales model encourages this. At the moment a consumer is only offered a bike from the bike shops inventory rather than a national inventory.
You want to purchase a new bike but you have an old one you want to trade in. This new sales model will enable you to negotiate with several local shops, large and small, on trade-in value against the same new bike. At the moment the larger bike retailers don't entertain buying/selling 2nd hand bikes as they don't need to as they have a monopoly on new ones. This new model could encourage the development of a professional 2nd hand market.
This utopian dream only works though if the brands don't take the quick buck from the large retailers and let then purchase large inventories. The cynic in me doesn't think that will happen.
I am not super worried about a multibillion dollar company "making a buck." Transition moved to a dual model and it has seemed to allow them to reduce prices somewhat because their prices are basically the best in the boutique brands.
Weird flex on capitalism though.
Fixed that for you.