I think if bike shops try and turn this into a guilt trip/battle they are going to lose. If they focus on customer service, remember names and fix your crap right before that big Whistler trip they will do just fine and will keep building loyalty.
vegetarian: an ancient word for "likes to stay home with the ladies…"
Really? My Ford dealer charges $80 and hour and my local bike shop, or at least one of them charges $70. Not much of a difference considering how much more my vehicle is worth and the extra knowledge and equipment thay have paid for.
I bet your ford dealer has a 1 hour minimum labour charge. How many bike shops have that?
A shop I worked at had $1 minute labour charge. For whatever that's worth. It might be more now.
What prevents Canadian retailers from buying direct from the same sources that Jenson and CRC buy from?
Distribution agreements ensure some level of exclusivity. i.e. Norco becomes the Canadian source for product X in Canada; All dealers who want product X have to go through Norco. That explains part of the price jump since the distributor/middleman take a cut for their troubles.
This is also why some dealers got mad at the ShopZ because their self-named bike line entitled them to manufacturer's pricing on components which had a way of sneaking onto the shop floor at very low prices.
There's nothing better than an Orangina after cheating death with Digger.
What prevents Canadian retailers from buying direct from the same sources that Jenson and CRC buy from?
Volume and capital.
CRC does purchase some brands from their local distributor just like regular retail shops do. In order to be ultra competitive they sell at almost zero margin on these. Hard for a local shop to compete with a very well capitalized organization that is willing to blend all of their margins and work off volume.
I suspect CRC is also taking advantage of some OEM loop holes, jumping on any closeout offers, and trying to circumvent distributors at any chance. Low margins on high volume.
Smart local retail shops are likely trying to do what they can on a small scale. A really smart shop would be heading to Taiwan for the Taipei bike show instead of going to Interbike and bro brahing in Vegas.
Maybe some bike shop owners should spend some time at Simon's on Robson. That guy is the master of the sale. I think he was the first guy Rocky called for any old stock they wanted to get rid off.
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