Scary differences in prices of parts

[twain]

seems a shame that LBSs are being priced out of the market like this. i love bike shops - my favourite part of shopping with the 'rents when i was a wee lad was taking a trip to Bakers Bikes(?) in Aylesbury. i'd always go right to the back where all the bikes were out on display.
these kinds of shops are still around in Brighton, but i very rarely head in there. but when i do, i always strike up a conversation and do buy the odd bit here and there.
but i will admit, i always check the internet for prices first. then check the locals. depending on how much cheaper/expensive the shop is (and which shop it is) i'll decide whether to purchase it there or not.
one thing you cannot beat is the knowledge of some of the chaps working in these LBS's (often the second hand bike shop types) - but then again, Retrobike satisfies most of my needs these days...

 

[unkleGsif]

I find myself between a rock and hard place on this, as on one hand my LBS is very helpful, by default gives me 10% discount on anything, charges me cost price for spokes etc on jobs like wheel builds (had some dodgy dishing to factor in) and only charges me labour for jobs like wheel truing, but has a limited range compared to the big boys, and is inevitably dearer.....

while on the other hand, the success of my employer depends on Evans (among others), as we manufacture all the signage for their new stores that have popped up in the past 5 years, on the back of their internet and high street trade

I tend to spread myself out and keep everyone happy (including RB members for second hand retro bits )

G

 

[dyna-ti]

I use my lbs for little stuff but other than that i use CRC.Consistently cheaper and they do have some very nice bargains
Last thing i bought was a S/steel crank bros headset.£65 mostly everywhere with a retail of 80 quid.
CRC were shoving them out @ £31
Plus those headsets have a stack of 21mm which is rather handy if you buy 2nd hand forks.

 

[nathb]

I'm quite lucky in the fact that Paul Hewitt, Merlin and Ribble are all within a 10 minute drive.

Usually Merlin and Ribble can get very close to online prices, if not cheaper sometimes.

 

[JamesM]

Some of the kit you get from the larger online shops is OEM so doesn't come in the proper packaging. They buy it that way in bulk just like the bike manufacturers, which is why they can afford to sell it to us so cheap.

 

[cyfa2809]

OEM stuff isnt meant to be seperate sale or whatnot is it?

 

[drb5]

Well I got a brand new Shimano groupset from Merlin a couple weeks back and the only thing in Shimano packaging with paperwork was the brake kit. Everything else was wrapped in bubble wrap.

 

[dbmtb]

OEM kit is not meant to be sold on directly - but it always is. That's one of the things you are aware of as a bike shop. There have always been mail order outfits who have abused their status as OEM and neither Shimano, Campagnolo, Mavic or Continental have ever stepped in to do anything about it. Just look at Bike Discount in Germany with their Radon brand.

Basically as an LBS you have two options - one is to match the online shop and sell at marginal profit. Or say no and sell one item and make the same as if you sold three or four - or five or six. More work for the same money? It's a mug's game....

The big outfits need more cashflow than the small ones - and don't have workshop rates to pay out. So they need the huge volume to make a profit. Smaller outfits don't. We also don't usually carry massive volumes of stuff that will become obsolete and take up valuable warehouse space.

It's not a question of just matching prices for the sake of matching prices but online sales will always have a large "can't be bothered to use the warranty as it's too much hassle to deal with by post" factor. Bricks and mortar shops don't have that luxury. The running costs per sale are just not the same.

My own take on it is that if I can sell for same price as CRC, and make what I consider to be a reasonable amount of money out of it, then I will. I can always match non-clearout CRC prices on Hope when selling to customers in Denmark. But when they are selling at clearout prices - and TBH usually that stock is pretty limited and stuff they need to get shut of - then I just say "no thanks". It's less hassle than going to a lot of trouble to earn a couple of quid.

Other stuff - that you top your orders up with - like tubes and tyres - they aren't particularly cheap on. I think a lot of their money is made by people adding stuff to their basket since they were going to order anyway. But that's just a theory. I did a price match on Hope brakes the other week, where CRC had made it more expensive to buy brakes with matching hoses than if one of the brakes had braided.... It's the small tricks they use that mean they can put "save 40%" on an item when really only it's one variant and the one nobody really wants - the rest are nearly full price. So be careful out there kiddies!

 

[drb5]

Interesting thoughts and i agree with the top up items when buying from one place already...done that a few times now.

Went into Evans and they couldn't honour Merlins 10% off when added to basket, but i still got back £20.04. Happened to be on a job at the time too, so wasn't out my way at all.

Today i've been browsing the net for Shimano bleed hardware....funnel has been bought for £3.99 delivered and yet some places were charging well over £10 for the same unit. :roll:

 

[gtRTSdh]

Some of the kit you get from the larger online shops is OEM so doesn't come in the proper packaging. They buy it that way in bulk just like the bike manufacturers, which is why they can afford to sell it to us so cheap.

Yep I think every set of new MTB SPD pedals from ebay has been in OEM packaging, but the £85 ultegra carbon road pedals + cleats were in proper packaging again from ebay and that lot would have been £120 from crc!!!

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=70216