Hi Meerkat When we started with BuyCycle.co.za we had to decide: do we go the “Gray” route or do we use the official importers and distributors. We decided to use the official importers and distributors for the following reasons: • If every cycling entrepreneur starts importing gray, eventually the whole cycling community will suffer, the big Shimano, SRAM, GT, Cervello, Pinarello, Campag, Rudy Project etc… (labelled as the big bad over charging bullies of the cycling industry in South Africa) will seize to exist, from who will you then buy that R250 seal kit for you Fox Shock, or Campag Derailleur spring or special bearing for your American Classic wheelset? No gray importer stock all those parts, because it doesn’t make money – it is kept in stock at a great expense by the wholesalers as a service to the cycling industry. Who does the gray importer call when he needs a R35 part for the gray groupset he imported – he calls the official wholesaler who is actually holding stock of that item. • A cycling industry based on gray/direct imported goods are simply not sustainable and do more harm than good to the industry as a whole. • If we went the gray route we wouldn’t have been able to offer complete size curves and complete product ranges, because the gray importer only imports the popular sizes. • Warranty backup – all gray importers claims that they offer international warranty backup, and often they do, and often they are able to sort you out because they just pull the warranty item from their stock and you’re sorted, but what happens if you buy a 2009 Rockshox Shock and it needs to be replaced under warranty and the gray importer sold the last for the 10 shocks he picked up somewhere in Europe? You’ll have to wait…. We don’t want to take that chance, it is just easier to call the official importer. • We want to add value to the cycling industry as a whole, by investing in the local importers we enable them to keep on offering the massive ranges they currently have. • By engaging the importers & distributors we keep more money in the local economy - we are proud to be South African!! We’re constantly arm wrestling with the importers for better prices & as you can see we are often on par, in the ballpark or cheaper than other online shops. We can only offer better pricing if our sales volumes picks up and we have more bargaining power with the suppliers. Here is my challenge to you – help us help you to get the best possible pricing on cycling gear supplied through the official channels in South Africa. Ek het besluit om jou te antwoord Meerkat in ‘n poging om jou ‘n idée te gee hoe die fietsry bedryf agter die skerms lyk, maar ek verstaan ook, op die ou end sit jy voor jou PC en jy soek maar net die beste deal. Ek wil nie te veel op die Hub sê nie, hier het ek nou ‘n halfuur spandeer om jou te antwoord, terwyl ek eerder beter deals vir jou kon gesoek het. As jy nog wil gesels, bel my sommer op 086 199 0001 of email my op hennie@buycycle.co.za. Lekker bly Hennie
