Oertel this is an often repeated story that the wholesaler/ distributor is ripping eveybody off but most of the time this simply isnt the case and if it was such a profitable business model then why after 15 yrs in the industry are you not importing and distributing yourself? Just to give you a little insight , a distributor invests millions into product often having to commit to orders way in advance , then has to pay for this product before it is shipped, they then receive the product up to 6 weeks later and must pay logistics and customs The product then goes to warehouse ( cost involved) , and then is taken to market via reps or other channels ( cost involved ) and at this point what happens? Shitly run bike shops (75% at least) dont commit to ordering or do order and take 90 days to pay but still bitch if said distributor doesnt have every single last product that the brand produced in the last 5 yrs , on their shelves On top of that retailers who dont commit or invest in the brand still have larger markups than the distibutor who takes all of the risk Quick breakdown, distributor invests millions with no commitment from his client base , spends the money and gets a trickle back return on this starting often only 4-6 months after initial investment and often taking up to 18 months for any meaningful return by which time he has had to re-invest all to make less on the product than the bike shop who commits to nothing and has tantrums when something isnt in stock This is a simplification of the model which is often complex and is damn hard to make work! So anyone out there wanting to invest a few million into being a distributor go ahead , according to many expert Hubbers it is easy and you get to rip off the shops and the end user ( money just grows on trees out there) Anyway.........
