LBS Websites - Not very informative

[Caerus]

I'm in the process of having to help a mate and his wife choose there first mountain bikes. So after having to deal with unfriendly staff as well as not a great variety of stock on the floor to look at, I've come to conclusion that for a first time buyer it can be very confusing & daunting.

 

I let the sale people do there jobs while I walked around looking at other stuff, but listening to them you wonder how they manage to get people to part with any money. You get inundated with so much technical info, it must leave your head spinning, and feeling very intimidated

 

So we moved onto the Internet, so I could try explain to them all of the technical info being spat out at them by the various sales people. We wanted to see what bikes/brands were on offer from all the LBS stores in the Durban/ Upper Highway area. This is were my problem comes in, why do they not maintain them properly and have better/ more info on them with regards to stock of bikes & accessories. It was so frustrating/ painful to search through most of the LBS stores websites.

 

I wanna be able to see what brands you have in stock, I wanna know what bikes & accessories cost at your shop. Surely in this day and age this cannot be hard. I do not expect every single item to listed and priced(although this would be great), I'm also not expecting it to be like a online shop( ie CWC or Easybike) I just want to know what all the bikes in your particular range cost, right from bottom of the line to top of the range.

 

I do realise that prices change all the time as well, then possibly include a disclaimer, surely it could be a part of someones job to update this weekly?

[Mojoman]

Its not just confined to bike shops, in my line of work (tourism) you will be dumbstruck as to how many venues still do not even have a website! And generally the ones that do have sites that are poorly laid out, bad images, poor copy and in general just crap! Come on people, its 2012 soon and if you do not keep an up to date and easily navigable site then your days are numbered....

[Caerus]

Its not just confined to bike shops, in my line of work (tourism) you will be dumbstruck as to how many venues still do not even have a website! And generally the ones that do have sites that are poorly laid out, bad images, poor copy and in general just crap! Come on people, its 2012 soon and if you do not keep an up to date and easily navigable site then your days are numbered....

 

 

I agree with what you are saying about the tourism industry as I'm trying to plan my trip back from Cape Town, and again very frustrating It just makes sense to me to have prices on it. This cannot be to difficult, can it?

 

Instead of having to drive all over Durban to all the various stores, I should be able to do it from home, then once I've made an informed decision based on the advice/ pricing via your website, I will come into your shop. I wasted so much time going into shops, that had nothing to show So for me I won't go back there and won't recommend them to anyone.

 

It could also include what they charge for various levels of bike repair and servicing.

Edited November 27, 2011 by Caerus

[The Bike Vendor]

Its not just confined to bike shops, in my line of work (tourism) you will be dumbstruck as to how many venues still do not even have a website! And generally the ones that do have sites that are poorly laid out, bad images, poor copy and in general just crap! Come on people, its 2012 soon and if you do not keep an up to date and easily navigable site then your days are numbered....

 

 

I agree 100%! Some shops are stepping up to the plate, just give them a while

[kosmonooit]

mtbr forum has lots of bike info as well

[P.A.K.]

As a web developer I can tell you that the LBS are probably scared of the extra admin involved in creating an online catalog. If only they could realize the benefits.

 

What stops any established bike shop to offer online sales? I'd love to be able toorder some products from my LBS and go pick up the package when its ready. It allows customers to properley shop through your different products. And shipping to customers in other cities is so easy with door-to-door couriers.

 

To have an up to date catalog and good PR (speedy responses, facebook interaction etc.) a dedicated staff member is probably worth it. But if done properly, the benefits would be great

[kent77]

E-commerce in SA is still a very immature market because of a number of factors .ie expensive bandwidth and related IT services which is drastically improving now, but another factor is that most businesses have had it easy with potntial clients having to come to them due to this exact issue. Now that they face more international and local competition their mindset is changing fast. If a company does not have a good web presence most people nowadays question their business for obvious reasons. I'm glad to see things are improving but we have a very long way to go still.

[robmac]

...and if you think the websites are bad you should see the response to emails...

[capeofstorms]

As a web developer I can tell you that the LBS are probably scared of the extra admin involved in creating an online catalog. If only they could realize the benefits.

 

What stops any established bike shop to offer online sales? I'd love to be able toorder some products from my LBS and go pick up the package when its ready. It allows customers to properley shop through your different products. And shipping to customers in other cities is so easy with door-to-door couriers.

 

To have an up to date catalog and good PR (speedy responses, facebook interaction etc.) a dedicated staff member is probably worth it. But if done properly, the benefits would be great

 

Implementing a dynamic online catalogue is not rocket science. Part of the problem is competition. They afraid to let the competition know what their prices are. Ongoing malaise in the cycling industry

[Caerus]

Then you come across a site like hotspot Cycles,My link , their website has prices and all info you would want about their products, from Bikes to components