A new online parts shop

[AlanD]

Some of things i would like:

 

* Simple, easy navigation. Not too much flashyness.

* Good competative pricing.

* Large variety of parts from all disciplines of cycling.

* Good stock system. If no stock, it must say so.

* Low shipping rates. Shipping free options with lower purchase amounts.

* Prompt response to queries, especially via mail.

* Regular specials....real specials. Combo Deals.

* Perhaps some monthly competitions.

* Maybe even a loyalty card, like a point system.

 

Thats all????????

[Trance Dance]

If you buy in bulk from alibaba and can compete with aliexpress I, and many more would flock!

[Daniel J Méssem]

Not to burst your bubble but any components sale in south africa you need an physical shop with workshop otherwise the distributor wont sell you any stock.

I know a few guys are arranging parallel imports of components that sa distributors will not sell to online only stores, seems like the obvious solution, have seen this happens in a few industries already

[davevdm]

Ok so Ive sourced a url

http://www.performancecycles.co.za

yes I know, it has nothing on.

 

 

 

D

[davevdm]

If you buy in bulk from alibaba and can compete with aliexpress I, and many more would flock!

Have you goy a link of what you are looking for.

I found this supplier the only question I have is where can I test the carbon fibre for strength 

I don't want to sell products that are going to fail and neither do I want to ride with weak products

Dave

[Lurch the stalker]

Ok so Ive sourced a url

http://www.performancecycles.co.za

yes I know, it has nothing on.

 

 

 

D

Not quite nothing, there is a 403 error

(Yes, the engineer in me had to click on the link to see for myself even though I was explicitly told there was nothing )

[Christian van Zyl]

So I've been toying with the idea os starting my own online parts shop for a while.

I don't have much cycling experience, come from another sport.

I do how ever have passion for cycling

I also have 30 years of IT experience and had my first online shop in the 90's

I have infrastructure to host site

I have technical staff to build and maintain site.

I have startup capital

 

I need

Either a partner/s or staff with cycling contacts

Ideas of what everyone out there would like in a local online store

Ideas on look and feel

 

What would YOU like

 

 

Dave

 

Would love to give you my thoughts over a coffee if you're interested. 

[karma]

Never BS your loyal customers by inflating the RRP during a "Sale"...

Oh, and reasonable shipping costs...

[Amberdrake]

Added filtering options on various products. Sorta like chainreaction site just more detailed would be awesome

Also this

Never BS your loyal customers by inflating the RRP during a "Sale"...

Oh, and reasonable shipping costs...

[jcza]

Easy to navigate (won't name the site but I was shopping for groupset, gave up after 5 minutes trying to find it)

Split road/MTB/other

Allow further filtering (8/9/10/11 speed etc)

Allow filtering my manufacturer

Show availability or out of stock 

Daily/monthly specials on landing page

Free shipping over certain amount (Post Office is not free shipping) 

[TAAHIRWP]

Wide range of products... think CRC or alltricks.com

[Kevlouw]

If the stock, quality, service, after sale service etc will be anything like the Rapide on-line shop, I would definitely support your idea/site.

[lerouc]

1 more challenge I'll need to address.

I've been thinking of this idea as well, just partner with a local bike shop. Basically you ant them trade separately but you are the same place if you get what i mean. I've thought of approaching a LBS before, who would not want their relationship with suppliers to be better because they buy more and that would even result in the physical shops prices to drop as you can bargain for better prices with the more buying power.

 

On all the other comments, just get a proven ecommerce software (ive been playing with nopcommerce the past couple of months but thats because i am a .net developer so if i want to make changes it would be easier for me) also very easy to stick a nice theme on there and also cheaper than custom development.

 

All/most these commerce sites has built in admin pages so it takes care of everything from a CRM perspective. In the end of the day print out an orders list, throw all orders into a courier bag, get courier to pick up in the morning and there you go.

 

You can even setup the commerce to directly email the supplier for stock so you dont have to carry the stock, send 50 emails a day requesting stock they deliver next day and you throw in courier the next. Maybe the cycling industry is not that simple, but i have worked in the retail industry for a while now (not cycling) and i cannot think that if you have enough buying power behind you that you cannot change the suppliers workings to your benefit.

[IH8MUD]

Include Shipping options to Nam . ..  

There is excellent courier services that does courier form JHB-WHK or CPT-WHK.

They sort the import VAT ext for the customer.  

[Lurch the stalker]

 nopcommerce

Never heard of it before you mentioned it, but have had a quick look around their site and I must say that looks like a really cool option for anybody wanting a quick and easy e-commerce site, as long as you have Windows hosting. (I'm sure there's other Linux based options too)

I used to do some PHP development on the side back in the day, but I always passed on anything that needed e-commerce because I just didn't have the knowledge, something like this would have been really useful back then...

[davevdm]

I run linux

Have MySQL

Normally run PHP based CRMs on word press

I dont do art so I always use to have a guy

 

But right now I have a clean slate and about 73 ideas

 

Dave