Online stores killing RSA economy!

[Ghostface]

Ghostface.

 

Wow. Were you the company that had this big fight with CWC sometime ago regarding Mavic wheels?

 

Did you not try to stop them bringing in Mavic wheels which they soldl at stunning prices?

 

How will we ever forget that. Now you tell us that you ' date=' Dragons sports are so good.

 

I said that time that I will never ever ride a Giant again. I sold my Giant and got myself a Merida. Shame on you.  

 

It would be nice to hear your reply and hopefully Chris Willemse will read this posting and give his side of the story as well..

[/quote']

 

I can't comment on the Mavic thing as I only started at Dragons a couple of weeks before it all went down and the wheels where already in motion.

 

I'm not claiming that we "are so good", I'm just saying that we don't have RRP on our bikes. This perception that the WS tell the stores what to sell thier products at is not true for all WS. It has been the norm for the past 15 odd years that bikes are 35% to 40%.

 

You forget that the whole Pricefixing meeting was called by the retailers who wanted the WS's to RAISE the RRP so they could make more money.

 

Do you think that the LBS who get a discount, for buying bulk products, then past that discount onto the customer? Some do, most don't.

 

When a retailer gets a new bike/product in stock the first thing they do is phone/click around and see what everyone else is selling it for. Then they try sell it for the same price. This has been the way for as long as I can remember and also happened in the surfing industry before I came to cycling.

 

When I had my store, I used to sell for less, but move more stock and give better service. This is the way it should be. Best prices and best service.

[shifter]

It is a bit much when you are quoted R5,100 for a set of Campag record shifters here locally and you can buy the same online vat and postage for around R3000...

Net om bietjie spoke op te jaag! Dink julle nie dat online stores ons ekonomie bietjie laag vat nie!

Ek dink nie ons besef altyd wat die koop van produkte by online stores tot gevolge het nie, en dan praat ek nie van warranty of enige iets wat technical support aan betref nie!

Dink daaraan die oomblik waneer jy 'n produk by die buiteland koop ontneem jy die invoerder van die verkoop van daardie item, wat weer die winkel ontneem van daardie produk.

 

die nagevolge is dar winkels wat aan jou, die klient, maar te gretig die diens lewer eintlik daar onder lei en het ons ook gesien toe daar laasjaar soveel winkels toegemaak het.

 

wat die gevolge daarvan is dat werkloosheid ontstaan, werkloosheid= minder geld wat in die ekonomie ingepomp kan word = inflasie wat in die eerste plek die oorsaak is dat verbruikers by die buiteland aankoop met anderwoorde ons hou aan om die bose kringloop aan te huts.

 

verder, die weker wat nou werkloos is kan nie sy of haar skuld bye die bank betaal nie wat beteken die bank kan nie daardie geld weer investeer nie!

 

Dink julle ek oordryf of sien julle my punt? Dink julle nie ons moet meer ons winkels ondersteun nie, en dalk net vir hulle vra vir afslag en onthou jy betaal nie net vir die produk nie, jy ontvang  waarborg en diens! en meesde shops sal as jy die part by hul koop dit gratis istalleer ook?

[/quote']

[Ghostface]

From what I've heard' date=' the local importer of Hope products is in the process of setting up an online website to distribute the whole Hope product range. Prices should be substantially cheaper than lbs retail price and on a par with the landed CRC price.
[/quote']

 

So the distridutor is becoming the retailer?

[Nimby]

From what I've heard' date=' the local importer of Hope products is in the process of setting up an online website to distribute the whole Hope product range. Prices should be substantially cheaper than lbs retail price and on a par with the landed CRC price.[/quote']

 

 

?

 

So the distridutor is becoming the retailer?

 

But surely this is the whole point of e-commerce - i.e. to remove unnecessary parts of the supply chain? If customers are happy to buy online and ask a specialist to build / fit their components (or do it themselves) - why not?

[Free]

I've been working in the cycling industry for over 10 years now. And I can promise you that most of you are treating the LBS unfairly. For me as a shop owner it is sometimes cheaper to import stock from CRC. How is this possible? The wohlesalers should seriously look into this, they are killing the market.

[Ghostface]

I'm just making sure I understand. I foresee that in a matter of time, you will only be able to buy from this new e-store, as no other store will stock the products, and therefore there will be no competion to keep prices in check.

[coola]

why do some shop have limits on products they sell ?.. if i want a scott bike from my local guy ? why cant i? we should be able to get any product through our local guy ,at the end of the day he will be servicing my bike.

 

its like being married yet having a baby with another woman and getting your wife to look after it !!!

 

 

[Ghostface]

why do some shop have limits on products they sell ?.. if i want a scott bike from my local guy ? why cant i? we should be able to get any product through our local guy ' date='at the end of the day he will be servicing my bike.

 

its like being married yet having a baby with another woman and getting your wife to look after it !!!

 

 

[/quote']

 

If a store has a bad history with a supplier, maybe they won't sell them the product?

[coola]

no what i mean is ..specialized in kzn only supply 2 shops when i asked my local shop to buy one in for me they had told me they have been working on it for a while and that he had to buy a min order (250k) to get stock !!!

free market i dont think so

[The expat cyclist]

Honestly, I will buy stuff at the place where I can get it the cheapest.

 

But I won't order a R50 item from an online store - I would rather buy the R60 item at my LBS...BUUUUUUUUUUUUT, I will buy the R5k rand item from the online store when my LBS want's to rip me off at R7.5K...

[coola]

but hey ...its the sign the times and we should worry more about how the ANC are stealing tax money ...hey enjoy the weekend and time in the saddle !!!

[AndreZA]

Honestly' date=' I will buy stuff at the place where I can get it the cheapest.

 

?

 

But I won't order a R50 item from an online store - I would rather buy the R60 item at my LBS...BUUUUUUUUUUUUT, I will buy the R5k rand item from the online store when my LBS want's to rip me off at R7.5K...

[/quote']

 

 

 

The same here. But time also comes into play. I've payed quite a bit of money to shops that's open late on Saturday afternoon and Sundays. I make up a list that I might need in a month or so.

[The expat cyclist]

Honestly' date=' I will buy stuff at the place where I can get it the cheapest.

 

But I won't order a R50 item from an online store - I would rather buy the R60 item at my LBS...BUUUUUUUUUUUUT, I will buy the R5k rand item from the online store when my LBS want's to rip me off at R7.5K...

[/quote']

The same here. But time also comes into play. I've payed quite a bit of money to shops that's open late on Saturday afternoon and Sundays. I make up a list that I might need in a month or so.

 

True, but me, I would rather wait for something that is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper somewhere else!! Even if I have to miss a couple of races!!!

[covie]

I'm just making sure I understand. I foresee that in a matter of time' date=' you will only be able to buy from this new e-store, as no other store will stock the products, and therefore there will be no competion to keep prices in check.

[/quote']

They said the same thing 10 years ago, and its definitly not the case there will always be advantages and disadvantages to either online or physical stores. And there will always be a market for both.

 

Its not like Makro and Game killed pick and pay or checkers. Not the perfect example but you get the idea.

 

These retail stores generally sell the item for the price that they beleive the physical retailers should be selling the item for. They are not out to destroy their distrobution links as these will always be crucial for the survival of any manufactorer / distrobuter. They generally do this to restore order to a market, and to give an additional choice to the end user.  

[Guest coenie]

I'm just making sure I understand. I foresee that in a matter of time' date=' you will only be able to buy from this new e-store, as no other store will stock the products, and therefore there will be no competion to keep prices in check.

[/quote']

 

No Competition???Now I would like to make sure I understand you are the only one who bring in Mavic....where is YOUR competition CWC? And then you sue him?

 

There should also be competition at the supplier level, why can there be only one in the country? I think that we should have plenty options, if I get a giant and something goes wrong and you can not help me why can I not go to another supplier that CAN help me?

 

I have had dealings with Dragons, and when I got shocking service I could not take my bussiness elsewhere because you hold the monopoly......Then you post this view? Odd

 

[gummibear]

At the end of the day the bikes are built in SA so the Lbs makes money on the small spares you forget to order

 and labour to build it.

One problem in SA  is service...you walk into a shop and see what you wan't and it's not your size so you have to wait a week or 2 and that's also a major contributor to going onto the net.you wait the same time but it's cheaper.

I have walked into bike shops wanting to buy something and after 10 minutes walked out because the laaities working there were having a long chat or were on the internet.

 

What are bike shops like where you are now?

Cycling is huge over here so there are many bike shops and most of them have online stores to.

Here a shop will give you the same deal as CRC so that they don't lose the sale.

There is a shop close to me called Asport and they give the Schleck brothers some big support.

They have almost every Specialized ,Trek,Felt,Cannondale,Cervelo and Colnago on the floor and in almost all sizes.I would love to know what there stock is worth.

Funny thing is that you see very few bikes with Campag on it mostly DA and REd.

Service is very good not to fast as there is a race on every weekend so they have a lot of bikes to get through.

The shops in the city are very expensive but they cater for tourists