Internet Bike Shops

ian baptiste

not sure hwere to post this but here goes............[:p]

a friend of mine is looking in to starting his own internet bike shop! and i have offered (if it takes palce) to work for him from time to time!)
however, me and him have been talking about it, and were wondering if it is worth the risk!?

we reckon that we wouldnt really loose much money per week/month, but were more conserned if we would make anything good enough to earn a living!?

any ideas or comments!? [:)]

thanks

Unknown

Unless you plan on doing something radically different, or advertising on a huge scale, you'll never make a fortune. I've dabled myself in the past, and the returns just were not worth the hassle. You'll be competing against some great companies like Wiggle etc, who have decent prices and great service. What's going to be different about your shop ? Try and think of a unique angle. Have you got any trade accounts with supplier ? Most will only supply you if you have a glass fronted shop. I've got some info on trade prices etc which might help in your decion, send me a pm if you're interested, don't want to post them here as it's unfair to the retailers etc



My bikes - http://flickr.com/photos/82587774@N00/

nick348

There's a lot of competition out there. What exactly would you be offering?

nick348

MICHAELCYCLES

And do you have a couple of million (as per wiggle, crc) or even a few hundred thousand pounds that you can afford to have tied up in stock waiting for custoomers orders!

Woody2

My (cynical) local bike shop owner says the only way to make a million with a bike shop is to start with two million. (As he's ringing up the till and carefully placing my twenties at the back).

sonicred007

The internet model that works seems to be on the basis of a large, readily available stock that only takes 1 ot 2 days to arrive.

There doesn't seem to a level down from that beyond lbs websites, which are all too often just another shopfront to get you in the door.

There also seems to be an online price vs a retail price - so offers online are frequent at Wiggle and Evans fro example.

I'd step away from bikes on the internet and think about how a small business might use the internet to its advantage against the big boys, or considered how web technology can be harnessed to get you traffic and possibly adverts

Just a thought or two



Thanks

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68463844@N ... otostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68463844@N00/218502187/

Adam Tranter

You need to do something different, look what companies like Foska have done.

il_principe

You'll need to invest a lot of money on search engine optimisation. The problem is that sites like google rank longer standing companies higher, the reason being that so many new e-commerce businesses fail in their first year. The firm I work for is small (7 full time staff) but we appear very highly on google searches for our specific industry niche because we realised the potential of t'internet 11 years ago. As a result we generate a lot of business from our website. The problem you'll have is that you are competing against long established, well known and successful firms like Wiggle, Parkers etc, who can afford to spend a lot on web marketing etc. After all if I search for say "Specialised Toupe" and your site doesn't come up in the first 2 pages or so, you are unlikely to get my business unless you are cheaper than everyone else and offer free next day delivery. Good luck to ya friend, but it's gonna be tough. Worth considering the ebay shop route I'd imagine...

My Best Bike

giant_man

jashburnham's comments are spot on I think. Great points raised. In my line of business i know this to be true.

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SIZE IS EVERYTHING! or at least that's what my LBS tells me.