Posts by Phil Latz
Please Help me Celebrate 60 or Bust!
Link Sports Adds Brands and Relocates to Larger Premises
Sydney, NSW Link Sports has shifted headquarters while adding three bike brands. The company, which has served as a long-term distributor of brands including Burgtec, Spank, KS and Slikoleum, has moved to a larger warehouse in Rydalmere, NSW, while shifting its servicing and warranty support to a satellite service centre in East Maitland, NSW. Director…
How Many More IBDs will Bike Brands Acquire?
San Francisco, California, USA Are we beginning to see a wider pattern of major bicycle companies looking to ‘vertically integrate’ by buying out some of their dealers or starting new stores from scratch? Already for several years, Trek has been progressively buying dealers and in some cases starting new stores. This is USA head office…
Sponsorships and Community Engagement
‘Community Engagement’ is a sometimes misused buzzword. We define it as ‘a relational process that occurs at a local level.’ But it doesn’t just have to mean a local geographic level. You could be engaging with a community of people who have a common interest. They might even be a geographically dispersed community that meets…
If You Read Nothing Else Read This! Bike Supply… The Sequel
From conversations with various industry members over recent weeks it seems that, after a brief respite, bicycle stock supplies are tightening again – just as we lead into our busy summer season, potentially leading to a bike shortage in Australia. Right now, some of the biggest questions on most Australian bicycle retailers’ minds include, ‘When…
Vietnam Shut Down Impacts Australian High End Bike Supply
When you think about bicycle and component manufacturing countries in Asia, chances are that your list would start with China, Taiwan and perhaps Japan. But Vietnam has become an increasingly important production hub over recent years. This has been partly as a way for global brands to avoid the ‘anti-dumping’ measures imposed upon Chinese manufacturers…
Why Has Global Shipping Become So Chaotic and Expensive?
If you’re a wholesaler, you know first-hand that shipping prices have gone through the roof since covid hit. If anything, the situation is getting worse, not better. It’s not just the price that’s problematic. There are long delays, fewer ships sailing to Australia and New Zealand and our ports are chocked with empty containers while…
How’s Business? Stock Supply Special! October 2021
Welcome to our monthly chat with bicycle shop owners and managers across Australia and New Zealand where we simply ask ‘How’s Business?’ In keeping with our stock supply theme for this month, our follow up question was, ‘How much bike stock do you have now and how confident are you that you’ll have enough for…
Australia’s Richest Partner Invests in Bike Industry
Think of Australia’s richest people and Gina Rinehart, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forest and Clive Palmer might come to mind. They are certainly in the mix at numbers one, two and seven on the Australian Financial Review’s 2021 Rich List, with Gina topping the bill at $31 billion. But two relatively young business partners actually combine for…
BikeExchange Reveals Strong Growth for 2020/21
BikeExchange is one of a very small number of Australian bicycle industry related companies that is publicly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). This requires them to regularly publish detailed financial statements and reports outlining any significant changes to staffing, operations and any other changes that may materially impact their financial performance. As we…