How’s Business? – November 2024
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We’ve been hearing that there are still very large specials available from wholesalers to retailers who are prepared to buy certain models of bikes or more than a certain minimum quantity or value of products. With this in mind, our follow up question for this month was, “Have you been buying extra bike stock that wholesalers have on special or just making minimum orders?”
Benny Devcich from Bennys Bike Shop in Eden Terrace an inner-city suburb of Auckland, NZ said:
Business is good. It’s been quite a tough year here in New Zealand for bike retailers. We’ve had high inflation the past couple years, high mortgages, so disposable income has been quite tough for people.
In the Auckland area alone, we’ve had four or five substantial bike shops close up. For us, we had a reasonably quiet winter compared to the past three or four years, but it’s not really… we’re so small that it’s been quite nice to have a more relaxing winter. So we’ve caught up on a lot of projects.
The money was still there, but it wasn’t as great as the past couple of years. Put it this way, a few key retailers and small workshops have been doing really well, most of the big guys have been struggling.
For us we’re up about 12% to 15% from last year at this time, mainly because of the awesome summer we had (2023-24 summer). Winter’s been sustainable but not really profitable each month. September October are the quietest months in retail but we’re absolutely slammed at the moment.
Our business model, when people are not buying new bikes they’re getting their current bikes fixed. We win in that respect.
If there’s money there we get new bike builds, refurbishments. Being in the trade in 30 years made me set up the shop in this way – we don’t actually have bikes on the floor for sale.
We’re in the old Auckland City Dog Pound back in the 1920’s. It’s what you’d call a character building. High ceilings, it’s a beautiful spot. It’s not in a shopping centre. It’s a destination. You don’t happen to walk past. But we are about 150 metres away from a cycleway that has 3,000 to 4,000 cyclists per day.
We’ve been here for four years. It’s a good little spot and we have storage downstairs in the basement.
We champion NZ brands for sale like Chapter2. We do a bit of Cervélo, Marin, Merida. We do some small brands like Surly, Ritchey plus Cannondale and a few other regular brands.
We normally negotiate a sale then bring that bike in to suit. Either a custom design from the frame up or a bring in a high-end bike and often do modifications to it.
So we’re not holding stock and I think that’s where a lot of shops got into trouble last year – carrying too much stock. I think some shops have still got that covid panic buy mentality where if they need two or three they’ll buy five because they’re scared it’s going to run out.
We’ve got over that panic buy now. Most products we can get in stock.
Buying up wholesalers’ specials or just making minimum orders?
We can negotiate. We’ve got a bit of cash so if we want to put a bit of capital into purchasing, we can negotiate a quite good deal. Those with cash are winning. Those without cash are struggling. Those with (too much) stock are struggling. Those without stock seem to be ok.
We’ve got the cash so if specials are on offer to us we take them because we’re never going to lose – we can then offer our client a discount or alternatively sell at full retail and make up for other losses.
John Carney from Wembley Cycles in the inner western suburbs of Perth WA said:
It’s cracking along pretty well.
I think we’re finally seeing what the east coast has had for a while – we’re quietening down a little bit.
But every time I say that… even today we’ve had a few good sales, so I decide that I’m wrong! From what I read and hear the covid boom finished in 2022, but that has not been the case for us.
From what I’ve heard, about 15 shops in total have closed in Perth. I think that’s a combination of things. There were a few people just waiting for the end of their lease because they were done. People retiring. People looking for a change. I know of one person who was planning to sell their shop, then covid hit and he held out for another two or three years because of covid.
I think one or two people over here that I know did a bit of consolidation – they had a second shop that they didn’t need. Twice the hassle but not twice the profit.
But I think in general, business is still going pretty well.
Specialized is still our main brand. We also do Santa Cruz, Cervélo and there might be another brand coming on board. We did have Transition mountain bikes but I’m just in the process of trying to flog off the last couple of those.
There’s six of us here full time, which is three full time mechanics, another guy that will swing into the workshop when required. Our workshop is booked out two weeks in advance.
The workshop’s going very well – that’s always been a strong point. It’s all going pretty nicely. I also have four casuals.
The area we’re in is more affluent with older money and older houses. We’re fairly inner city and the people are generally better off. I think that’s one thing that’s helped us, because interest rate rises aren’t the issue that they are for other people. We’re definitely fortunate on that front.
I’m just running one event now. It’s called the Kalamunda 50. It’s a 50 kilometre mountain bike race. Next year one of my mates who does a lot of course management will help me out, which I’ll happily accept. I used to run several six hour races as well and I’m contemplating running a gravel race, but life’s too busy with kids and just trying to actually ride my own bike and enjoy myself without making life all about work.
Kalamunda is up in the hills – where the main mountain bike trail hub for Perth is, probably 20 kilometres from the CBD
Buying up wholesalers’ specials or just making minimum orders?
I mostly have been trying to control myself. I just bought a 10 bike special on some road bikes, but mostly I’m trying not to get sucked into the specials. Because there’s always a reason the bike is on special and mostly it’s because they can’t sell them!
If they can’t sell it, I don’t want to sell it.
Chris Klem, from Love Life Cycling, in the inner western Brisbane suburb of Toowong, Qld said:
It has been quite good. We’ve come out of quite a cooler winter for Brisbane, but just in the past couple of weeks we’ve definitely noticed, after the school holidays, more people around.
Our workshop’s really busy. There have been a few events here – Brisbane, Gold Coast, then Noosa Triathlon is coming up, so the workshop’s quite busy.
Trek is our main bike brand. Then we do Pinarello, Colnago, Willier and Time, in that order of how many we sell. After Trek, we sell more Pinarello than anything else.
Our shop is just mid to high end. Mainly road and gravel, but also some e-mountain bike and e-commute. When we opened three years ago electric bikes were maybe 10% of our sales but they’re maybe 45% of our sales now.
The Trek electric Domane road bike (the Domane+ SLR) has been a huge seller for us over the past couple of years. We’re in a hilly area and we have all types of people buy them – people who have had health issues, pacemakers or just people wanting to keep into the sport.
My wife rides an e-bike. We really believe in them. I’ve seen what it’s done for her. We’ve been able to ride all through Europe, Mount Ventoux and all that stuff.
We always have plenty of them in stock. That’s half the thing. People come in and they can ride them. Once you get them on an e-bike they’re nearly (always) going to buy one.
We moved to this shop just over a year ago. It’s twice as big as the old shop. We only moved two shops down to the corner. When we opened the first store it was during covid so we didn’t have many bikes and just had a very small store.
Buying up wholesalers’ specials or just making minimum orders?
We’ve bought a lot more. When Trek had their e-road bikes on sale we pretty much bought everything we could. Because in 2025 they’re only doing one model – the middle model, where previously they did a 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace model.
They had them all on sale for $4,000 off retail so we just bought as many as we could.
We tick through (analogue) road bikes but just order normal amounts because Trek has plenty of that stuff.
E-Road is a smaller category. We’ve been told that we buck the trend. I think it’s because of my wife (who works in the business) riding one and just being more passionate about them.
I’ve been in the industry all my life and ridden all my life. I’ve seen e-bikes evolve in the past couple of years and just what it does for people. I know they’re a small category, but for us it’s been huge, so I know we’re a bit different in that sense.
Peter Sutton from The Complete Cycle, Port Noarlunga, just south of Adelaide, SA said:
It has been very slow except for repair work. But over the past couple of weeks, it’s really starting to go well. I think people are just getting used to the cost of living.
A lot of people, especially in the e-bike category, have been holding off a bit. But we’ve sold a couple and the enquiry level has gone through the roof, so hopefully we’ll be in for a reasonable Christmas.
In electric our biggest brand is Tebco. For ordinary bikes I do a lot with Oceania – Fuji, SE, that sort of stuff. Tuesday Bikes, the oddball stuff is good. They’re an American beach cruiser brand. We do a lot with XDS as well.
Our workshop is going gangbusters, is the only way to describe it. We can’t keep up. It’s every type of repair.
We’re very selective on our e-bike repairs. I don’t take anything that’s not legal. If it’s a brand that I don’t recognise I’ll look it up in your Yearbook. If the brand’s got a listing there with a reputable distributor, we’ll work on it. But if it’s not recognisable, “See you later, we won’t touch it!”
My grandson Reef is still here. I think he will take over one day. He’s very keen. His biggest problem is that I’m only 81 and I’m not ready to retire! It’s great. I’ve always been almost a one man band, just me and my wife, but he’s made a hell of a difference.
I like that he’s an extremely good mechanic and very fussy in what he does. I feel blessed.
This area is growing and growing. I recon it’s trebled the number of houses in the past 10 years. There’s still just me. Danny’s on Beach Road (Christies Beach about 6 km away). We’ve got 99 Bikes at Noarlunga (about 5km away) not that they worry anybody all that much.
The one at McLaren Vale closed down. The one at Aldinga closed down. There’s very few of the old-style bike shops around now. The only wholesaler in South Australia is doing wheel repairs and wheel respoking for shops because shops can’t do it. That’s frightening to think you can walk into a bike shop that can’t true a wheel.
I’ve got my son’s dog at the shop today with my dog and they’re having a ball. They’re good for business too. People come into the shop just to pat the dogs. The comment we get sometimes is, “Oh good, a real bike shop!”
Buying up wholesalers’ specials or just making minimum orders?
Absolutely not! When anything’s on special we’ll stock one or two and sell off that. Why not? We can make some margin then. We’ll just have one or two on the floor and if someone wants it in a different size, we just order one in for them.
I’m over the fact that I used to have to be a wholesaler for the wholesalers.
Michael Milsom, from The Bike Shoppe, Dubbo in central west NSW said:
Business is just bobbing along. Sales are still fairly constant, but repairs are taking priority at the moment.
Christmas is a bit slower – comes later every year. We’ve had layby’s running since July. We’ve got laybys, but bike supply is hard.
We’re with Sheppards and everything (juvenile bikes) is coming in 7th December. Stock is hard to come by – juveniles, recreational range. We also use the Apollo bicycle company.
Recreational range is a bit hit and miss. You can have smaller frame sizes or extra large but nothing in the middle. Dual suspension is still available. Road is a bit hit and miss as far as frame sizes go. Mostly 54cm and 56cm models are available in some models in the $7,000 to $10,000 range. Anything below that is not available.
Someone’s dropped the ball this year on their ordering. It could be a shipping issue or a supply issue – I don’t know the ins and outs of it all. Going back, we used to get our bikes in August, September, October for the new season but over the past three years it’s all been coming in later and later.
Sheppards have been out of juvenile bikes for I’d say three months now. That’s why we ended up going back to Apollo. I was approached by Apollo, it would have to be four months ago, just on a regular visit. They’ve been very helpful.
The shop’s been here since 1986. Phil, my father, had the store before me and he was stocking Apollo back in the 1990’s. (name unclear) and I have had it for 15 years. It’s an industry that’s forever changing in a sense, but it’s still the same old game.
I slept on the shop floor when it first started. Dad was a (motor) mechanic of a day time and at night time he would come to do all the repairs and assemblies. We started off with two Speedwell bikes, a step through ladies’ bike and a 10 speed racer. He sold those and bought another two. So the floor gradually filled up.
Now we have about 114 bikes on the floor. There’s two bike shops in town. Here and Wheeler Cycles, which is our local Trek dealer. I think they’ve been going for three or four years prior to Phil starting this one. The Wheeler boys have got older and sold the store.
Greg Jones from Giant Frankston in the outer south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Vic said:
Not too bad. Obviously slowed down over winter but still ticking over. We opened up here in 1998. Around 2000 I was president of the Mornington Peninsula Triathlon Club. We still look after the club but not as involved as we were.
We changed to being Giant Frankston around 2018 or 2019, just before covid. We wanted to get a better deal and become a Giant concept store. It saved us through covid – we were able to get supply.
We’re 100% Giant now. We sell pretty well across the range. Giant don’t do a BMX so we’ve only got a couple of kid’s BMXers. But hybrids, mountain bikes, road bikes, we sell a good cross section. E-bikes have been popular too. Both cruiser types and also Trance dual suspension mountain bikes, they’ve been popular.
Buying up wholesalers’ specials or just making minimum orders?
We take advantage of some of the special orders. Not all the time. Of late it’s been a bit tighter. We haven’t stocked up over winter. Ross (Greg’s son) looks after that side, he talks to Giant a lot more than I do.