Online Cycling Store
Bicycle Stores have been around since bicycles. They started in ways which we aren’t old enough to have experienced, but we have seen cycling evolve and we’ve the seen the cycling shops evolve with that.
In the last 20 years, we have seen many bicycle shops get much more sophisticated, due in part to the increase in sophistication of bicycles themselves, along with bike parts, cycling accessories, and cycling clothing.
Greg LeMond — Tour de France, 1989.
Whether people cycle for fun, cycle for fitness, or cycle for competition — any cyclist who goes into a bicycle store has a certain expectation of what to see, but each cycling shop caters to different classes of cycling depending on the location and very often the background of the shop owner.
For example, a high street bike shop will likely cover from kids bikes all the way up to commuter bikes, and maybe some good road bikes — but possibly not what those of us who love cycling are looking for.
Another trend with cycling shops, is that many have added an online store to the portfolio they have along with their bricks and mortar store. This means that these bike stores are focused on selling bicycles, bicycle parts, cycling accessories, and cycling clothing; as well as servicing those cycling products. As a result, most of these bicycle stores will have a very good mechanic who can look after your bicycle well. If you’ve missed any of our previous discussions on maintenance for your bicycle, then you should definitely get to know your mechanic!
Since many of these stores are focused on bicycle parts and servicing those bicycle parts, we are looking to take a different approach with our online cycling store.
One thing that we can’t do as an online bicycle shop, is service bikes globally without making it a very expensive procedure for consumers. So we don’t want to interfere in what we see as a natural arrangement for the cycling industry.
Bicycle Parts that need to be serviced is something that the majority of cyclists need to have a mechanic look after for them, and so we keep our product mix similar by only having a minority of our stock on those items. We do of course still have them, but we don’t focus on them as much because we feel that if it takes a mechanic to service, it should be the same mechanic that fits them and buys them. However, if you’re one of the cyclists who can also assemble his bike, we don’t want you to feel left out.
What we do is focus on our collection of cycling accessories, cycling clothing, and the items that a cyclists needs regularly.
We have noticed over the years of watching online bicycle shops progress, that the main driver for shopping online at a cycling shop is the expected lower prices, the convenience of it all, and the direct shipment to your door. This is what we want to achieve, by stocking the products that you need often, and would expect a cycling store to have. Just like your local newsagents, we want to focus on good customer service and good stock levels. So in order to do this, we don’t want to decrease your enjoyment on the site by having too many products, and not enough stock.
Instead, we want to have the best brands that you want and expect, and we’ll provide them to you at great prices, with the full range you expect from a brand, and we want to ship it to you with free delivery faster than anywhere else.
It seems easy on the surface, but delivering the level of service that we already are will continue to do no matter how big we get is something that we work really hard for, and we hope that it makes cycling a little easier for you.