IBD | PROFILE Fatbirds
Flying high
Locations: Hunstanton, Norfolk Established: 1993 Telephone: 01485 535875
Fax: 01485 535876 Web:
www.fatbirds.co.uk Email:
info@fatbirds.co.uk
Opening times: Thursday to Friday 9am to 5am; Saturday to Sunday 11am to 4pm
A year since it was taken over, the staff at Fatbirds have carefully carried out the precarious balancing act of improving the store without alienating the regulars in the process. Retail manager Craig Barker tells Jonathon Harker how Fatbirds has achieved exactly that…
When was Fatbirds taken over? Fatbirds was taken over in November 2010. It has always been, and will continue to be, primarily a web-based titanium road bike specialist with a retail shop attached. Footfall isn’t great where we are – Hunstanton is close to nowhere – but people drive from all over the country to visit us for a sizing/initial fit and sometimes a second visit for a final fitting and collection in person. Regular customers have commented on the
improvements in customer service and the store layout. There has been a large investment in stocking new and better products so no feelings of alienation here. I think they are glad we came along and made it better. We also carry out the odd repair and service
wobbly old stuff if required, but most of our bikes are shipped to customers all over the UK – and we’re big in Japan for some reason.
What type of customers do you cater for? Our customers are generally men in their 30s- 50s who want a beautiful, light, comfortable road bike that’s built to last and specced specifically for them. We also cater for the more serious racer type of roadie with our Van Nicholas Astraeus, Lynskey R440 and Sabbath
50 BIKEBIZ NOVEMBER
Monday’s Child models which are displayed in store, resplendent in Dura Ace 7900, Campagnolo Record and SRAM Red, etc. A big part of the business is winter bikes, the most popular models being Van Nicholas Yukon and Amazon and the Sabbath September. We are already receiving great feedback regarding the new Kinesis Grand Fondo Ti and we expect that to be a big seller in the coming months. We cater for summer tourists by stocking
pumps for push chairs and wheelchairs, and a range of leisure hybrid bikes that come fully kitted out as a convenient holiday bike.
Do you stock 29ers or e-bikes? We have built a few Van Nicholas Zion 29ers for customers, but we don’t stock them in store. We only have a small selection of ten MTBs on display because we concentrate on road bikes. We don’t have any e-bikes or folders, but if we opened a city store in the future I would look at Gocycle and Brompton being core products.
How’s business? Business is good, it has slowed obviously since August when we hit great figures. However, our Audax/touring bikes start to sell better this time of year so we are ready for that.
Fatbirds expects the new Kinesis Grand Fonodo Ti to be a strong seller in the coming months...
What’s the ‘bored wives and girlfriends’ area? The bored wives and girlfriends area is otherwise known as the ‘component room’ because it’s where our wheels and handlebars etc are displayed. It is basically a little inner room with a sofa, a coffee table and a few magazines (including Grazia and Cosmo) for people to use while waiting for their bikes to be built. It is more commonly used by wives and girlfriends who have heard all they can take about gear ratios and have wandered off.
How do you market the business? We have a wealth of marketing experience so we have many ideas. So far the branding has been changed and improved and the shop front has had a makeover. We have our own team jerseys printed (available in store at only £49.99) and we have a few prototype Fatbirds bikes in store. The new site has gone live and the pictures we’ve used reflect us and hopefully our customers, who ride for recreation, fitness and laughs. The surrounding area is beautiful and we want to promote that too. If customers are going to drive a long way to see us then why not stay and go for a ride? Norfolk is not flat, it is surprisingly hilly in the north. We have one summit at 110m!
BIKEBIZ.COM
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