In the August edition of BikeBiz, deputy ed Mark Sutton wrote about the challenges retailers face in marketing to customers and reacting to pressure from multiples. This month, one reader responds…
Dear BikeBiz As you rightly say, retailers face many challenges these days, don’t they? And of course, with the ‘Wiggo effect’ and the ‘Olympics effect’ we need to make sure we do take advantage of the spike in interest and stop it being a one-off. Obviously, as we run Road.cc and are focused on digital I’ve got a few comments here. It’s pretty clear that multiples and independents both need to worry about how to attract potential buyers into their stores. Your article touches on a couple of points which are key and which many in the cycling industry are currently struggling with. First time customers are wary of going into stores and looking foolish when faced by what they perceive is likely to be an “expert” shop assistant. And you mention “comfort zone” and “shopping convenience” – and for the vast majority of people nowadays the internet is a “comfort zone”. And it is revolutionising the buying decision. The way in which people approach buying is now even more complicated than ever and marketers now refer to the ZMOT, or Zero Moment of Truth – the research conducted by consumers before they decide to buy. For your average first-time bike buyer, he is almost definitely going to be online trying to find out as much information as he can so that eventually he can walk into somewhere and not feel a fool. And that requires a more considered response from the cycling industry than a simple decision to get a young employee chatting on Twitter or Facebook. It requires a strategy to engage customers with something that will enthuse and inform them. Understanding how a potential bike buyer
might go about researching is vital. What kind of searches are they likely to conduct? Where are they going to be researching?
Individual companies need to be creating the answers to their questions online and making them easy to find for newcomers to the market. Which involves creating sexy, informative, engaging content online to make sure that when people are doing their research they are going to come across your company, your brands, your service ethos. Because as sure as anything, one of your competitors is doing that and putting their brand at the forefront of a customer’s mind way before they know what they want to buy. And once they have bought from you what
are you doing to make sure they buy from you again, how are you building that relationship, protecting your brand, increasing your customer loyalty? Have you got a brand magazine, fresh exciting content on your website, or a regular blog they can subscribe to, a newsletter, a video channel, not forgetting all the usual things you do in the “real” world! No, it’s not easy, nor is it likely to be
cheap, but I suggest ignoring the problem is not a long-term option. Creating engaging content and
understanding how to get that content into the right places is something that should be entrusted to experts. Yes, here’s the plug: F-At Media, owners of Road.cc are just such experts. We’re happy to talk anyone through the maze and help them engage customers and build a relationship when and where it matters. We’ll be at the BikeBiz Awards and at the Cycle Show, please do give me a call to set up an informal chat.