FEATURE
‘Direct-to-rider will have a severe negative impact… it does not allow us to build a
relationship with the rider’
The following is a letter sent to Specialized UK by Ray Wookey, founder of Energise E-bikes in Kent, setting out his concerns
Dear Specialized UK,
I am writing to you about the concerns that we have in relation to the decision which Specialized have made to start selling products direct-to-rider. We value the relationship that we strive to build when our customers visit us for the first time. We spend time with them in understanding, through asking appropriate questions, their requirements and identifying the products that meet their needs and expectations.
Once a suitable product has been decided on, we then accompany the customer on a considered test ride to reinforce their decision making. All of this helps to build a strong level of trust in both ourselves and the brands that we sell. Maintaining a consistent and high level of footfall is key to the survival of the high street store. The introduction of direct- to-rider will greatly decrease our footfall and undermine the work and efforts that we have made in building our business. In going direct-to-rider, Specialized are taking away the customer experience and disjointing the customer from their local bike shop.
Many of our sales throughout the year are from repeat business and customer recommendations. Direct-to-rider will have a severe negative impact on our repeat business as it does not allow us to build a relationship with the rider. Furthermore, the lack of a commission for the LBS that would be the end users’ local shop does not follow what other
brands who support us offer. Many other brands provide us with a fair commission when goods are purchased from their website for delivery direct-to-consumer. This helps to support and grow the LBS, without whom Specialized would have no dealers to help undertake warranty repairs for the products that were sold directly to the rider. This would be a negative result for the Specialized brand. As an example, we used to be a Brompton stockist before Brompton had their own retail stores. On several occasions we spent considerable time discussing and demonstrating the product to potential customers only to find that in not having the colour option that they wanted, the sale migrated to Bromptons online web shop. This resulted in us not only losing the sale but losing the time that we invested in the customer. Brompton, like yourselves, did not offer a commission on the sale. This experience resulted in us dropping the Brompton brand from our range.
It certainly does not feel coincidental that direct-to-rider is being launched at the same time as the revised warranty charter. Specialized needs its dealer base to support the warranties on bikes being sent direct! Again, without the dealer base how will Specialized cope?
It would appear that Specialized wants all the rewards for selling the product without the hassle of dealing with irate customers when things go wrong. Instead, the stress and frustration are being handed over to a shop that has not had first contact nor developed a relationship with the customer. One final point: We understand that you are implementing a click and collect from the dealer offering the dealer 50% of your standard stocking margin. As a brand, Specialized provides typically 10 points less margin than other brands we stock and certainly is the lowest margin of any brand we offer. To have further erosion of what is already a low base is completely unacceptable. Altogether this scheme is ill considered, one sided and would prompt us to consider whether we continue to stock the brand at all.
I doubt we are the only retailer expressing our concerns and would like to know what plans Specialized have in supporting its network of dealers with appropriate commissions on direct-to-rider and click and collect sales?
Energise E-bikes, Kent 28 | March 2022
www.bikebiz.com
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