RETAILERS
By the time of the John Pye auctions these memories are in the distant past. So we bought one bike from the auction, I thought let’s just see what it’s all about for £75 (pre-auction RRP was £250). It was a 16” Forme Harpur in Red, it was by far the best kid’s bike I’d seen. Lightweight, bright colour, superb components and it looked awesome. We sold it quite easily through Facebook Marketplace. We made a profit. We bought a couple more and tested the water, fast forward a few months and we’d created a brand called Discounted Bikes - Shropshire, launched a Shopify website, secured warehouse space and began turning over 100s of bikes. In total, we probably resold around 800 bikes, plus a decent amount of branded components and accessories. We’ve continued to source more stock and secured additional Reid bikes through Adam at Adaptive DCS. We genuinely fell into this business, we didn’t start with a plan, but we saw an opportunity and took action. It’s been great fun and served a purpose. We’ve found a passion in making and taking the journey, one which we’re looking to continue.
Of the bikes you sold, how many are children’s bikes and how many are adult bikes?
Of the 800 or so, probably 90% were kids’ bikes - that’s balance bikes up to 26-inch wheels. We picked up some adult bikes which sold quite quickly. Our stock mix was determined by availability at the auction. The kids’ bikes are where we found our passion. Parents came to collect bikes from our house, already knowing the price before they arrived at our door. Many of those who bought from us attend the local school. Kids test rode the bikes outside our house. The conversion rate was extremely high. Seeing kids jump on the bike and their faces light up: That’s where the magic was for us. We made a little bit of money but the main measure of success was seeing another kid on a bike, and, being parents ourselves, when we look at the screen time stars for my kids - It’s not healthy. Trying to help other parents combat that - keeping their kids active on a bike - is a great feeling. When you look at the stats behind this, they are quite frightening. Research shows the percentage of
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kids who are active now, riding bikes, is less than half what it was in the early 2000s - that’s just mind-blowing for me. We’re from a generation where it was always normal to pick your bike and ride. It was just second nature, but it’s almost like tablets have replaced that. Then you look at kid’s obesity levels going through the roof, and it’s all linked. Exercise promotes physical and mental health.
That’s why my wife and I are involved in building the business. That’s what we’re really passionate about helping challenge, change, and address these issues.
This is great to hear, especially as the industry has seen real challenges with selling children’s bikes. Part of that is a subscription model, which has become very popular, and also price point (and margin). Agreed. For us, at the start, sourcing bikes from John Pye Auctions meant we could be really generous with our pricing as our business costs were very low. At one point we’d been selling through eBay, but when we
looked at eBay’s charges, and the inability to target a local audience, we decided there was a better way to make this work. We reached out to Mark Crosby who specialises in digital
marketing within the outdoor sector. Mark has been a guiding light and launched our Google ad campaigns. This triggered significant traffic to our website and helped us save some money. We were able to increase local sales by promoting the business through partnerships with local sports clubs and schools. We love seeing local families out and about on bikes brought through us.
October 2024 | 19
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