"The State of the IBD in an Evolving Retail Landscape."
We have seen a lot of change in the bike industry over our 41-year history. Leading into our 2017 Open House we decided to create an Industry Summit, moderated by Pinkbike, a platform for shops and brands to come together and discuss what we can do to best support consumers and the cycling industry given the current surge of change in the industry. We can only begin the conversation but we look forward to continuing it each year as this Summit evolves. The focus for 2017 was on setting the IBD up for success in regards to an omnichannel product launch calendar in an era of ever changing spec.
We put together a handful of topics that we know are important to bike shops as well as bicycle and component suppliers. Then we reached out to several brands and bike shops, asking that they send representatives to attend this first Industry Summit. Employees from Enve, Fox Racing, Moots, Pivot Cycles and Santa Cruz Bicycles answered the call; as did representatives from several Pacific Northwest shops, including Cyclepath, Fanatik Bike, Fat Tire Farm, River City Bicycles and Sellwood Cycle Repair.
- How is the industry approaching direct to consumer sales?
- How are shops leveraging other business categories such as; service center, shuttle service, travel, or soft goods?
- How have product launches changed? What are the effects on your business of these changes?
Those are some of the questions we tackle in these podcasts.
This is our first attempt at creating a forum of this nature. Our panel is, by no means, exhaustive. The same could be said for the topics we’re tackling. And, as you listen to these short podcasts, you will undoubtedly be treated to the occasional clang and hum from the Chris King Cafe. We are learning as we go, but listening back on these conversations, we’re also confident that we’ve created a foundation for an event worth building on in the future.
So, sit back and give these a listen.
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION AND HOW HAVE PRODUCT LAUNCHES CHANGED?
PART TWO: ARE DIRECT TO CONSUMER SALES SOMETHING YOU (THE IBD) ARE EMBRACING OR STRUGGLING WITH?
PART THREE: HOW ARE BIKE SHOPS LEVERAGING THEIR SERVICE CENTERS IN AN EVER CHANGING MARKET?
We would like to thank the following people for investing their time into this project, including:
Barry O’Connor of Fat Tire Farm
Bill Larson of Cyclepath
Butch Boucher of Moots Cycles
Daniel Limburg of Pivot Cycles
Dave Guettler of River City Bicycles
David Ahumada of Fox Racing
Eric Tonkin of Sellwood Cycle Repair
Geoff Casey of Santa Cruz Bicycles
Luke Demoe of Fanatik Bike
Matt Robertson of Enve Composites