Supply Chains & International Bike Business

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

It was $2500-4000 to ship a 40 foot container of bikes to the US. Now, it's $40,000. The biggies like Walmart, Amazon, Target and the like are happily paying it cause they can. Shippers are fleecing the companies cause they can. In the end we the consumer get screwed with no lube.

Can you cite the article you read for $40K per?

That is ballpark $100 per bike.

You sure that is right?

[Clean39T]

Our faith in “the free market” to solve everything will be our downfall.

[deechee]

Earlier in the year, a daycare parent who is part of a startup with a physical product mentioned a similar 7-10x fold increase in container shipping. It's tough on these small companies, especially when a product isn't up to par and they can't send it back; at least they were able to make the fixes here but it caused a huge delay on top of the original delay in manufacturing and shipping.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Can you cite the article you read for $40K per?

That is ballpark $100 per bike.

You sure that is right?

These are the numbers from industry people. Some smaller builders have decided to not even bring in frames or complete bikes for the remainder of the year. The cost and delay time is so long they don't see the point. One of my importers/distributors airfreighted parts in because it was cheaper and faster.

Example... 15 chains = 9 pounds. He ordered 600 each of 5 different models. That's 1800 pounds of chains he airfreighted cause it was faster and cheaper than trying to get them on a boat. That's how bad it is now.

For me, it was costing about $150 a frame to bring into the US by air. It's almost $350 now.

[Mark McM]

I recently purchased a new Specialized bike, that was labeled as a model year 2022. It needed some special parts to set it up for me, so I put a small $100 down payment on it to hold it while the shop waited for the parts to arrive. Before the parts came in, Trek raised the price on this model by $200. Fortunately for me, when the parts arrived and I picked up the bike, the shop honored the original price when I paid off the remainder.

Not that shops (or local distributors) have a lot of inventory now, but vendors have to price their goods not just on what their present inventory cost them, but also taking into accountwhat it will cost them to replenish their stocks in the future.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I recently purchased a new Specialized bike, that was labeled as a model year 2022. It needed some special parts to set it up for me, so I put a small $100 down payment on it to hold it while the shop waited for the parts to arrive. Before the parts came in, Trek raised the price on this model by $200. Fortunately for me, when the parts arrived and I picked up the bike, the shop honored the original price when I paid off the remainder.

Not that shops (or local distributors) have a lot of inventory now, but vendors have to price their goods not just on what their present inventory cost them, but also taking into accountwhat it will cost them to replenish their stocks in the future.

Many shops in the US are implementing build fees. There's some interesting commentary about how bike shops are, what they are and who they compare too. Many say they are similar to auto dealers. Where dealers charge a prep fee and delivery fee. Some shops, and they are trying to get others on board with the idea, of charging prep(build) and delivery fees.

Many people don't realize how little money there is in selling bikes.

[HenryA]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...or-seventh-day

[old fat man]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I recently purchased a new Specialized bike, that was labeled as a model year 2022. It needed some special parts to set it up for me, so I put a small $100 down payment on it to hold it while the shop waited for the parts to arrive. Before the parts came in, Trek raised the price on this model by $200. Fortunately for me, when the parts arrived and I picked up the bike, the shop honored the original price when I paid off the remainder.

Not that shops (or local distributors) have a lot of inventory now, but vendors have to price their goods not just on what their present inventory cost them, but also taking into accountwhat it will cost them to replenish their stocks in the future.

Trek raised the price on a specialized??? Wow, the market is crazy

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by old fat man

Trek raised the price on a specialized??? Wow, the market is crazy

That's one way to keep your competition on their toes!

Sorry, I mis-typed. I got the brands mixed up because I had previously bought a Trek from this shop, but what I really meant to say was that Specialized raised the price of a 2022 bike in the middle of 2021. Model year price increases aren't uncommon, but typically once a model year price is set, it stays the same.

[Hilltopwalters]

I mean all estimations show that this is going to get much worse. Does anyone have any data on the used bike market and how crazy that's getting?

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

That's one way to keep your competition on their toes!

Sorry, I mis-typed. I got the brands mixed up because I had previously bought a Trek from this shop, but what I really meant to say was that Specialized raised the price of a 2022 bike in the middle of 2021. Model year price increases aren't uncommon, but typically once a model year price is set, it stays the same.

It's been happening to us as people have waited so long but yes we always honor the sale price. Everything is going up not just bikes.

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

It was $2500-4000 to ship a 40 foot container of bikes to the US. Now, it's $40,000. The biggies like Walmart, Amazon, Target and the like are happily paying it cause they can. Shippers are fleecing the companies cause they can. In the end we the consumer get screwed with no lube.

"We the consumer" WILL get screwed no matter what. Prices will go up and never seem to go down.
Raise taxes on companies? They will past the cost on. When taxes were cut (three times now), you NEVER heard about prices dropping and they didn't.

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

Many shops in the US are implementing build fees. There's some interesting commentary about how bike shops are, what they are and who they compare too. Many say they are similar to auto dealers. Where dealers charge a prep fee and delivery fee. Some shops, and they are trying to get others on board with the idea, of charging prep(build) and delivery fees.

Many people don't realize how little money there is in selling bikes.

Build fees are a terrible idea. First, too many customers WILL ask to waive it and build it themselves. When the shop says the warranty requires they build it, you now have a ticked off customer.

[buddybikes]

meanwhile I am trying to sell a friends like new (and mean like new) spec epic but has 26" wheels (xt quality) on the cheap and only got one nibble.

guess bikes won't ride with 26ers or only 27 gears

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

Many shops in the US are implementing build fees. There's some interesting commentary about how bike shops are, what they are and who they compare too. Many say they are similar to auto dealers. Where dealers charge a prep fee and delivery fee. Some shops, and they are trying to get others on board with the idea, of charging prep(build) and delivery fees.

Many people don't realize how little money there is in selling bikes.

Build fee as in, taking a complete bike out of the box and building it? I only hope it's done well then, like opening up HS, truing wheels, tires off and the like. Not slapped together like even some "bike shops" in the republic does.

Considering the lowest margin item sold in a bike shop is the bike, not surprised. Getting a decent margin on a bike is hard..particularly when you don't have any inventory.

Sell a bike in the box, unbuilt? Let the 'customer' build it? That'll never happen. That has lawsuit written all over it.