Specialized cutting prices, 25% off Stumpjumper

[PaMtbRider]

It looks like Specialized is sitting on some inventory and cutting prices.

I didn't see any road bikes that interest me (Aethos) but a couple of their Stumpjumper mountain bikes are back down to pre pandemic prices with a 25% price drop. I've been riding my ancient mountain bike lately and sort of shopping for a new one. I had taken the Stumpjumper off the list but this has me reconsidering.

They also have components on sale. I saw some Roval wheels marked down 25% as well.

[AngryScientist]

I noticed in my email over the last few days several vendors advertising Shimano overstock sales too, so I think there is a pile of inventory sitting in warehouses right now that vendors want to move.

[HenryA]

Last year was a very good year to sell your bike shop.

[fa63]

All those LBSs that sold to Trek or Specialized for big bucks must be having a chuckle right now. Which is great for them because they probably didn't make a whole lot of money the while they were independently owned and operated

Originally Posted by HenryA

Last year was a very good year to sell your bike shop.

[HenryA]

I bet there’s some Epic accounting going on. (pun intended)

[lavi]

Yea. I snagged a post.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by PaMtbRider

It looks like Specialized is sitting on some inventory and cutting prices.

I didn't see any road bikes that interest me (Aethos) but a couple of their Stumpjumper mountain bikes are back down to pre pandemic prices with a 25% price drop. I've been riding my ancient mountain bike lately and sort of shopping for a new one. I had taken the Stumpjumper off the list but this has me reconsidering.

They also have components on sale. I saw some Roval wheels marked down 25% as well.

Gotta wonder how Spec 'handles' LBS' that aren't part of the Spec 'universe', not a factory store and these deep discounts. Does the 'factory' give the LBS some sort of $ break? For inventory already on their floors?

[Alexi]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Gotta wonder how Spec 'handles' LBS' that aren't part of the Spec 'universe', not a factory store and these deep discounts. Does the 'factory' give the LBS some sort of $ break? For inventory already on their floors?

Nope, and they sometimes don’t even bother telling you that they put items on sale.

[peanutgallery]

This checks out as standard operating procedure for the big S. Companies occasionally play this game but specialized is probably the worst

As stated above, they're in a spot of bother

Originally Posted by Alexi

Nope, and they sometimes don’t even bother telling you that they put items on sale.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Alexi

Nope, and they sometimes don’t even bother telling you that they put items on sale.

I guess that was my point of the rhetorical question. When trying to sell shoes, we got bit by this more than once...'Factory/distributor' announcing DEEP discounts on the shoes we already had in inventory...and then the Rep(tile) would come by and want us to buy more shoes.....we stopped selling shoes.

[batman1425]

Originally Posted by Alexi

Nope, and they sometimes don’t even bother telling you that they put items on sale.

Makes me chuckle they've started doing this when during the worst parts of the shortage, they would roll out pricing restructures to dealers for inventory they currently had on the floor, one after another. I think I saw the same physical bike increase in prices 3 times in 6mo. Sliding scale.

[dave thompson]

When I was a Yamaha dealer in the 60/70/80s, if Yamaha would reduce the price on a model I already had on my floor, they would credit my account the same dollar amount for future parts purchases.

For us that system worked pretty well because we did a lot of service work and repairs.

[fredd]

If they do this for the epic, I’m gonna be really hard pressed to not get into mountain biking…

[PaMtbRider]

Originally Posted by fredd

If they do this for the epic, I’m gonna be really hard pressed to not get into mountain biking…

If they did this for an Epic Evo or an Aethos I would hard pressed to stay out of the local bike shop. Unfortunately they don't even show stock for either of those models in my size.

[carlucci1106]

I'll add a bit as now I recall. The credit was based on the best tiered price the dealer could purchase the bike at wholesale originally. As most of you know. tiered pricing involves giving better wholesale to shops who commit to more product. So if you were on a lower tier (a small LBS, let's say) the credit was a large percentage of what you paid, vs. what you would buy it for wholesale now.

For the Erik's shops it was the exact difference betweeen what you paid, and would now pay wholesale.

What is most disconcerting is that your supplier is your competitor at the retail level. They have modeled the sales of their bikes to sell through the LBS channel, their stores, or the D-2-C channel. Some mix of those.

When they are selling "their" bikes at just-above wholesale cost, they are still making a very healthy profit, but the shop now has to match their price to compete, if they are still flush with inventory. If you didn't, people would "showroom" you for size/color, and then turn around and buy it direct. Next week, you'll be building that Stumpjumper.

So, needless to say, your supplier is not your friend when times get tough. I don't get offended when OldP says Rep(tile) because it 100% TRUE. These people egg you on to buy their overpriced crap, then they keep a contingency of inventory to have the power to control your prices-via the digital realm, so all their products sell. You fail- they will do nothing to prop you up, except maybe offer to buy you out.