Why Amazon will (and should) put Performance Bike out of business

[Climb01742]

Amazon Prime has perfected frictionless buying of almost anything. Including more and more cycling bits. Particularly saddles.

Like an idiot, I ordered a saddle from Performance Bike. They shipped me the wrong saddle. There is no online way to initiate the return. I have to print a return form and fill it out by hand. I must pay, upfront, for return shipping on a mistake they made. And I gotta wait until heaven knows when to have my CC credited for the return.

Compare that to an Amazon Prime return. Go online. Request a return. Hit print. Stick prepaid label on box. Drop off at UPS. The moment Amazon sees the package has been dropped off and scanned, they credit your card. Whole thing takes maybe an hour, on a slow day.

It's not just Performance, though they are strikingly antiquated. So many cycling online retailers are needlessly painful to use and behind the times. It's hard to believe they don't realize that Amazon is setting both the rules and expectations today. One click gets me a product in two days, with free, no questions returns, and a CC credited back in minutes.

Amazon will, and should, consign online retailers like Performance and others to the dustbin. Either step up (like Competitive Cycling did/has) or step aside.

[eddief]

before we buy? I think there's an Alexa joke in there somewhere.

[Climb01742]

Originally Posted by eddief

before we buy? I think there's an Alexa joke in there somewhere.

I think LBSs will, and should, survive by finding a niche and focusing on good service. But online? Amazon sets the rules. Why deal with others who lag behind so badly?

[eddief]

and buy it from Amazon. I'm just funning with you. I get it.

[BobO]

Performance Bikes handles their online ordering in a somewhat unusual manner. The orders are taken by a single point system and disseminated to individual store locations where the orders are filled and shipped. There are an awful lot of moving parts and varying quality control with this sort of system. A high failure rate is inevitable.

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by Climb01742

Amazon Prime has perfected frictionless buying of almost anything. Including more and more cycling bits. Particularly saddles.

Like an idiot, I ordered a saddle from Performance Bike. They shipped me the wrong saddle. There is no online way to initiate the return. I have to print a return form and fill it out by hand. I must pay, upfront, for return shipping on a mistake they made. And I gotta wait until heaven knows when to have my CC credited for the return.

Compare that to an Amazon Prime return. Go online. Request a return. Hit print. Stick prepaid label on box. Drop off at UPS. The moment Amazon sees the package has been dropped off and scanned, they credit your card. Whole thing takes maybe an hour, on a slow day.

It's not just Performance, though they are strikingly antiquated. So many cycling online retailers are needlessly painful to use and behind the times. It's hard to believe they don't realize that Amazon is setting both the rules and expectations today. One click gets me a product in two days, with free, no questions returns, and a CC credited back in minutes.

Amazon will, and should, consign online retailers like Performance and others to the dustbin. Either step up (like Competitive Cycling did/has) or step aside.

I know Performance Bike pissed you off by messing up your order, but they are in between the shop/internet interface where they do both things and Amazon will do just one, internet.
The Performance Bike near me has regular group rides, the do good repair work and their prices for some things are awesome. Amazon will crush the average bike shop's clothing and gear income because some of them are forced to carry the high priced Trek or Specialized gear and clothing. The LBS will be impacted hard by Amazon well before they impact Performance Bike.

At the local Performance Bike in Greensboro, NC, before a group ride, buy some gel packets, pick up those summer arm sleeves that are on end of season sale now, have them adjust the rear mech and you're off for a group ride. Amazon can't do that, nor can most bike shops tied to the big brands and their costly goods. I think Performance Bike will be just fine. They are well positioned to weather this storm. Fear for the traditional bike shop, some are being restricted in what they can sell and they have to compete with the internet. And compete with Performance Bike.

Some people scoff at Performance Bike's stuff but sometimes you only need a tube, some gloves or socks or something for hydration and energy. As far as them botching orders, it shouldn't' happen and it's a pain in the rear. Yes, Amazon will do that better. But there is a need for brick and mortar with internet pricing and Performance Bike has nestled into that niche nicely.

[rePhil]

CyclingTips podcast latest podcast was something like "How bike shops can survive in an Amazon world"

Interesting perspectives.

[OtayBW]

Originally Posted by Burnette

Some people scoff at Performance Bike's stuff but sometimes you only need a tube, some gloves or socks or something for hydration and energy.

I go to Performance to buy Accelerade - that's about it. And now they quit carrying it! (at least in my local store). I walk around while there and try to find something interesting to buy, but I'm sorry to say that most of the stuff there interests me about as much as a subscription to Bicycling Magazine. Alright, I'm a snob....

[Pierre]

All I know is that prices on Amazon are not nearly as good as they used to be. My take is that this is partly a result of taking other players out of the action and then having the market clout to raise prices because we are left with fewer online options. Buyers beware!

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by Pierre

All I know is that prices on Amazon are not nearly as good as they used to be. My take is that this is partly a result of taking other players out of the action and then having the market clout to raise prices because we are left with fewer online options. Buyers beware!

WHEN they have a monopoly on bike part sales, their prices are going to be whatever they want it to be. And there's nothing you can do about it. Except you can do something about it NOW, by buying local. They won't give you the wrong saddle, OP and if you don't like that saddle, they will likely exchange it.

[Climb01742]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

Except you can do something about it NOW, by buying local. They won't give you the wrong saddle, OP and if you don't like that saddle, they will likely exchange it.

I was in a LBS today looking for a saddle. Their selection was terrible. I really wanted to support the shop, but no shop can -- and most have no real interest in -- carrying a comprehensive inventory in things like saddles. It's really a question of playing to your strength. Brick and mortar shops have some strengths. Online has others. Render unto Caesar and all that.

[BobO]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

WHEN they have a monopoly on bike part sales, their prices are going to be whatever they want it to be.

Except that there is internal competition within the Amazon marketplace, kinda like eBay. Then there's the reality that if/when Amazon starts price fixing at a higher level it opens the door again for other retailers.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

WHEN they have a monopoly on bike part sales, their prices are going to be whatever they want it to be. And there's nothing you can do about it.

We already had that before Amazon. It's called MAP.

Only MAP is more insidious - Amazon is only a supply channel, and can only affect one path between manufacturer and consumer. With MAP, the price fixing happens directly from the single point source, the manufacturer.

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by OtayBW

I go to Performance to buy Accelerade - that's about it. And now they quit carrying it! (at least in my local store). I walk around while there and try to find something interesting to buy, but I'm sorry to say that most of the stuff there interests me about as much as a subscription to Bicycling Magazine. Alright, I'm a snob....

Their top range bibs are good, really. When they go on sale here soon, try a pair and don't tell anyone! Some of their gloves are decent too and yep, I buy sun sleeves there too.They have blow out sales on gels and tubes and tires and such, go by there when the season end sale hit and stock up.

You know, there was a time when a product was a bargain and a good value wasn't a bad thing.

I too buy nice things but I'll rock a good bib, my peers be darned.

[Climb01742]

Originally Posted by Burnette

I know Performance Bike pissed you off by messing up your order,

Truthfully, messing up the order wasn't what pissed me off. Stuff happens. I was just bummed out by the mistake until I went to return the wrong saddle. I think the true measure of any company isn't whether they make mistakes (we all do) but how easily and speedily they correct the mistake. The return and refund process at Performance is painful. It was state-of-the-art in 1970. That's the part that is unacceptable. If you sell online, there's simply a minimum standard you need to meet to stay in business. Performance feels like they're trying to shoestring an online business on the back of their brick-and-mortar. And failing, for me anyway.