I remember a couple of years ago when John posted saying that there was a gorilla entering the bicycle market. He didn't mention, at the time, that it was Amazon. I am also surprised at his number that Amazon takes 20% of the profit. I didn't realize that their fees were that high.
AMAZON
Amazon targeted the bike industry almost a year ago. Their intention is to become a "player." I don't know how many of you shop on Amazon but I do. You can get great deals and it's simple. You often get free freight.
At Interbike last September I had a conversation with a bike industry company who told me "We sold 47,000 pieces of one item last year on Amazon." It was a $40 item (that's right ? about $1.9M in one item).
I had another very large industry supplier tell me "Their business is much larger than our business with Performance." It's no secret that Performance is the industry's largest retailer so that got my attention.
I believe if you are in the bike industry you need to have an Amazon plan. The problem is that Amazon takes about 20% of your profit but you need to figure out how to live with that. Starting today or tomorrow - or as soon as I can get it done, I am going to be running my M28 Aero wheels and S1 saddles on Amazon. You will be able to buy them for the same price as my web site.
When they are up and live I will give you a heads up. The key to selling on Amazon is getting lots of reviews. The items that come to the top of the search pages are the ones with the most sales and reviews. I would like to ask readers, if they have bought these products, and if and when they have time, to go to Amazon to do a review. I would be very appreciative.
The problems most businesses have with change is they fight it. To a certain extent that's a good idea but at some point you need to find your own life within that change. That's the plan at this point.
Thanks for reading - John Neugent
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