alanthealan

I was looking to buy some new xtr pedals, I can get wholesale QBP which comes to $114.... I did a quick goggle and found them for $112. How are bike shops going to survive? And why is their such a disparity between the true cost and suggested retail! Blows my mind.

cs1

For years I was in the wholesale knife business. The price structure was retail. Then wholesale was 50% off retail. Distributor was approx 20% to 25% off of that. The markup sounds huge but isn't. Street price, ebay in this case, was usually 10% to 15% below dealer. I'm assuming the retail bicycle business is similar.

That's one reason mfg's are trying to protect MSRP. If the LBS can't compete because of high overhead every bike sold will be on the Bikes Direct model.

alanthealan

I feel marketing promotes new features as they make previous models obsolete, even if the improvement is marginal or not-at-all, its enough for a segment of the cycling community to pay the big markups. The rest is dumped in time for the next latest and greatest to hit the shelves. Only the big box and internet based stores can keep up with the rapid pace, while the mom and pops are stuck trying to cover their costs on stock that is only months old. Which is unfortante since the mom and pop stores invest so much into the local riding community. Such as sponsoring local clubs and cycling events.

DieselDan

You can buy one from a QBP at $114. Buy them in a lot of 100 and you may get them for $94 each. That's all hypothetical.

Arcanum

If the pedals are a generation or two behind, it's also possible the retailer is trying to get rid of old stock.