Originally Posted by
quicktrigger
But a point you are not addressing is, as a consumer, if I'm doing direct to customer ordering, Trek is too highly priced, and too inconvenient.
My bad, I wasn't clear. It isn't that I think customers
don't want to get a Trek for a lower than retail price, I do! The consumer knows that the Trek brand is valuable. Just as Honda and Toyota buyers know that the brand they buy is valuable. (I certainly don't mean the
only valuable brand or the most, etc.) The value is the confidence that the brand name puts in their minds. That confidence was built on the backs of bicycle retailers so Trek isn't going to "stab them in the back" so to speak. At least, I don't think they'd be that stupid.
What is best for Trek is moving as much product as possible. They are like a pump on high and they want to go even higher. What is probably holding them back is transaction speed, not production capability. They need as many transactions as possible. Direct to consumer sales add bikes to the pump.
Originally Posted by
quicktrigger
If I am confident enough...
Who wouldn't you be? Imagine the sales at BikesDirect if they were selling TREK's for the price they sell Motobecanes! It would boost BikesDirect sales to the point where they could afford to order proprietary hydro-formed tubing, BB standards all their own, etc. There wouldn't be any physical difference between the two brands.
BikesDirect can ship to you directly because they have no dealers to hurt. At least, not yet. See comment above about "stabbing" for reasons why you (Trek, in this case) wouldn't want to cut them out.
Originally Posted by
quicktrigger
...to order directly, then I expect at home delivery (unlikely from Trek as why would the LBS pay for the privilege to lose money with extra expenses), or wherever I want it delivered, and I'm certainly not paying retail price when others provide similar bikes for much less.
Two points:
A) There will be expenses incurred by Trek for the program (staff expenses, inventory/distribution, etc.) so unless you think the program is of no value to the bicycle retailer, why not charge for it? The value is the referral business. Trek imagines additional sales from the Internet-based direct-to-customer scheme for both itself and the retailer. I pointed out in an earlier post that P&A sales are important and making the customer pick up their bike helps retailers hold onto those sales. Parts & Accessories typically carry a higher margin for the retailer so they are highly valued. That's the value to the retailer that makes participation (it's voluntary!) worth charging for.
Additionally, Trek is specifically interested in boosting sales to women. The Bicycle Retailer article specifically mentions training and support for sales to women. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I think that, as a broad generalization, women are turned off buy the old-school "boy's club" environment that has pervaded many bike shops. (I certainly don't include Performance or Trek's retail outlets in this generalization of the stores themselves.) So women are a prime target of direct-to-consumer sales and Trek (possibly most retailers too) wants those sales to be of Trek bikes, not some other brand.
B) You wrote that you wouldn't pay extra for the Trek bikes because similar bikes (costing less) will ship direct to you. That's an opinion. It may be held by many, but the majority of buyers are paying extra for the Trek name. We could argue endlessly about whether this makes any sense and it really comes down to the entire "capitalist" model of economics. I can't be bothered. Fact of the matter is, you and I know they're paying for the name and doing it in droves.
Originally Posted by
quicktrigger
As stated by another poster in the FX disc thread, Trek bikes have gotten increasingly dull and generic, so why not go with a much lower cost generic bike?
I do... sometimes... but a lot of people don't. Bikes aren't always bought by rational-minded people. Go in for a bike to "just get some exercise" and walk out with some carbon fiber wonder. If you want exercise, the rational mind says, get the heaviest and worst-rolling bike you can fit. You'll get a TON of exercise. Haha