Originally Posted by
kingston
Originally Posted by
ColaJacket
The dirty little secret is that it may cost you LBS more than it's worth to them to order some of those things that you order online. The owner may be secretly happy that you're ordering those things online.
I don't think that's a secret. I've had bike shop owners tell me exactly that. If they don't have it in stock. It's better for me and them for me to buy it online. The problem with that model is that now that I'm in the habit of looking online first, I frequently fill my basket with consumables like tires, tubes, chains, etc. to get free shipping. Stuff I used to get at the bike shop.
Special orders may be a pain, and may not earn a lot of money.
But, many of those little purchases have to make someone money.
Derailleur Cables... $1 value, $5 cost... do they really make $4 profit on each one?
And those little incidental purchases add up, at least when they can leave customers in browse mode, and not hold their hands the entire time in the shop.
One of the issues may be whether or not Shimano and other suppliers are giving the small shops their best rate. Or, perhaps those shops are too lazy, and are buying parts from a middle-man who in turn buys them from a different middle-man. At least the bottom dollar bulk rate on parts from Shimano can be significantly below Ribble or other prices, but it might not be the thing one could expect overnight service with either.
One of the things that is hard to account for is whether good service actually equates to more repeat service. So, say you bring in some obscure brake pad. If the shop takes the time to track it down and order it, then they might barely break even on that purchase. But, the shop may learn something in the process, and if that customer comes back to buy a bunch more stuff (either little or big ticket items), then the shop may actually make money.
Turn away customers, or direct them to E-Bay, and they loose the customers, and loose the repeat purchases.