Originally Posted by
ettsn
No criticism meant, just that I've noticed more than once lately, that dealers that used to carry Trek, now seem to only carry Trek. Not an isolated case, mind you. I wonder if they're being a little anti-competitive with their dealer network? Your example of being like car dealerships is not particularly accurate. The shop I went to today has carried Specialized for many years. No more. Only Trek. Just wondering if this trend is precipitated by Trek, or if a few unaffiliated shops have all recently decided to drop everything they sell aside from Trek and Trek brands like Fisher and Bontrager.
My point is that it's the bike shop's decision, not Trek's decision, that the shop sells what it sells. Trek sweetens the deal and requires certain things of the dealer; in exchange, the shop gets some things from Trek. There is nothing anti-competitive to that. What possibly happened was that the shop had deals with both Trek and, say, Specialized, and both decided to, say, up their dealer requirements for floor space. Well, the shop is only so big. So, the owner looks at his books, figures out which brand is selling the best, and makes a decision.
So, both; Trek is probably putting pressure on upping the dealer requirements to sell Treks (and they can do this because Treks are selling well nowadays), and the independent shops are making independent decisions to keep trek and drop other brands.
We are fortunate, in the greater Portland area, that there are several shops that sell several different brands of bikes.