New Irish Bike shop

KBC2012

Hi All,
I am in the process of opening an online bike store. I plan to be up and running by the end of august. Im hoping that i will be matching or trying to get as close as possible to the prices on chain reaction or bike24. Im starting this thread as to get feedback into what people want in an online bike shop and what would really make you come back ( besides great costumer service ). We plan to allow people to come and try out a bike before they buy so they can chose the right size and get a feel from the bike.. For the first year or so there will be just road, tt and mountain bikes (and accessories ) but after that we wil go into track and cyclo cross. Every monday there will be a deal and it will run from monday to monday, (a sample of this is in the second week an ultegra groupset would be c650).
Id appreciate any input you may have,
KBC2012

godtabh

I'm going to totally cynical and say that if you want to be a success you will need to beat the two you mention on price and hope to have an overall better customer service experience.

mcgratheoin

Price is going to be the main issue. Customer service and trying out bikes is important for big purchases, but the little things that we all regularly buy (tubes/tyres/gels/creams etc..) need to be close to the price that they are available for from the big online chains.
Free postage is another one - if i have to do calculations in my head about whether something will be cheaper than another site due to postage charges then it can be a bit annoying and deter me from shopping there. For example, evans charge postage on anything under £50, so I rarely even check out their website unless it's a big purchase. Prompt delivery is also important.

petethedrummer

1. Easy to navigate.

Chainreaction is the best. Wiggle is pretty good too.

This on page on Merlin drives me up the FUPPING walls. http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/bikes/road-bikes/

You can't browse all brands of road bikes together. Don't do that.


2. Large % discounts.
So I can justify ridiculous spending.

colm_gti

petethedrummer wrote: »

1. Easy to navigate.

Chainreaction is the best. Wiggle is pretty good too.

This on page on Merlin drives me up the FUPPING walls. http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/bikes/road-bikes/

You can't browse all brands of road bikes together. Don't do that.

This is important, will make or break you!

funkyjebus

Again, +1 for navigation. Cycleways, eurocycles and even cyclesuperstores online facilities are a joke.

For me Wiggle is best, the way you can, search a jacket, then filter it to only mens, then only softshell or for a particular price point, etc.

I'd leave a site straight away if I had to search through all the jackets they had in stock or if it is made hard for me in anyway.

Price needs to be better than phyical store, postage needs to be free. A collection service would be unique and I'd use it (and would cut down on postage).

Best of luck with it.

ednwireland

onething wiggle did to me was instead of stalling an order when out of stock, they created another order on my account (no explanotary email nothing), making it look like i suddenly had 2 orders so i deleted it they then shipped my original order (without a discount coupon which was against my more expensive item so i ended up paying more for this item) i suggest stop the order and infornm the customer. i always only buy ion stock items if the delay it i cancel it (unless its really cheap)

i generally only use wiggle and crc these days for small items as the shipping from the german ones is prohibitive unless you do a big order.

smacl

I tend to price what I buy across multiple sites at each purchase, and rarely use CRC any more for that reason. Bike24, BikeDiscount.de, or Ribble tend to be the winners on most recent occasions, though I've also used a couple of smaller suppliers of late. I always check the bottom line price of the order delivered, as the like of CRC with their free delivery and big discounts often still come in as one of the most expensive.

The web site would have to be truly grotty for that to be a factor. The web site I browse looking for stuff is often different from the one I purchase from. I'd only consider another supplier if they offered a better price. Why take the risk if you're already getting good value and service elsewhere?

Edit: I didn't vote in your poll as none of the answers suggest a cheaper price than the existing on-line retailers I'm using.

CramCycle

MOD VOICE: Market research without initial consent or inquiry is not permitted