Quote Originally Posted by Running Mommy View Post
Becoming a dealer for a specific brand is a tedious process, almost political. And you cannot become a dealer just to sell one bike.
Tho that doesn't neccesarily hold true for the small niche brands. But usually even they have minimums.
I know this is totally off-topic RM - but I'm curious about it and I figured you could explain the current bicycle market to me a bit, and did not want to open another whole thread

In the last two years I noticed that several shops in the area have decided to reduce the number of manufacturer thay are dealers for. Unfortunately, high-end European bikes (Bianchi, BMC, and friends) were often the first to be dropped. For example right now (2009) in our area we are down to one BMC dealer and two Bianchi dealers - while in 2007 we had like 3 and 6. Other brands (US makers included, unfortunately) have been dropped as well. It seems that most places settle for the higher volume selling manufacturers like Giant, Trek, Specialized, and a few high-end makers, for example the shop 'around the corner' is a Cervelo and Giant dealer - and they can order custom Moots and Waterford on request. Until two years ago they also had Bianchi and Litespeed in stock - and were able to order Look and custom BMC models. But in '08 they dropped all of those because they said it required too much investment upfront.
And it's not just our area, I noticed the same back home in L.A. last time I was there, so it's really sort of happening everywhere.

What I have been wondering is what the rationale behind this change is. Did the manufacturers start asking for higher # of purchases, i.e. if you want to still be a XXX dealer then you need to buy at least so many more this year than last year? Or is this just tied to the increase in prices, and so even if the number of bikes you need to stock is the same - the actual value is like 40% higher? Or is this maybe an attempt by the shops to protect themselves from repercussions of the recession, I guess shop owners predict that they will sell less bicycles in '09 and '10? Or a combination of all of the above and more?
And the 'selective' reduction that affect certain manufacturers more - is this because European imports are more expensive (Euro against Dollar), or because they sell less, or is there more to the story?

edit -
ps: this year I did buy a Giant for the first time and so far I'm liking it... so be happy