Editor's note: For a feature in Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, Retail Editor Ray Keener spoke with 15 leaders on the supplier side of the industry. Ray spoke with leaders of major bike brands, component suppliers, e-bike startups, accessory makers and more. We will be running sections of that article online this month.
BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — It’s been a hectic and unprecedented several months for our industry and many others. Fortunately for our companies and retailers, hectic has meant managing demand rather than fighting for survival.
Now that the season is waning, inventories are catching up (in some cases) and suppliers are catching their collective breaths, we reached out to a cross-section of suppliers and service providers to get their take on the future.
Chris Guillemet, co-founder, Velofix
Based on our discussions with both major bike and parts/accessories manufacturers we are preparing and planning for a very strong 2021.
We have great suppliers and they have done an incredible job working to get us all the required parts and accessories to run our business. Having said that, we have experienced some challenges getting product over the last few months.
Velofix does not stock bikes and we are a just-in-time inventory model so we do not face the same challenges and decisions a traditional bike retailer will have to make for 2021.
Velofix was built on three core platforms: at-home service, direct to consumer "last mile" solutions and fitness from home. So our business model has not had to change other than implementing a NO CONTACT policy for our mechanics and customers.
Our customer-direct experience has not changed since we launched the business in 2013. We are seeing a huge demand from bike manufacturers, especially e-bike manufacturers, to provide the last mile delivery and service for their direct to consumer sales plans.
We have experienced unprecedented growth in service and repair across all types of bikes and price points. Our customers typically own higher-end bikes so that segment has remained strong.
