MANCHESTER, NH (BRAIN)—The Bike Cooperative is introducing an “IBD friendly” approach to eCommerce with the launch of its new website, BikeStoreGuys.com.
Working closely with its membership and vendor partner Shopatron, the co-op has developed an eCommerce strategy that enables local bike stores to capture sales of online orders picked up in their stores and to collect retail profit on orders shipped directly to customers’ homes, all while maintaining the dealers’ unique brand identities in their local communities.
Through BikeStoreGuys.com, a customer can select from a number of bike brands and thousands of P&A items online. Bikes can only be picked up in an authorized store for that brand. Parts and accessories can be picked up in a store or they can be shipped directly to the customer’s home without the dealer needing to do the shipping. KHS, a co-op partner, is handling fulfillment on all ship-to-home orders.
Individual member retailers get paid the full sale, less site fees, on in-store pick-up orders that they were selected to fulfill by the customer. All of the retailers participating in the co-op’s eCommerce initiative will get a share of the total sales generated from ship-to-home orders through BikeStoreGuys.com (click on above link).
In addition to creating an incremental revenue stream for dealers, the co-op feels BikeStoreGuys presents significant opportunities for brands. “For many brands, the online sales channel has become the most viable option to increase growth, but that comes at the risk of losing dealer support,” said the co-op’s managing director Greg Brodsky. “Rather than being forced to choose between online and in-store, BikeStoreGuys.com gives brands the opportunity to grow sales online while rewarding IBD support.”
