BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — As this unforgettable year comes to end, retailers are eager for a little off-season rest, but anxious about the prospects for 2021. Will they have enough supply? Enough workers? Will a soft economy or COVID-19 lockdowns curb demand, or has everyone who ever wanted a bike already got one?
For a feature in our December magazine, we touched base with 16 retailers to get their take on the 2020 season and their predictions for 2021. We'll be sharing snapshots from those interviews online over the next two weeks.
Brian Hackford, Keswick Cycle, Philadelphia, Pa.
Our gross sales were a little over $6 million in 2019 for three stores and we’re projecting a 40% increase for 2020. Our margins are through the roof. We didn’t even need to mark down clothing and we sold through every bike, even the dogs.
We had bikes all summer, there was maybe a week or two when we were low. We listened to our reps and grabbed everything we could get our hands on in January and February, so we did $1.2 million in May.
I think in 2021 there will still be above-2019 demand. There are still a lot of people who want bikes who haven’t found them. Family and kid business won’t be as strong. Kids here are back to their soccer, swimming and ballet.
Trek has come through huge, their demand planning and allocation model has been extremely successful for us. If you ordered bikes they were yours, your size or who you were didn’t matter. Cannondale did a nice job also. Specialized has been a nightmare. Their B2B site is worthless. Specialized took care of their bigger dealers first.
Going into winter, we’re ripping through Wahoo and Saris trainers like never before. We’ve been very successful with our Black Friday promotions in the past. This year we’re doing a THANK YOU! campaign. You bought a bike sight unseen, now that we have product you can come back in and get your accessories.
We’re going to keep the same number of salespeople next year. We incentivize and appreciate our employees with a 401K match up to 3%, good health insurance and paid vacations. They feel valued and want to stay in the industry. Even with all that I can’t find bike mechanics. And we advertise every week.
