http://womens-cycling.com/the-bike-industry-is-sick-and-hiring-more-women-isnt-going-to-fix-it/ Empowering women to bike more and worry less Fri, 23 Jun 2017 19:59:28 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5 http://womens-cycling.com/the-bike-industry-is-sick-and-hiring-more-women-isnt-going-to-fix-it/#comment-19 Sat, 08 Apr 2017 21:11:48 +0000 http://womens-cycling.com/?p=717#comment-19 Kevin, I also was one. The point wasn’t to not avoid high schoolers but to not bring on someone and then not train them before sending them out to help a customer.

]]> http://womens-cycling.com/the-bike-industry-is-sick-and-hiring-more-women-isnt-going-to-fix-it/#comment-18 Sat, 08 Apr 2017 21:08:31 +0000 http://womens-cycling.com/?p=717#comment-18 There is nothing wrong with being a 16 year old kid who wants to learn the business. I was one. Classes and certifications might give you a start but the key is a shop owner that teaches by example. That’s how I learned.

]]> http://womens-cycling.com/the-bike-industry-is-sick-and-hiring-more-women-isnt-going-to-fix-it/#comment-11 Sat, 01 Apr 2017 18:12:44 +0000 http://womens-cycling.com/?p=717#comment-11 I agree that the steps you’re suggesting would make the traditional bike shop model more sustainable, I suspect that market forces are blowing pretty strongly in the other direction. Shops are struggling to compete with eCommerce at the same time that their margins are being whittled away by the big manufacturers who have a fiduciary responsibility to deliver returns to their shareholders. While racing was always the core sales generator for most high end shops, the number of new racing customers, especially women, are not interested in bicycles as sporting goods or exercise equipment. The industry needs to retool to attract more transportation cyclists, which mean chasing more first time sales. First time bike buyers are less likely to invest in new equipment every year, so the cost of acquisition goes up. At the same time the classic upsell technique of lighter/stiffer/faster doesn’t work for those customers so you still have to contend with a more price sensitive, and competitive marketplace. That leaves shops to cut costs where they can, which usually means cutting pay, training and other incentives to the staff, who tends to turn over seasonally anyway. I think the way to subvert this trend is to invest in community powered bike shops that don’t rely on bicycle sales for their solvency. The industry is not likely to support this because they will lose sales to better quality service, durable component specs and more consumers learning DIY bike repair. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but it’s certainly anti capitalist.

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