Bicycle resale. Own bike shop

It can be difficult for an aspiring entrepreneur to find that niche in which competition is minimal.

However, with due diligence, you can find those that are guaranteed to bring high profits.

An example of a promising business is the sale of e-bikes.

Electric Bicycle Business

In our country, the retail sale of electric bicycles is poorly developed.

Some residents of small settlements do not even know about the existence of such electric transport.

Opening an electric bike store can be a profitable endeavor.

The popularity of bicycles is due to the fashion for a healthy lifestyle.

Many residents of our country have become less likely to use cars, preferring to travel by means of transport that do not harm the environment and also contribute to maintaining health.

E-bikes are a great alternative to your regular bikes.

They are practical, maneuverable and ergonomic. They can quickly move around the city and transport small-sized loads.

In Western countries, e-bikes are used to deliver groceries. They are purchased by travel companies conducting excursion tours.

How to start an e-bike business

To open your own business for the sale of such electric vehicles, you will also need investments in the amount of 500 thousand rubles or more.

The bulk of the funds will go to the formation of the inventory.

At the initial stage, an entrepreneur should purchase 20-30 simple models of electric bicycles.

It is advisable to cooperate with Chinese suppliers. The minimum purchase price for one unit of goods in this case will be only $ 200.

Of course, Chinese bicycles are less reliable than European counterparts.

However, with minimal financial possibilities, it is worth stopping at this option.

An electric bike made in Germany will cost a businessman several times more. Cooperation with European suppliers will significantly raise the bar for entering the business.

To sell the purchased batch of bicycles, it is necessary to rent a small premises with an area of \u200b\u200b15-20 square meters in one of the shopping centers in your city.

A businessman will need to hire an experienced consultant who will help clients in choosing one or another model of electric transport.

The profitability of an e-bike business

How profitable is the business selling such a product:

The ultimate consumer price of an e-bike is at least $ 350.

Upgraded models with advanced functionality can cost $ 600-700.

The net profit from the sale of one unit of production will be from $ 100 to $ 300.

The advantage of such a business is that it allows you to find additional sources of income.

For example, you can open an e-bike rental office, renting vehicles for short-term rent to tourists.

If an entrepreneur has certain knowledge in the field of electrical engineering, he can manufacture such vehicles on his own.

In this case, it will be necessary to purchase special batteries and electric motors.

The cost of a self-made electric bike usually does not exceed $ 150. Accordingly, the profit from its sale will be at least $ 200.

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Alexander Ivanov on how Shulz folding bikes are conquering their place in the sun

Students of the University of Aerospace Instrumentation would never have thought that the nickname Schultz, which they gave to Alexander Ivanov, would in many years become the name of the trademark of unique folding bicycles of their own design by their talented classmate. Having worked as an industrial climber, programmer and advertiser, Alexander decided that his life's work was to produce comfortable and compact city bicycles.

37 years old, entrepreneur from St. Petersburg, founder and director of a folding bike company Shulz... Graduated from the State University of Aerospace Instrumentation (Faculty of Information Systems in Economics). Now Shulz is a line of 10 models of folding bicycles, two own stores in Moscow and St. Petersburg with rental and repair shops, as well as about 50 partner stores in Russia and abroad.

Long road to bike business

Alexander Ivanov always earned what was interesting to him. As a student, he was fond of mountaineering - and moonlighted as an industrial climber. After graduating from the university with a degree in information systems in economics, he worked for some time in his specialty - he set up 1C systems. When I got tired of it, I started advertising and opened my own advertising agency "Skat".

“We worked with the Veda company, developed packaging for Vals Boston vodka, came up with a corporate identity, slogans, signs for clients. It seemed to me that all advertising was terrible, that no one understood anything about it, ”says Alexander.

After that, he got a job as an advertising director at the KIT company, which sells sports goods and household appliances. Alexander offered the store management to open a bike rental. “There were almost no bike rentals in the city. The investments were minimal - I took the obligation to return the money for them in three months, that is, at the end of summer, I rented the premises in the company itself. It was all for fun, the business was completely miscalculated. I just did what I liked. "

The money for the bicycles was returned after four months. The experience was gained, Alexander again went free swimming - and opened a sports store "Skatprokat" with his partners on Goncharnaya Street.

“The store had to be closed - we went broke, two of my friends went out of business. I went to look for a job and got a job at Machiavelli Luxury Group, a multi-brand boutique chain specializing in expensive Italian clothing brands. I had to feed my family, I needed money. I do not have such that I work only for myself. It turns out - I do it, it doesn't work out - I move on. For Machiavelli, we made a website Boutique.ru with the team, sold luxury goods. At the same time, I myself went with a tourist backpack, in trekking boots, which greatly annoyed the owner. I said then: who buys all these Briony, Santoni? But they were bought - and great! And I was in charge of this. "

When the project was successfully launched, Alexander quit: "I went to make bicycles."

Age of Shulz

“There are very few good folding bicycles in Russia. To - hop - folded, and you can conveniently store it with a bicycle in the subway, in the train, and on the balcony. I wanted to make a model that people will like and that will sell. "

Although at first Alexander had the option of becoming a representative in Russia of one of the brands of folding bicycles. But our hero turned out to be too demanding: “I am always not satisfied with everything in a ready-made solution. I told them: here for me, change the wings, and here change the chains. And they answer: we cannot. I said: "Okay, then I'll make my own brand." A bicycle is like a Lego constructor - you can put something out of different cubes, but someone makes a candy, someone you know what. "

Alexander drew sketches and went to an exhibition in China: “I speak English quite fluently. Found a partner, ordered the first batch of 300 bicycles. It was 2008. " Initial investments amounted to 1.5 million rubles. We managed to beat them off in a year. “Yes, entering the business is quite expensive,” agrees Alexander.

Now Alexander Ivanov's company manages to sell about 5000 bicycles per season. About 1000 more are sold abroad. Production is located in Tianjin, China. The goods are ordered in November, and then disassembled by sea are delivered to Russia and other countries - France, Germany, Singapore. To find European partners, in 2015, Alexander Ivanov went to the Eurobike exhibition in Germany, participation in which cost 1.7 million rubles.

The brand was named succinctly and resonantly - Shulz ( in Russian pronounced "Schultz"). “Shulz is my nickname at the institute. I thought: why not? Since I studied English - I wrote "Sh", not German "Sch". Everyone says - well, this is wrong, this is not German. Yes, but it was possible to register such a trademark, because there is nothing like it. In German it is just a mistake, but in English this word does not exist. " Registration of a trademark by class of bicycles cost 40 thousand rubles.

The price range of Shulz bicycles is from 12,800 to 34,900 rubles

The first store of the brand was located on Goncharnaya Street - this is the very center of St. Petersburg, next to Moskovsky railway station. After some time, the store moved to another premises, but on the same street. And then a store was opened in Moscow. The team has grown from three people to 15.

Now the brand's lineup includes 10 models of bicycles of various colors and configurations. During the season, the Shulz company sells not only 5 thousand of its bicycles, but also about 1,500 Strida bicycles. “We are their official distributors,” says Alexander Ivanov. - Strida is a bicycle that, when folded, can be rolled next to you, it is more mobile, urban. And Shulz is a more popular model, folded it, loaded it into the car, went for a drive at the dacha ”.

Business is difficult, but beloved

The annual retail turnover of the Moscow and St. Petersburg stores of Alexander Ivanov is about 30 million rubles of the store. “At first we had a dealer in Moscow, but by agreement with the previous owners, the store passed into our ownership, and we decided to try selling ourselves.”

The general economic crisis also affected the cycling business: “Since 2014, the purchase has been reduced by 30 percent,” says the entrepreneur. - The production and sale of bicycles is a complex business. But beloved. "

Beloved so much that Alexander Ivanov even refused to sell it for $ 2 million - not so long ago he received such an offer.

"I don't want to sell the business yet, I still like it myself, I'm not tired of it"

Alexander likes to do his own thing to such an extent that sometimes he himself delivers goods to customers, and also participates in mass "rides" organized by fans of folding bicycles. His two sons ride his bicycles ( there is still a daughter, but she is still small), wife and father.

“There are always competitors, and there are more of them. You just need to roughly understand how much you can sell a product. For example, you bake buns, and you know that they buy 50 pieces a day. If you baked 100 and sold 50, then 50 buns respectively will disappear, you will lose money. So it is with bicycles. Sometimes we fail to get into demand, but we try to calculate. "

Every year for the production and purchase of new bicycles LLC "Schulz" takes out a loan. “First, in November we buy a lot of bicycles and then we sell them. If we manage to sell everything by autumn, we will be left without debt. We just make and sell bikes - like we bake buns. Only buns are baked every day, and we bake bicycles once a year - a very seasonal business, not easy. "

In winter, when demand and sales fall, project staff work with pre-orders, develop new models, and carry out warranty repairs.

Birthday smelt

According to Alexander, the project team has a desire to reach a more massive buyer, but he fears a loss of quality. “We are unique in that we have very good quality bicycles, we provide three years of free service. There is a team of mechanics in two cities that repairs greats. It's not enough to make a good product - you need to provide a guarantee.

I would love to work with major chains, but I'm not happy that they don't check bikes after sale. We take each bike out of the box, check it, set it up, pack the box again and send it. They will definitely not check. This does not suit us - we have a business with a human face. They need to ship more boxes and we need to sell more quality bicycles. "

“Our client is not an athlete (although we also have advanced, sports models), these are people who just want to ride in the park or at the dacha, take a bike on a trip, these are not necessarily hipsters, we have completely different customers. We have recently made two new models - a more compact model, which is also suitable for teenagers, and a bicycle jeep - a bicycle with wide wheels. "

The company will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year. “We will make some new special model. And we will think about small gifts - for example, we will give cookies to each customer or put dried smelt in a box ”.

Well, next in line is another business idea with a seasonal product that sells very well, but many are frightened by the fact that the product is relevant only five months a year. It's about the bike business. Due to the rise in fuel prices and the actualization of ideas for environmentally friendly transport, the bicycle is becoming one of the leaders in this niche. In addition, cycling is very beneficial for health and many people buy them to keep their bodies in good shape. Let's take a look at how you can start selling bicycles and where to go to grow your business.

Business format and selection of premises

Bicycle retailing does offer a variety of options. Everything will depend on the initial capital and the willingness of the entrepreneur himself to work with seasonal goods.

There are two main business formats for selling bicycles:

- trade in the market. It is a rental of a certain retail space in the market during the seasonal time.

- opening a full-fledged store, for example, somewhere in a shopping center or a detached building.

Minimum investment for renting premises. Since the premises itself will need to be looked for large enough from 50sq.m., then the rent will not be small. That is why market trading is more profitable for a beginner.
You don't need to invest huge amounts of money in promoting your store. Clients will come at the expense of the popularity of the market in which you operate.
Flexibility in seasonal work. We worked out the season and returned sales for the next season. In the case of a store, you will need to look for another way out, or invest in winter goods - skis, sledges, etc., and at the same time spend money on advertising all this, or also cover the trade, but only with payment of rent during downtime.

It is all these factors that restrain entrepreneurs from opening a bicycle store, and stimulate them to work in more different conditions. But at the same time, in big cities, in the bicycle market there are large players who have already adapted to this seasonality and they manage to conduct business more thoughtfully, and most importantly, profitably. Perhaps it is worth learning from them and adopting some of the techniques for "survival" in the off-season.

It does not matter which trading format you choose for your bicycle business, you will need to purchase some of the equipment:

- trading tables for the sale of spare parts and components.

- racks and fixtures for displaying bicycles in a shop window or market place. In case of market trading, it will also be necessary to rent a warehouse for storing bicycles during the season, or buy vehicles for transporting them. Since the product is oversized, this is also a rather big expense item.

Assortment and suppliers

In fact, the business idea for selling bicycles is not limited only to this product and you need to include various additional product groups in order to minimize the risks of the money invested.

Here is a list of the main assortment:

Bicycles

mountain
urban
comfortable
highway
female
baby
balance bikes
scooters

Components

wheel parts
transmission
steering
forks, shock absorbers
saddles
braking systems and more

Tools

lubricants
sinks, cleaners
repair kits
mountings
pullers
the keys
tool kits

Accessories

bicycle seats
lighting
bike computers
pumps
trunks
locks
bags and stuff

Cycling

This list can be much broader, in fact, each category has its own subcategories of goods.

The assortment is very impressive, but at the same time, a lot of parts, consumables and components, allows everyone to make good money on this, since the level of margin for all this is quite high.

Service-center

A separate area is the bicycle repair business. If you have the opportunity to do this or hire people and organize a business in this area, then you will be able to provide your customers with the maximum level of service, offering them to buy not only bicycles, parts and components, but also to service their "iron horses" ... This will increase your credibility as a seller and at the same time can be an additional source of income.

The main thing here is to find smart workers who are ready to work and motivate them with monetary rewards in the form of bonuses.

Advertising

Marketing moves in a bicycle business is a whole range of promotional activities. For example, to promote a sales outlet, you can:

distribute flyers with discounts and pleasant bonuses in the form of gifts.
hang up some banners in the area in which you work.
to advertise in the media, on the Internet, on social networks. That will cover the maximum level of the target audience.
order a bright signboard, business cards.

There is also an option to open an online bike store and connect contextual advertising or order search engine optimization, but the competition in this segment is very high.

How much money do you need to start?

To put together a good bike shop business plan you will need to make all the cost estimates for starting a retail outlet. Of course, everything will depend on the format of trade and the pricing policy of the store, but the investments will be rather big.

Rent of premises, or a retail outlet on the market
Taxes - $ 150
Seller's salary - $ 200
Bicycle repairman salary - $ 250
Initial purchase of goods - $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
Equipment purchase - $ 2000 - $ 2500
Advertising - $ 500 (+ online advertising).

How much can you earn?

Earnings in the bicycle trade business will directly depend on the level of competition, pricing policy, customer service, availability of goods in stock, and more. It is also difficult to estimate due to the fact that the business is very seasonal and the earnings received during the season must be broken down into a whole year to get the average value per month.

The average markup on bicycles is 10% - 30%.

Margin for spare parts and components - 50% - 70%.

On accessories - up to 120%.

Also, if you decide to start repairing, you need to take into account the income from the work of the service center. For its operation, you can not rent a huge room, but even work in your own garage.

Conclusions.The bike business is a very challenging niche that requires a lot of investment and is very seasonal. It will be difficult for beginners to start from this very direction, but with a great desire and interest in this topic, you can try.

Do you want to supplement the information provided? We are waiting for comments.

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Legal aspects, equipment selection, assortment formation, requirements for premises, production processes, sales. Complete financial calculations.

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Cycling has been and remains a popular and favorite sport and outdoor activity. Bicycles are actively used not only for going out into nature, but also for trips around the city, avoiding traffic jams and congestion.

As a rule, there are sections with cycling goods in large sports stores and hypermarkets, but in most cases there are inexpensive models for children and teenagers from little-known manufacturers. Meanwhile, high-quality bicycles from leading manufacturers are of several types (road bikes, hardtails, double suspensions, etc.), have different purposes, and some of them can even be compared in cost to the prices of domestic cars. Despite this, such bicycles are in great demand among cyclists who compare riding a branded and cheap bike with riding a racing car and a Zaporozhets.

The target audience, although quite narrow, is nevertheless ready and able to pay for a quality product with the possibility of warranty repair and maintenance. Therefore, if in your city there is still no separate "bicycle salon" with a bicycle workshop, you should think about opening them.

To do this, you need to choose a room for a store.

How to choose a premise for a bicycle store

The main condition is that the retail space must be at least 50-60 sq. m. Bicycles are a dimensional product.

In addition, you will need a place for display cases with related products, equipment, protective equipment, spare parts and accessories.

You cannot do without warehouse premises where goods, packaging, warranty documentation will be stored. It is rather expensive to rent such an area in the city center in a place with high traffic capacity, so it is better to rent a room in one of the "sleeping" areas.

If your assortment is wide enough and prices are loyal, the long distance to the store will not scare off your potential customers. But it is advisable to equip a bike path and equip a bicycle parking lot in front of the store to facilitate access, because your customers will need to leave their vehicle somewhere while they shop.

Bicycle store staff

It is better to entrust the purchase of goods to a specialist (or even several). These should be people who are not just fond of bicycles, but are well versed in their types, manufacturers, inventory, accessories, equipment and spare parts. Errors due to ignorance of demand can result in high costs and the accumulation of warehouse illiquid assets. Please note that it is better to buy goods in the fall, since closer to the beginning of the season, running models are quickly sold out by retailers and there will be nothing to choose from. In addition, the lead time for your order can take a couple of months, which must also be borne in mind. Moreover, the cycling season lasts from February-March to October-November.

In addition to the purchasing manager, your staff will include an accountant, a lawyer (preferably), a cashier and at least two salespeople.

Associated sources of income for the bike shop

At the opening stage, consider whether you will be opening a bicycle workshop at your store now or in the future. Its rental and equipment will require additional costs: rent - from 15 thousand rubles / month, tools - from 50 thousand rubles, salary of bicycle mechanics (one per shift) - from 40 thousand rubles. But compared to the total budget for opening a store, these costs are not so large, and the payback period is much shorter. In addition, the bike service will attract additional customers to your store, and the free first bike maintenance can be an additional bonus for your customers.

Use all available options to promote your store - outdoor advertising (especially in the area where the store is located), handouts (flyers, mini-catalogs, etc.), radio ads, and promotions.

Cycling enthusiasts and cycling professionals usually gather in clubs, often organize joint trips and friendly competitions. If there is such a community in your city, take part in its life, sponsor prizes for winners in sports competitions and arrange them yourself. If there is no such community, organize and lead it.

As additional sources of income, you can offer services for renting a bike or airbrushing on bicycles.

Store opening costs

To purchase the first batch of goods, you will need from 500 tons. and higher. Prepare from 200 rubles for rent, repair and arrangement of premises for a store. The salary of the staff will be from 60 tons per month.

The retail mark-up on bicycles, as a rule, is not less than 25-50%, from 50% - for equipment, accessories and consumables, it can be up to 200%.

The average retail price of a "budget" bike is 25-30 tons. The payback period for such a store is from 1-1.5 years.

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