So, several years ago a friend started an online bike shop that I did the website for.
There was a question posed about how to deal with the issue of online bike shops selling their wares for so much less than a LBS (local bike shop) and taking away their business and life-blood.
I thought about it and decided that online sales were eventually going to take over and that a LBS should start focusing on service and sales of accessories and clothing rather than bikes.
To help alleviate the tension between online sellers and LBS, why not sell a bike online with a voucher or coupon that the buyer could take to a LBS once they received their cheap bike to have them build it professionally? The voucher could be a range of 50-100 bucks (you tell me) and would start a relationship that could last a long time between customer and shop re: service.
The LBS would send it to or call the online seller to get paid for it. The online seller should welcome and celebrate this shop because it is a win-win in many ways. A pro-built bike is likely to last longer and be more enjoyable than something thrown together in a garage. This should be a happy scenario for insurance companies also.
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