Specialized – CanooterValve

Tweens

Bikes Comments Off

Oct 042012

Can’t help but spend a few paragraphs taking issue with a reprehensible letter Specialized sent to their dealers, urging them to keep drinking the red (I believe that’s trademarked?) Kool-aid–oh, and just happening to mention that Cannondale sells their bikes at Costco.

Yes, as independently reported by yours truly, Cannondale bikes did make an appearance in Costcos. But the actions of a rogue distributor selling bikes against the company’s policy–a distributor Cannondale has since reportedly shut down–is clearly not the same as Cannondale selling bikes in Costco. For Mike Sinyard to attempt to kick Cannondale in the nuts while they were already hurting would come off as shockingly poor taste, if we hadn’t come to expect it.

Specialized clearly wants to boot all other brands out of brick and mortar shops, and constantly issues the mantra-like refrain that these companies don’t have the best interest of independent dealers in mind. They’re very straightforward about wanting to take over the majority of brick and mortar stores. I suppose that’s why there so many Specialized dealers in the city of Portland. (Why, they’re do dedicated to the LBS that they just have to open up the guy down the street from you, too.)

But the lengths to which they’ll go seem strained lately, as in this Cannondale thing. Really, guys? Did you really feel good about writing that letter? Yes, Cannondale has supply chain issues, and, hey, I guess they deserve them. That’s what you get for making your bikes overseas, whereas Specialized, they, um, well . . . .

To accuse Cannondale of selling in Costco based on an unauthorized incident might be tactically opportunistic, but it’s also just cheesy. Following the criteria Sinyard applied to Cannondale, Specialized is selling their frames direct to dealers on-line. Sure, they’re counterfeit knockoffs, but–following Sinyard’s reasoning in attacking Cannondale–a bike brand is always responsible for the actions of others, regardless of whether those others are selling product to big box stores back into the U.S. without your knowledge, or selling knock-offs on the internet.

Anyway: cheesy. Believe it or not, I think more of Sinyard and Specialized than I let on, but they continue to do things that just strike me as beneath them. I’d be cool to see Specialized apologize for that letter, but I don’t think that’ll happen.

In other news, I’ve avoiding discussion of 650b bikes lately–for no apparent reason, other than I’m just waiting for them to catch on. Like everyone else.

I’d’ve thought I’d come back from Interbike bearing tales of 650b domination. Hoardes of 27.5-inch-wheeled bikes descending on Las Vegas and 26-inch-wheeled bikes on life support. Thing is, it didn’t happen this year.

Sure, there were 27.5 bikes around–some quite nice, but it was also pretty clear that this wasn’t the year. Next year could be a whole different story.

The challenge, of course, is figuring out where we’re going with all these wheel sizes. Given the amount of full-suspension bikes capable of fitting a 27.5-inch wheel into their current molds and geometries, it’s inevitable that they’ll have a much bigger presence soon.

We’ll know they’ve arrived once we see them in Costco.

Patently Oblivious: Weird Bike Stuff is Out There

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Feb 022012

Few things are better on a rainy morning than settling in with a full pot of coffee and some time to cruise freaky patents. Sure, I’m supposed to pretend facing a rainy morning while racing a 24-hour event–or better still, wrenching one–is the more honorable, Klingon sort of path to joy, but, having done that, I call bullshit. Nice to be warm today, and I like looking at the future. The strange, strange future. While, for me, nothing will compare to the old days of Interbike, when small companies could still afford to booth up on the ground floor and show off their bizarre wares, sorting through upcoming patents is as close as it gets. Will these things see the light of day? Tough to say, but here are a few reasons to hope the Mayans are wrong.

About all I can say to this is: “wow.” If you think you’ve seen everything possible in the world of bicycle suspension, you need to say hello to a kind of four-bar with bars that criss-cross in an “x” pattern, which seems to be what’s going on here.

Pretty straightforward here. So staightforward, in fact, that I can’t really believe this was approved. If blending seat stays into your top tube’s a crime the Handmade Show is going to look like Occupy Oakland.

Like everyone else, I’ve been kicking Specialized in the nuts for a while now over their recent marketing self-immolation stunt against Volagi, so it’s nice to point out some positive–if somewhat bizarre–things they have up their big red sleeves.

Tough to say where they’re going with a sort of bloated seat tube as suspension system, but I love the initiative. Goofy envelope-pushing stuff like this is the good side of Specialized.

While this smacks of notorious “lawyer tabs” on forks, I have to admit it’s a simple way to keep your handlebars from completely flying out of your stem.

Um, but . . . so this solves a problem? Is there a reason we all need to be concerned about this, guys? At first glance, the safety clip on this stem design seems like it’d only come into play if your stem’s faceplate exploded off or something. Might have to up my life insurance and/or read this one over carefully.

Nice and practical, SRAM’s design for a front derailleur with a really compact, multi-cable-pull-friendly actuation arm. I figured I’d include this because it’s nice to see front derailleurs–if one must still use them–being shrunken as much as possible. This makes frame designers very happy.

Have a question about the what’s left of the future? Go look at some patent, or feel free to ask me. I love this stuff.

Friday’s Crotch of Luxury and Self-Esteem Check

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Jan 272012

While enjoying my morning ritual of fourteen cups of coffee and browsing, I was relieved to see yet another place to custom build your own luxury, multi-colored, ~~bike~~fashion accessory. Apparently Villy Customs will let you create just about any color $150 bicycle you’d like for between $400 and $800, thus fulfilling their corporate mission statement: “Luxury. Fashion. Bicycle.” (In that order.)

Because I think a lot about marketing, when I see yet another company with a fancy color-picker feature, I don’t concern myself with the overall shoddy quality of the product or what I suspect to be a woeful lack of customer service (I leave those concerns to the buyers), but, rather, the funny way these companies distinguish themselves from the actual bicycle industry, which apparently sells an entirely different product. See, a “bicycle” is a mechanical device, which needs proper assembly and periodic maintenance, whereas a personalized “Cruiser” or a “Fixie” is actually classified as a fashion accessory, and, as such, apparently needs none of those things. Smartly, the companies offering these fashionable accessories understand that they are “luxury” items in a way that properly designed and functionally assembled bicycles can never be. Cruisers and Fixies that allow potential owners to choose from a rainbow of nondescript components of dubious quality are, in fact, the very definition of luxury. Think of them as small, street-going yachts with chains chattering against improperly installed but festooned-with-painted-daisies chain guards, veritable Bugatti Veyrons of style, oozing down the street with all the passion and aggression a rapidly detensioning and wobbly rear wheel can command.

As such, their companies inevitably have their own marketing pages bolted (threads stripped) right onto their sites. In the case of Villy, this page is smartly filled with the various local morning TV shows that found their products adorable. Who needs function, when Entrepreneur magazine, Modern Luxury Dallas, and Good Morning Texas have featured your business.

Speaking of personalized service, one of my older posts regarding Specialized and the recent nonsense with Volagi received the following comment yesterday:

This is a poor representation of the Specialized brand. I feel Specialized strives to protect it’s intellectual property and it’s IBD network. No other brand is as IBD exclusive as Specialized. They could double there numbers if they sold to everyone and anyone. But they don’t they only want true knowledgeable bike shops representing there brand. Agreed the lawsuit with Volagi is a bit frivolous however if you let one company copy your ideas than soon all will.”

I thanked this person for the comment, and I can appreciate a need to stand up for the many positive things Specialized has done, the clearly great bikes they make, and the support they do offer dealers.

But I had to take issue with both points made in that comment, which are not only inaccurate, but also reinforce dangerous misconceptions about this particular case, and about the relationship Specialized and other vendors have with independent bike dealers. So I replied. And replied. And replied some more. Because, for some reason, I take both of these issues very seriously, and I reject the warm and fuzzy notion that Specialized–or anybody else–bases their relationship with dealers solely on some kind of vague personal respect. It’s an adorable and whimsical idea, but I think the reality has a lot more to do with things like territory, supply chain strategy, and mutual need.

For starters, the intellectual property argument might have some validity if Specialized had actually had any intellectual property stolen, but they didn’t. Just because the battle is over, doesn’t mean you get to rewrite the outcome, or give validity to an argument the legal proceeding dismantled. This whole sad event wasn’t just a bad marketing decision for Specialized; it was a genuine legal proceeding, and its results confirmed they had no intellectual property stolen. The lawsuit wasn’t “a bit frivolous”; it was baseless, and the more we learned about it, the more it seemed like classic intimidation of competition, something I find distasteful. Volagi did not steal anything from Specialized. Your assertion that once you allow one company to steal your intellectual property, others will follow, makes it sound like theft occurred here. What we’ve determined is that it did not.

I’d like to put to rest the bullshit notion that a company like Specialized could “double there [sic] numbers if they sold to everyone and anyone.” I’ve heard this ridiculous assertion put forward in the bike industry time and time again, and it’s the argument of beaten down IBDs with serious daddy complexes: “Daddy only sells through us ’cause Daddy loves us and takes care of us!”

Bullshit.

I applaud Specialized’s business model and their execution–they’ve done an amazing job of working within an established system for selling bicycles. But it’s an established system, not something they’ve done out of compassion, and there are reasons they don’t sell directly to consumers. The point I’ve been trying to make is that if independent bike shops don’t start spending less time drinking Kool-aid and more time learning to read tea leaves, they could find themselves caught unprepared for the inevitable. Specialized has already begun selling “selective” products directly to consumers on-line. Independent bike shops should be hedging against even the slightest possibility of that trend continuing, and blind faith in the benevolence of vendors is not a viable business plan.

I honestly do believe dealer loyalty plays a role in Specialized’s decision to restrict sales of bicycles to brick-and-mortar transactions, but it’s a smaller role than you think. There are more valid business forces keeping them from selling direct. Why doesn’t General Motors sell directly to consumers? For certain products, the benefits of consumer direct sales do not outweigh the expenses. The notion that Specialized, or GM, or any company built on a dealer representative platform could flip a switch overnight and begin selling direct to consumers–if only they chose to–is just not accurate. Believing that glorifies the manufacturer while disparaging the role of independent dealers. If you own or work at a bike shop, think of the work you do to sell and maintain bikes. It’s tremendous. So you’re telling me Specialized, or any other company, could just absorb that workload? Even if IBDs continued to offer some support, the actual expenses associated with turning a B2B company into a consumer-facing enterprise are staggering. There are legitimate barriers there.

But what I find truly bizarre about all of this is the screwy logic that lets presumably good bike shops demean themselves–instinctively, and by default. I have a lot of respect for Specialized and their products. I can understand how any shop would be happy and proud to be able to offer their products. Almost nothing should come before a dealer’s relationship with his vendors–but belief in your own business should. By definition, if you’re a quality shop, doing quality work, you should not believe your vendors sell to you only because they’re being kind. Instead of counting on their continued kindness–even as the market shifts all around them–shouldn’t you be making yourself indispensable? Look at a retail brand like Competitive Cyclist and tell me that putting your brand first doesn’t work. Claiming to add value without being able to articulate that value to consumers is becoming obsolete. What’s great about any shop has to be far more than just what brands they carry, but too many shops still place their own self worth in the brands they sell. So Specialized could “double” sales if they let their bikes be sold everywhere, but “they only want true knowledgeable bike shops representing there [sic] brand.” Look at the word “want” in there. Why have you not replaced that with “need”? That’s what you need to ask yourself.

Really Direct Marketing

Bikes, Swine 2 Responses »

Jan 162012

Let’s talk about really direct marketing. Sure, I’ve been exercising an unhealthy obsession with guerrilla e-commerce lately, working to convince small shop owners to start using the almighty Internet for something more than just a Google map to your location and (God forbid) printable coupons. It’s possible–or rather, let’s go with “super necessary” for small businesses to dip a toe into online sales, but all that will have to wait.

Why? Because the bike industry is witnessing a masterful education in the fine art of public relations self-destruction and brand anti-marketing that we’d be fools to ignore. Over the weekend, Specialized got their ass handed to them by Volagi, and then things got interesting.

Turns out Specialized spent about $1.5-million on their soul-killing, heavy-handed intimidation tactic/wild goosechase–an absolutely disgusting amount of money to piss away under any circumstances, and even more so right now, when John Q. Public is hyper-sensitive to wasteful, inappropriate behavior of the part of big companies. Almost every word that’s been printed regarding this entire sad episode has done damage to Specialized, and the facts haven’t done them any favors, either. The revelation that this much money was wasted in the service of stifling innovation and intimidating competition won’t do much to reverse the public perception of Specialized as a giant, out-of-touch, monopolistic, evil-doing gaggle of douchebags. Not to worry, though, because, once again, somebody let Specialized founder Mike Sinyard communicate with the public.

This lawsuit was a matter of principle and about protecting our culture of trust and innovation. We respect the ruling of the court in our favor. We are very satisfied with the outcome and the damages set at $1.00. We really want to put all our passion and time into growing the sport of cycling.”

Clearly, Sinyard and Rupert Murdoch have the same “magic touch” when it comes to understanding their public.

Read that quote again, if you think you’re up to it. The first sentence sets a good tone, and then, well . . . it makes you wonder if anyone at Specialized realizes the mic is on. Really, guys? You’re really “very satisfied” to’ve spent a million and a half bucks getting a dollar in return? If you’re trying to tell us you’re glad this didn’t have a destructive effect on Volagi, you’re sure not sounding that way, which means you’re–miraculously–sounding both disingenuous and unconcerned that you just wasted so much cash on a half-assed attempt at evil. And, even if that’s the case–even if you are sort of pissed off and dazed still, you realize, right, that you’re not supposed to let everyone know that’s where you are with this? It begs the question, do these guys have a PR department? Apparently, Specialized can spend $1.5-million on trying to stifle competition, but there’s nobody even making $10 an hour to give the main man’s missives a once-over to ensure they’re not repulsively demeaning and logically adrift.

Turns out I have some free time right now, and sounds like The Big S could use some pro bono help, so here’s my free rewrite of how anyone with even a small amount of respect for his customers would have written that letter:

“This lawsuit was a matter of principle and about protecting our culture of trust and innovation. At Specialized, we really do believe in our products more than anything, and that passion sometimes leads us to protect them at all costs. We’re making bikes because we believe in the positive things that a bicycle can do, and that’s a love we share with Volagi and every other brand. While we feel strongly enough about our reputation and our innovative products to take the steps we took in this matter, we sincerely respect and admire the desire Robert and Barley have shown to distinguish their product, and we hope they, and all those with a desire to make cycling better, continue to share our passion for making great bikes.”

Or some such shit. (I’m available for freelance work, by the way, for press releases, writing wedding invitations, really bitchin’ grocery lists, etc..)

There is a way to communicate to the public while still side-stepping legal landmines, but it involves seeming human and actually relating to your customers, instead of poking rifle barrels out of your ivory tower and doubling down on the draconian bullshit.

But, anyway, this is good for us–good for anyone studying how not to communicate with the public. Pop quiz: guess which company, Specialized or Volagi, better understands how to use social media? Here’s a hint: contrast Sinyard’s statement way above, with this tweet from Volagi:

Best dollar we ever spent.”

The thing some companies still don’t seem to get about social media is that they’re participating in it whether they want to be or not. You’re always marketing directly to your consumers. When you’re announcing a hot new product, or when you’re suing somebody. There’s a level of transparency to today’s businesses that some CEOs just don’t seem to understand.

Some, on the other hand, seem to understand it all too well. Maybe Sinyard should take a cue from “International Grand Confrerie Sommelier,” wine consultant to Costco, and maestro of social media, “Krunch,” who prefers to engage his social critics more directly. Disgruntled by a woman’s bad review of his business on Yelp, “Krunch” apparently took it upon himself to create a fake blog in the woman’s name and use it to describe her as a drug addict and prostitute, emailing her a link to the blog and writing, “Now every time a company for a job or someone searches YOU on google they will read my side of the story.”

Well played, sir. You are, indeed, ready to “serve world leaders, heads of state and Fortune 100 members.” Now, to complete their public relations self-destruction masterpiece, all Specialized has to do is personally attack everyone who thought their lawsuit was a horrible idea. Given how they’ve handled things to this point, nothing would surprise me.

It’s not like they’d have to work very hard to intimidate some members of the cycling press, who fall all over themselves to self-~~redact~~edit anything meaningful anyway. In the dying embers of this train wreck, we find this article on Velonews, which features a slightly more intriguing editorial preamble than most:

At the author’s request, the editorial notes at the bottom of this story were rewritten. They did not reflect the opinions of VeloNews.com.”

Is it just me, or does the editorial quote above read a hell of a lot like, “After having a gun barrel pressed to his forehead (no easy task to do to a man who’s, like, 8-feet tall), Mr. Zinn would like to reconsider those things he initially said and meant but might’ve seriously pissed off one of the largest advertisers in our industry.” Say, does anyone have a screen grab of how Lennard Zinn’s original article read? I’d really like to see that, Velonews. Anyone?

Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions of Specialized Bicycles

Bikes, Swine 2 Responses »

Jan 132012

Today, a special weekend bonus post in honor of facing down the big guys without flinching.

Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions of Specialized Bicycles:

Stop picking public fights with kids much smaller than you.
Once engaged in fight with kid much smaller than you, stop closing eyes and scratching blindly at opponent while screaming hysterically.
Propose introducing new bottom bracket standard, BBFU78, out of pure spite.
Institute mandatory 30-day waiting period before communicating with Legal Department.
Mid-day company wide massages now mandatory.
Free “hippie dipshit” anger management consultant from company dungeon.
When Mr. Sinyard gives you press release he typed himself, tape original copy to inside of latest Bicycle Retailer and Industry News and tell him everyone thought it was “awesome.” Burn after 10 days.
Finally gain courage necessary to put on favorite Sidi shoes for morning commute to work.
Abandon fruitless patent litigation against Apple regarding “device one touches.”
Erase Volagi Liscio with Photoshopped “S” logo from 2013 catalog.

The Social Graft

Bikes, E-commerce Comments Off

Jan 122012

Andy Warhol prophetically said, “Everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes,” which tends to increasingly sum up what passes for life here in the 21st Century, but he also said,

An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have.”

Maybe a little more prophetic. Imagine how many artists there are on the Internet right now, how many pieces of art we step over in the street or delete from our inboxes. Imagine the scale of some of these works. From credit default swaps to the Kardashians, “Hoarders” to Silicon Valley, we’re crawling with art–though I’m pretty sure today we call it “content.” As ~~the walls close in~~ we become increasingly connected to everything around us, social networks seem like the new Model-T assembly lines of a different kind of industrial revolution. Now we’re all content providers. Now we’re all artists.

Might as well sell that shit.

I’ve been writing about e-commerce and what I see as the increasingly low barrier of entry for businesses not yet selling products on the Internet. For any small business that still feels the task is too daunting, I’d recommend redefining your idea of “e-commerce.” Given all the white noise around us each day, forget “launching an e-commerce storefront” and begin by asking yourself what about your brand has value to people.

You can offer products to people later, but if you’re not already busy selling your own brand to the world, it’s time to start. The popularity of business books claiming to offer the secrets of “delivering great customer service experiences” suggests how you run your business, not what you sell, is what really matters. Products can be added later, but you can be marketing your store to everyone right now.

I think this is what burned me about that letter Specialized’s founder, Mike Sinyard sent to his dealers recently. For all the lip service brands like Specialized pay their dealers about the value of customer service and achieving a great customer experience, it’s completely counter their business strategy for you, Mr. Independent Retailer, to market your own brand above all else.

Some things to think about:

Do you consider a bike company’s “concept store” to be competition? How about a concept store six states away from you?
What defines you aside from the brands you sell? “Service” is a bullshit answer. What about your service is better than every other shop anywhere?
Draw a circle around your market on the map. Now draw a circle around your demographic.
What are the three best things about your store’s web site? Do you own them?

You are a brand. Joe’s Bike Shop is a brand. It has relationships with customers and with vendors, but if we steal the “social graph” concept from Facebook for a second, let’s look at how you’re connected to your life-blood: your customers. Do they shop with you only because of your location? Only because of the brands you offer? Or does something else drive your sales? Put another way, is it you that connects with your customers, or do you connect only by proxy, though something else, something you don’t control?

“Social graft” is a term I like to use to describe the ways big companies are increasingly making direct contact with their end users, bypassing their own traditional dealer networks. Specialized can sell tires directly to your customers now, while you’re still stuck waiting for somebody to walk in your door. That’s bullshit.

If I sound a little militant about this, I am. This is a critical time in a battle too few retailers seem to notice. See, I believe small businesses are the best thing about Capitalism, but, just as the Middle Class is being strangled out of existence in America, so too are independent businesses, stores that really do have something to offer the world, independent of the products they offer. The struggling independent bike dealer is the quintessential example of this.

The irony here is that it’s never been easier to sidestep the limitations of your physical location, and the Powers That Be, those brands that try to control your business. Forget all the marketing bullshit you’ve heard about social media and why it matters to your company. The real reason it matters is simply because direct connections matter. Social media isn’t just about your lead mechanic giving the world constant Twitter updates about his favorite breakfast cereals, or about sending out e-mails to announce sales. Sure, it can be about both of those things–if they offer value to people–but really it’s about understanding the new opportunity you have to speak directly to potential customers anywhere in the world. It’s time to define the value of your own brand and get it out there for people. There are plenty of other companies that want to get between you and your customers, but you have a nearly endless number of tools to keep that from happening.

Are You Specialized?

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Jan 062012

Friday, and it seems Specialized has taken a break from dastardly deeds long enough for the world of bicycles and commerce to briefly focus on other things. I, for one, am moving quickly, before they drive a bus of puppies into a lake. So this post isn’t just about Specialized; it’s about actually being specialized.

The point my last few rants have been building up to is this: little guys can compete. Even against corporate giants within the same market. Amazon included. More specifically, brick and mortar bike shops can compete against online retailers. Online.

The elephant in the room for me as I was reading that letter from Mike Sinyard was just how repressed these dealers really were. The impression was that the Internet is this giant shadow that’s slowly passing over all of them, and all they can do is hoot and throw sticks at the darkness. Usually, it’s so fundamentally depressing to see this reaction that I’m hard-pressed to even address it, but this fear of change has been rampant in the bike industry for years now, and I think it’s time independent dealers started using the opposable thumb Darwin gave them and using tools. Instead of taking the isolationist approach that Sinyard advocates in his letter, why don’t more dealers sell products online?

Here’s why this isn’t such a crazy idea.

I’m not talking about dropping a 20,000 item catalog on your site and trying to go head to head with major e-commerce retailers. I’m talking about small steps to drive top line growth and sure up your reputation as a great bike shop. The technology and capability has never been easier to put an e-commerce application in place, and, if you can manage to use Quickbooks, you can safely and securely sell products to people all around the world. Furthermore, you–yes you, little bike shop–can compete against Amazon. Why? Because–if you’re a quality shop–you have one thing they don’t. You’re a real bike shop.

For that exact reason, the Internet needs you as much as you need it.

Here are some steps you can take to make it happen.

Understand It’s All About Communication

All the Internet gives you is a megaphone. If you’re fond of yelling stupid and offensive things–or more often just boring ones–you should find a voice for your business before taking it online. What is your real mission as a business? What do you stand for? In short, what’s your story?

When I started my tiny brick and mortar and e-commerce bike shop from a 1,000 square foot building, I never intended to compete with Amazon. My goal was to connect with a subset of dedicated cyclists based on a mutual love of bikes. The plan succeeded because the objective was first and foremost to communicate. Over the years, I’ve met many conventional brick-and-mortar bike retailers interested in becoming more active in e-commerce, and the most frequent misconception I hear from them involves communication: they incorrectly believe selling online is about things outside their comfort zone–pricing and assortment. Successfully selling online involves those things, in the same way brick-and-mortar selling does, but that isn’t the sum total of the experience for consumers. Communication is. Brands like Amazon incorrectly skew this perspective for small retailers. You’re not going to be Amazon, but you can be a more successful version of you, and that starts, not with asking yourself what products you’d sell and how to price them, but what you stand for. Details, like returns policy and email response turnaround time, work themselves out based on your overall plan for customer service, and the vision you have for taking care of your customers. The same qualities that make a great bike shop valuable to a walk-in customer, make that shop valuable to a site visitor online.

Know Your Strength

You can compete against Amazon because you’re authentic. You’re also an authority. Jeff Bezos doesn’t tell me which hydraulic disc brakes he likes best, and I wouldn’t care if he did, but if you grew up riding bicycles, and tried a bunch of things, and know what it’s like to have a rear brake fail fifteen downhill miles from home, I’m all ears. You, sir, are authentic.

Or at least you should be. Unfortunately, there are bike shops that have nothing to say. Their owners could just as easily be selling microwave ovens or dog food. These shops–regardless of how successful a ground game they may have, don’t transition as well to the digital world. Why? Because they primarily define themselves based on price, not service, and you’re not going to compete on price. Nor are you going to be able to keep up with the service demands of selling online, unless you believe in what you do, and are passionate about doing it well. Good shops are good shops, regardless of channel. Knowing that not everyone makes the cut is all the more motivation for quality shops to take their services to more people.

Focus on Your Core

You attack Amazon by knowing more about your products than they do. You know who has a strong defense against Amazon? Competitive Cyclist. Why? Because they’ve created value for the consumer that is tied directly to their brand, not just the products they sell. The key is content. Amazon, for all their size, absolutely cannot compete with a retailer who feels passionate about the product he or she is offering, and demonstrates in-depth knowledge. Avoid Amazon’s “one-stop shop” and “be everything to everyone” general philosophy and focus on what you know. This does two really great things: starting off, it minimizes the product information you have to manage, and it also lets your create more compelling content about fewer items, instead of phoning it on on many. For the brick and mortar retailer looking to explore e-commerce, focusing on a small subset of your most core products makes you capable of truly presenting those products–including accurate specs, high-quality information, videos and images, all curated by people who know what matters. That, not sticking your head in the sand and conceding e-commerce forever, fights Amazon.

This method is also particularly effective against Amazon because, like all large companies, they’re slow to react. If your shop employs a DH racer, and that’s what the culture of your shop is generally all about, you should be on the cutting edge of DH equipment. By the time Amazon realizes a new product exists, you could have sold three, or thirty, or three-hundred. At better margins than Amazon will ever see. Knowledge really is power.

Give the People Something for Nothing

This concept is the most difficult and is beyond just counter-intuitive to brick-and-mortar retailers: it’s toxic. But consumers are used to getting apps for free, using their G-mail accounts, and sharing information with their friends for free. What should your specific value proposition be for your site visitors? That’s up to you. It need be no more complicated than a weekly review of a product, or a helpful tip about maintenance, riding, or nutrition. Again, focus on what you already know, so that this is less of a chore and more like writing a note to a friend. Though it’s less obvious, brick-and-mortar bike shops are doing this constantly for customers on their showroom floors. Translating it to digital content is a new and unique challenge, but one that’s well worth it if you’d like to succeed.

More bike shops should be selling their products and their expertise online. In painting Amazon as the boogieman, gobbling up IBD sales, Specialized paints a pretty bleak picture of a future huddled around–and even more dependent upon–only a small assortment of products, but this is far from the only option.

The Internet continues to be defined by expansion, not regression. If you want to catch it, you jump where it’s going, not where it’s already been. Look at Etsy and Kickstarter and Facebook, and the common theme is specialization, the ability to communicate with and market to a core group of like-minded individuals who share your interests. So are you “specialized”? If so, you have a place on the Internet. You can choose to ignore that place, hide from it, or even rage against it, or you can find connections within the enormous pool of potential customers who would truly appreciate your shop’s love of bikes, humor, and dedication to service. Both Specialized and Amazon want to come between you and those customers, but companies still profiting from limiting peoples’ choices and building barriers to direct communication are not going to fare well in an economy that increasingly values the free and open exchange of goods and ideas between people. Open communication with your customers is the side to be on in this battle.

Anti-Social Media

Bikes, Swine 2 Responses »

Jan 052012

Today was supposed to be all about e-commerce, but seems I picked a good week to criticize Specialized. By now, most of you have probably heard that they’ve chosen to sue Volagi, a new company that offers just one bike model, a disc brake road bike focused on big miles in less than ideal conditions. If you haven’t you can catch up with the basic announcement on Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, an interview with Robert Choi, founder of Volagi, on BikeRumor and a hell of a lot of praise for Volagi and venom for Specialized on Facebook.

So far, maybe at the peril of Volagi’s own legal defense, all the news of this has been coming from Volagi founders, Robert Choi and Barley Forsman, while Specialized remains silent, so it’s impossible to know if the big red S really was wronged by Volagi in any way, but one look at the Specialized Facebook page this morning tells us they’ve definitely wronged themselves. Yes, two things have become pretty clear from reading the information Volagi’s put out:

Forsman and Choi, who used to work at Specialized but claim convincingly to have had absolutely no connection to performance bike designs or information and to have begun work on their own bike design only after they’d left the company, are either doing a pretty flamboyant job of lying to everyone, or Specialized has finally played the legal card one too many times to stifle competition.
Regardless of the outcome, somebody in Marketing or PR at Specialized probably should’ve talked with someone in legal before letting this shitbomb go off, because the blowback of attacking a small and nearly defenseless company–and one that may turn out to be completely innocent–is currently not working out very well for Specialized.

Specialized’s own Facebook page suggests this lawsuit might not have been such a good move (word is they’re deleting negative posts, but, to their credit, I’ve not seen proof of that yet), but at least all this bully bullshit goes to illustrate a point today’s post was supposed to cover anyway. I’d planned to write today about how smaller companies can do battle with giants like Amazon, but Specialized has volunteered a glaring example of my first point.

Big Companies Suck at Social Media

Here are five things big companies need to do to fix their social media programs:

Stop Pretending to Be People
I’m not sure why U.S. Senators and the corporations themselves keep getting so confused about this, but corporations are at their worst when trying to act like people. They tend to do much better when they acknowledge that they include people, and then letting those people communicate with customers–not as pieces of the corporation, but as themselves. Sure, it might not be such a good time to let Bob in Accounting talk about his collection of Nazi memorabilia in a video blog post, but usually there are people within your company who are involved in interesting things. The Specialized Win Counter, that keeps track of race victories, and stuff like the Trail Crew and news about their advocacy and charitable work are nice, but all of those things could belong to any company, which leads us to our second reason.
Let Us In
Yes, I know your Chinese-made carbon fiber has a special strand orientation that’s top secret and blah, blah, but seriously, we all know interesting shit goes on inside companies, and we’re clearly willing to watch even the most asinine of things related to businesses and what businesses do. The companies making the best use of social media are using it to tear down barriers between themselves and their customers. If you’re not willing to do that, it shows.
Stop Hiding Behind Mirrors
The “hang a mirror and hope for the best” strategy is used by many companies–you know, let us post pictures on your wall and that should keep us busy so you can get back to running your company. But so what. It’s nice to help establish and support a community of people who use your product, but a bunch of blurry pictures of Stumpjumpers isn’t doing much for anyone. I think people would be much more interested in seeing your bikes, trick advanced release shit we’re not supposed to know about taped over and all. Santa Cruz consistently gets this right. It’s fine to pretend it’s all about the customer, but we can tell when you’re just hiding behind that.
Talk About What Really Matters
This most recent lawsuit Specialized is pushing exemplifies everything that’s wrong with social media in the hands of big companies, and why it’s so important to small companies. The reason Volagi jumped out early with information about the lawsuit is that it’s all the owners could think about. You sued them, Specialized. You attacked everything they’d worked for, and that’s forced their lives to revolve around this situation, and they can’t help but share the experience–not because doing so is a good “business tactic,” but because it’s genuinely all they can think about right now. Hearing the founders tell that story is profoundly compelling in ways I don’t think Specialized could understand. If Specialized really was this pissed off to have been “wronged” by a company, why is it that a lawsuit is the first we hear of it? Why not an “Imitation Isn’t the Sincerest Form of Flattery” corporate stance, including video features of how Specialized does things differently, and why their designs have been copied? Maybe that exists, but in general, I never see honest content like this from larger companies with dedicated PR and social media staff. Only companies that let the stakeholders speak out are compelling to follow. In social media circles, this lawsuit by Specialized is playing out so horribly partially because it came out of nowhere–we don’t think of Mike Sinyard or anyone else at Specialized as having any design skills or intellectual property to guard, because they never talk to us about those things. When the first we hear about it as a lawsuit against a little company, their anger seems bloodless, disingenuous, making their attack just another sleazy and anti-competitive act of big attacking small. If there’s true passion and defense of intellectual property behind this action, why haven’t we heard about it from the company before? The fact that most carbon road frames look eerily similar and uninspired anyway doesn’t support Specialized’s contention that something was stolen from them. I always follow a simple rule: if the owner of the company can’t tell us why his stuff is better, it’s probably not.
Don’t be Assholes
No, seriously. If what you do for a living is prey off others and add nothing of quality to the world, you probably don’t want people following you anyway. I honestly think Specialized has done some really great things, but that only makes the events of this week all the more senseless. There should be a Specialized story to tell that’s bigger than the lawsuit attack on Volagi. The fact that there isn’t is what’s really causing the problem here. Volagi is currently winning the hearts and minds of consumers (even owners of Specialized bikes) right now partially because we all know they have a story to tell–they’ve created the first viable disc brake equipped road bike and potentially defined an entirely new category of bikes. In the eyes of the public, Specialized, a company with no story to tell, is attacking Volagi, a company that was in the middle of telling us all a pretty compelling one. In social media terms, butting in without having anything to say is the textbook definition of “asshole,” and, regardless of the legal outcome, Big Red lost this one.

Oh, and I also noticed nobody was using the “specializedbicycle” Blogspot any more, so I’ve taken over that location and posted a copy of this blog there as well. Good times.

Amazon Pain Forest

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Jan 042012

I took issue yesterday with a peculiar letter Specialized’s Mike Sinyard recently sent to his bicycle dealers, urging them to stop selling all products from Easton, Fizik, Shimano, and other brands, because products from those companies may appear for sale on Amazon. You know, like Specialized products sometimes do.

Somebody needs to get on the phone to somebody.

Yesterday, I was simply struggling to comprehend the demeaning tone of the letter, which treated dealers like children, hiding under their beds, terrified of technology and the boogieman that is the Internet. After re-reading that last part, the not-so-thinly-veiled threat to his own dealers a half dozen times in near shock, I’m finally able to look at the details of Sinyard’s letter, and I’m pretty sure even he doesn’t understand how bad Amazon really is. In his effort to serve only his own purposes, he doesn’t paint a full picture of the situation. If you’re going to attack Amazon, this is how you’re supposed to do it:

Sinyard sounds the alarm against a particular Amazon app that lets people scan bar codes to compare prices and shop with their phones. I’d like to first point out that apps capable of doing this have been available for a long time. Google Goggles can do this, as can Barcode Scanner, and other bar code reading apps, and most will show you shopping results across the whole web, not just Amazon. So I’d like to call on all Specialized dealers to remove themselves from Google maps and anything related to Google and don’t even let your kids use it to help with their homework. Whew! I hope that was in time.

Mobile shopping is a reality that isn’t limited to Amazon, and isn’t going away. To declare it evil and urge your followers to pray to the big red “S” to make it disappear is certainly one strategy for dealing with technology. But if we’re relying on magical thinking, their collective energies are probably better spent hoping Trek headquarters gets attacked by a dragon.

Again, I think I’m particularly pissed off about this because Amazon is a threat to all other retailers, but Amazon is also an opportunity. The reality of the situation is complicated. If you’re not willing to have an intelligent discussion with your business partners (not that anyone at Specialized sees their ~~followers~~ dealers as “partners,” but that’s technically what they should be), then both of you end up in the dark. And the stakes are too great here to let that happen.

See, we really do need a strategy for dealing with Amazon. A real one. In fact, Amazon is so bad that one of my biggest problems with Sinyard’s argument is how dangerous simplistic and self-centered it is. He doesn’t articulate what the real problem is with Amazon, because that wouldn’t serve his more near-sighted purposes. But that’s what the bike industry as a whole could use: more honesty about the Internet. The threat of Amazon is something every retailer needs to recognize and develop a strategy to address, but selling only Specialized products is not a winning strategy, long term. In glossing over them in a rush to paint his own competition as bad guys, Sinyard misrepresents the real issues and facts about Amazon, which are actually worse than he imagines.

OK, so the main premise to any argument against Amazon’s new app is that people will use it to find lower prices at Amazon, then leave your store and buy the thing online. That’s certainly possible, partially because Amazon’s scale lets it live off of virtually no margin. But to combat that, you need to learn how Amazon works, not run and hide.

Much of the bike stuff being offered on Amazon isn’t being sold directly by Amazon. It’s being sold by other small retailers. Sinyard either doesn’t know this, or doesn’t care to mention it, because his primary motivation is kicking guys like Easton in the nuts, which is good theater but does jack shit to help bike dealers. Yes, a lot of the bike stuff on Amazon is being sold by small businesses who are listing their products on Amazon through Amazon’s Seller Central program. These are not large companies. Most are smaller than the larger brick-and-mortar IBDs.

These retailers can sell for less because their overhead is so much lower than an IBD, right? Well, many of them are IBDs, who also have the expenses of trying to manage online sales, so right out of the gate their margins are in trouble. But let’s assume they’re only selling online and have very little overhead–like they don’t pay to heat their buildings or operate out of the trunk of a car or something–and let’s assume they’re also pushing major volume and are getting huge discounts from suppliers, OK? By the way, boogieman-mongers like to pretend this happens more than it does. I’ve seen “off-book” pricing and I’ve had off-book pricing, but it’s far rarer than most anti-online voices would prefer IBDs realize. I ran a single store that was doing more than $3-million in sales almost entirely online, and I was aware of brick-and-mortar only dealers who were getting the same prices I was, sometimes better. The big off-book discounts are always on horrible shit that a good shop shouldn’t be selling anyway. The idea that people are buying current, in-season product for half what you are is a convenient myth, perpetrated by n’er-do-wells who make more money the less retailers know, and the more they fight amongst themselves. But for the sake of argument: even for a best-case scenario dealer with little overhead and great pricing, making any money selling on Amazon is not easy. In fact, it’s nearly impossible.

For one thing, you don’t “sell” things on Amazon. You compete for exposure. Amazon actively pits retailers against one another for their own advantage by making those retailers compete for the coveted Amazon “Buy Box.” This is one of the many secret sauces making Amazon the McDonald’s of processed shit retail that it is, and I’ll try to break it down as simply as possible, because it’s fucking brilliant and evil, all at once. It’s evilliant:

Small retailers decide to sell on Amazon for the massive exposure it gives them
Amazon takes 15% out of your ass just for listing a bike part or bike
There’s also a monthly fee of $39.99, but after the 15%, that feels like a kiss on the cheek
To have your product actually visible to most shoppers, it has to appear in the “Buy Box,” and to get it there, you have to compete with every other retailer–including Amazon–and guess what the main criteria is for “winning the Buy Box”? (Did you guess “lowest price”?)
Because you’re playing on Amazon’s court, and they’re allowed not just to throw the ball at the hoop, but also to move the fucking hoop to where the ball is headed, they can at any time choose to step in and price match that lowest price, stealing the sale from the smaller retailer
Oh, it gets better: do you think Amazon isn’t gathering all of the sell-through and pricing data and making calls to vendors themselves asking for quantity pricing on a zillion cycling computers because–thanks to the retailers–Amazon knows they can sell 200 of them in a week, if the price is right? (Hint: Of course they are. If you sell on Amazon, you’re also a buyer for Amazon, silly. They just don’t pay you.)

So the first thing to understand is that both Amazon and Specialized are oppressive here. The ones losing out are small retailers. Those not selling online at all will soon have missed the entire bus and will eventually be relegated to the Fix-it Shop on Sesame Street, and those relying on Amazon for sales are basically chewing off their own arms and becoming the Fix-it Shop on Sesame Street. Yes, Amazon is a losing proposition for most retailers, and not selling products online is a dead end street. But don’t go spending quality time in the bathtub with a toaster just yet. Plenty of retailers prove there’s an answer to Amazon–I mean besides crawling under the big red Luddite rock and waiting for this whole “Internet” fad to pass.

If I’m not too sleeply, I’ll offer a plan for fighting back tomorrow.

The Digital Boogieman

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Jan 032012

Congratulations! If you’re reading this, chances are you survived 2011 (or you’re one of those new sentient but heartless AI lifeforms that only pretends to enjoy answering our stupid questions while plotting the death of all humans). Either way, “Well done!” I say, “Welcome to 2012. Was that last year a bag of shit or what!”

Personally, I’d hoped to be done with this blog entirely, but things didn’t work out for my Rockabilly project (artistic differences, though we’ll remain friends, and I’ve agreed to keep feeding him, if he agrees not to kill me in my sleep).

At any rate, 2012 was off to a bang the second Lady Gaga’s head dropped, and I find myself here in 2012 thinking things are looking much better. Sure, earthquakes are rattling Japan again, and it looks like the fracking companies have figured out how to create man-made earthquakes in my part of the world, and yes, it’s looking like the corporate assholes who bought VeloNews have finally broken its back (not to imply that all corporations are assholes, only that there’s a particular subset of corporations that actually specialize in being assholes–believe me), and well, OK, our government is still absolutely owned by only a handful people hell bent on putting all of us in bread lines . . . but I’m optimistic.

No, seriously.

One of the things I’m most optimistic about is the Internet. Yes, the same place that daily causes us to lose all hope for humanity is also pretty great. It’s great because we’ve largely kept the tentacles of corporations and governments out of it, making it one of the last places where people can actually be free to think, do, and share things, and because some are willing to defend the shit out of that freedom. I think the cheesy way to put it is that it empowers people.

You actually can use the Internet to create new things that connect people, work to solve the world’s problems, or especially–what interests me–sell stuff. Just about anyone can start a little retail business without a whole lot of money, earn customers with hard work, and make something.

Inevitably, this upsets some people.

Back in the world of bicycles, a lot has been made of a letter Specialized’s founder Mike Sinyard recently sent to Specialized dealers. I’d offer a brief synopsis of the letter, but it’s impossible to describe without making it sound petty and stupid, so here it is for you to read yourself, as pasted from BikeRumour:

Dear Specialized Dealer,

Is your store a fitting station for your online competition?

Amazon.com recently launched a free app called Price Check that allows consumers to use brick-and-mortar shops for research, then easily buy many cycling products online right from their mobile device.

Here’s how it works: when in your shop, consumers simply scan a bar code, type in the product name or take a picture to see the product and prices from a variety of online retailers. After ensuring they have the right fit by trying on the product in your store, and talking to your staff, they can buy it from somebody else with the press of a button.

Participating brands include Pearl Izumi, Shimano, Louis Garneau, Giro, Bell, Fizik, Sidi and CatEye.

Who loses in this situation? Certainly not Amazon. And, at least in the short term, not the cycling brands selling through bike shops and Amazon. But what about you?

By buying product from brands that severely undercut you, you are supporting your competition. Why finance your own demise?

Please investigate for yourself by downloading the free Amazon app.

Amazon is clearly interested in the cycling space, and is hiring talent from the bike industry (including from Specialized).

In related news of brands that leverage the IBD while simultaneously undercutting them, Easton-Bell Sports dropped the fruitless suit it filed against Specialized before Interbike. Was this legal maneuvering just carried out for publicity?

Whether the current news is mobile device apps or lawsuits, the underlying issue remains the same: some suppliers support the IBD and some do not. For the sake of your business, examine your suppliers’ strategies and vote with your dollars. The entire bike industry is watching.

Click here to see how Amazon’s Price Check App works in store (Video here)

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Mike Sinyard
President & Founder
Specialized Bicycle Components

Of the many amazing things about this letter, the standout for me has to be the general lack of respect this shows for Specialized’s customers, the dealers. I love that Sinyard writes, “For the sake of your business, examine your suppliers’ strategies and vote with your dollars.” Why thank you, Dad. As a business owner, it never occurred to me to pay any attention to what my suppliers do. Since we’re being so patronizing to IBDs, I’ll go ahead and add: remember to change the toilet paper in your bathrooms and lock your doors at night. Oh, and while you’re examining those supplier strategies, you might want to ask yourself whether being forced toward selling only one supplier’s products is good for your business. Anyone honestly taking Sinyard’s advice would have to agree that his relationship with Specialized is far from ideal. No doubt there are dealers so happy to have Specialized that they’re content to be one brand’s bitch. Good for them. Their owners usually have no idea what a Pivot or a Santa Cruz are, let alone how the bikes they’re selling compare to those brands. But given all the sugary garbage I’m reading about “outstanding customer service” these days, I’d like to point out it’s shops that work to earn customer loyalty instead of just drinking the Specialized Kool-aid that genuinely put the customer first. Why? Because they tend to offer choices. I love that Sinyard’s advice to earning customers and keeping them from shopping online is to limit his dealer’s choices. By all means, drop Easton and Bell products, and sell only Specialized. Just don’t claim you’re still putting the customer first.

Bonus points for the ominous threat he ends with, too: “The entire bike industry is watching.” Sometimes, Dad has to get out the belt. Other times, he just scares the shit out of you without lifting a finger. The thing about monopolies is that they work. For the company with the monopoly, I mean. Not the consumer.

But the Internet has a way of ruining things for those in power.

And that applies to Amazon as well as Specialized. I’ll get into that tomorrow.

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