Selling bicycles as a business. Where to start and how to succeed. Your own business: a bicycle and cycling goods store How to open a commercial sports club for bicycle enthusiasts
Bicycle business not developed in Russia. There are bicycles, but there is no infrastructure for their repair.
Nevertheless, more and more bicycles are being sold every day, but any problem like a figure eight on a wheel or replacing a chain requires a trip to the service center for some major problem. sports store, and the prices there are not humane.
So it turns out that by purchasing an Auchan bike for 3 thousand rubles, a cyclist can receive a maintenance cost of 60% of the price of the bike. Although there’s nothing to do there - stretch the spokes, oil the chain and pump up the wheels.
You can make good money on this summer time, you can’t ride a bike in Russia in winter.
To open a bicycle workshop, you will need a small rag tent and rent of an area of 2x2 meters, a set of bicycle keys and a small device - a stand for the wheel. This device can be easily welded from metal corners or assembled with your own hands from aluminum tubes.
It is best to start such a business in early spring, when the snow has just melted, but the ground has not yet dried out; this is when cyclists begin to take their steel horses from balconies or roll out of the garage.
It is better to rent a piece of asphalt in a crowded place. Your work itself will be your advertisement.
Place advertisements in local forums and newspapers for free advertisements, print and put up posters advertising your services - bicycle maintenance, price (on average 500 rubles, but this may vary from city to city) and a diagram of how to find you.
On average, it takes about 20 minutes to service a bicycle. The main thing here is to choose a price that would be easier to give away than to tinker with a two-wheeled horse yourself.
At first, you can negotiate with cycling clubs or cycling forums about a discount for participants. This will work like word of mouth advertising.
Profit - count it yourself. It all depends on how much you agree to rent.
To the maintenance, you can add the sale of such things as brake pads, cables, bicycle first aid kits, spokes and inner tubes for wheels, and so on. The main approach is demand for repairs and small dimensions (to make it easier to store). You can sell this at prices slightly higher than in stores. It’s easier for a cyclist to overpay you than to go specifically for brake pads.
After the wave of people wanting to do maintenance has subsided, you can move on to repairs; 90% of repairs are simply replacing a broken unit. So nothing complicated.
You can also buy old bicycles for a small amount, bring them to life and rent them out.
Bicycles for rent, as a private business, it’s a goldmine. You buy 21 high-speed Auchan bikes for half or a third of the cost - 1000-1500 rubles, do maintenance work on it and rent it out for 50-100 rubles per hour.
In less than a week, the bike pays for itself and begins to make a profit.
There are, of course, some nuances here. The bicycle rental place should be in a crowded place, and in a place where people come to relax.
For example, a city park or next to it.
If there are lakes near the city, then you can locate your rental point next to the stop. Vacationers arrived, left, and walked to the lake for 15-20 minutes. And here you can rent bicycles on which you can get there in 5.
In my city they also made a bicycle taxi on this route.
As you can see in the photo, a pair of bicycles was taken as a basis and a bicycle taxi was welded. No special frills, but three pedicabs can’t go without work on a day off. Getting to the lake is 100 rubles, back 150 (the road to the lake is slightly downhill, 1500 meters according to the ordometer).
Summing up.
Despite the fact that the cycling business is a seasonal business, it remains very profitable. And it doesn’t require large expenses to start.
In addition, this niche in Russia is not occupied by anyone. By starting such a business, you will not have to experience problems with competitors.
Pros of this business:
- Very low initial investment.
- Minimum monthly expenses.
- The demand for bicycle repairs is increasing every year.
- Opportunity to earn money by reselling spare parts.
- Easy opportunity to open a bicycle rental or sale of used and repaired bicycles.
- Possibility to choose a flexible work schedule.
- The repair skills necessary for conducting commercial activities are acquired after several assemblies and disassemblies of your bicycle.
- Lack of competitors.
- The opportunity to open several such repair points in different parts of the city with the hiring of cheap student employees.
Happy business!
More articles for cyclists.
We advise you to open a profitable business selling bicycles. Many future bicycle buyers are unaware that there are a great variety of types of bicycles (for adults, municipal, sports, road, two-seater, and so on), which, as everyone knows, serve for different purposes.
Undoubtedly, it is worth mentioning that the advantage of bicycles of certain modifications is their high price. It is comparable to the price of Russian-made cars.
I must say that even for such expensive bicycles clientele are being sought. It should be emphasized that they tend to pay higher prices due to what customers think are high-quality materials from which the bike is made. Clients are provided with a receipt for this account.
You need to find a skilled salesperson who could present the product to customers in a favorable light, and you also need to take care of guarantees for servicing the bicycles in case of their breakdown.
We immediately advise you to solve the problem of equipping your store with various models of bicycles. It must be said that the warehouse of spare parts and the maintenance of the bicycles themselves will require additional costs. It would be bad if we did not note that the low cost of spare parts and a set of keys for bicycles increases the profit margin of this business.
In any case, compared to the budget for opening a bicycle store, these costs are not that high. The main thing is the moment of payback. In fact, the main trump card is the warranty service. It will attract new customers to the store. At first, you can offer free warranty service for the bike as a bonus.
Organizing the placement of bicycles in the store
Bicycles, as everyone knows, are large products, which is why the sales area should be about 50 square meters. To this should be added a warehouse for spare parts, equipment, devices and other products.
Employee selection
We advise you to entrust the topic of purchasing a product to a competent professional. It should be noted that this must be a person who is fully versed in all the varieties of bicycles, their new products, the operating features of various modifications, and the availability of spare parts for them.
I would really like to emphasize that an expert organizing sales must understand the devices of all models of bicycles being sold. As strange as it may seem, mistakes in this matter can be detrimental to your bicycle sales business.
We advise you to buy bicycles in the autumn, because by the end of summer and the beginning of winter, bicycles are bought up, as everyone knows, by large trading organizations. Few people know that in winter, cycling continues from month to month in different areas.
Non-professional bike riders and competitive cyclists often organize competitions, one or the other organize friendly competitions and general rides. If a cycling society exists within the city, participate in its activities, be close to sporting events, give cups to champions.
It goes without saying that if there is no cycling society in your city, then quickly create one. The impressive fact is that you created the sports society yourself!
Calculation of commercial profit
The average retail price of a bicycle is 25-30,000 rubles. For the initial purchase of all goods (bicycles and spare parts) you will need about 500,000 rubles. Also, renting premises and additional equipment will require approximately another 200,000 rubles. To pay wages to employees you will need approximately 60,000 rubles per month.
The markup on bicycles when selling is approximately 25-50%. Also, the markup on spare parts usually starts at 50%.
To generate additional profit, you can rent bicycles, as well as introduce additional services such as airbrushing and others.
The payback period for the funds spent on organizing a business selling bicycles is usually about 1 year, maximum 1.5 years.
It can be difficult for a novice entrepreneur to find a niche in which competition is minimal.
However, with due diligence, you can find ones that are guaranteed to bring high profits.
An example of a promising business is the sale of electric bicycles.
Business selling electric bicycles
In our country, retail sales of electric bicycles are poorly developed.
Some residents of small settlements do not even know about the existence of such electric transport.
Opening an outlet selling electric bicycles can be a profitable endeavor.
The popularity of bicycles is due to the fashion for healthy image life.
Many residents of our country have begun to use cars less often, preferring to travel by means of transport that do not harm the environment and also help maintain health.
Electric bicycles are a great alternative to the usual conventional bicycles..
They are practical, maneuverable and ergonomic. They can quickly move around the city and transport small loads.
In Western countries, electric bicycles are used to deliver groceries. They are purchased by travel companies conducting excursion tours.
How to start a business selling electric bicycles
To open your own business selling such electric vehicles, you will also need investments in the amount of 500 thousand rubles.
The bulk of the funds will be used to create inventory.
On 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-assembled bicycles are less reliable than their European counterparts.
However, with minimal financial resources, it is worth choosing this option.
An electric bicycle 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, you need to rent a small room with an area of 15-20 square meters in one of the shopping centers in your city.
A businessman will need to hire an experienced consultant who will help clients choose one or another electric vehicle model.
Profitability of business selling electric bicycles
How profitable is a business selling such a product:
The final consumer cost of an electric bicycle is at least $350.
Upgraded models with expanded functionality can cost $600-700.
The net profit from the sale of one unit of production will be from 100 to 300 dollars.
The advantage of such a business is that it allows you to find additional sources income.
For example, you can open an electric bicycle rental office, renting out vehicles for short-term rental to tourists.
If an entrepreneur has some knowledge in the field of electrical engineering, he can produce such vehicles on his own.
In this case, you will need to purchase special batteries and electric motors.
The cost of a home-made electric bicycle, as a rule, does not exceed $150. Accordingly, the profit from its sale will be at least $200.
You can get free business consultations in my VK group "
Currently, in almost all corners of our world, such a means of transportation as a bicycle is very popular, even surpassing the car in popularity. And all because, every year, the environmental situation in the world is getting worse and worse, and various diseases are also progressing due to air pollution. The second reason is the rapid growth of automobiles, which leads to traffic congestion. The third reason is the huge savings from a bicycle.
Unfortunately, this transport is not so popular in Russia. Our residents choose cars and spend hours stuck in traffic jams. But if they preferred a bicycle, the situation on the roads would normalize. But not everything is so bad, the popularity of bicycles is gradually growing, and accordingly the business of selling bicycles is developing, and it has great prospects in the future. And therefore, in this article it is worth talking about how to open a bicycle store. We will tell you the main points of such a business and help you start this business correctly.
How to start selling bicycles? Important points
Advertising Policy
In order to have many clients and, accordingly, make a profit from this, you need to advertise your business. And here different advertising methods can come to your aid. For example, this could be: the Internet, leaflets and banners.
Many large cities necessarily have clubs such as bicycle clubs. Having agreed with such a club, you can place your advertisement there. Just sponsor their events two or three times. And of course, regularly conduct promotions and set discounts, for example, at the beginning of a new season. And become one of the organizers of amateur bike rides, then they will learn more about you and more people. This means that you will have a good profit.
Business plan for a bicycle store
Ride On Bike is a retail bicycle store located near a major university.
The owner of the company has extensive experience in the sales of sporting goods and is the exclusive dealer of famous brands of cycling products within a 50-mile radius of the store's location.
Ride On Bike's range includes all types of bicycles - from cruisers (beach bikes) to MTB ( Mountain bikes). In addition, the store offers all the necessary accessories, equipment and spare parts, as well as installation services in its own service department with certified mechanics.
The store is located in the heart of the campus, where 20 thousand students live. They constitute the primary group of consumers. In addition, since the company is the exclusive dealer of four major bicycle manufacturers, its potential buyers are the entire local population (including students from three other colleges) in the amount of 100 thousand people.
There are three competing bike shops in the area, but none of them carry the brands that Ride On Bike offers.
The company's owners place their greatest hopes on students living on the campus where the store is located. The university promotes active image life. Students and the store will work together to develop a variety of cycling programs and events. The business owner has already entered into several partnerships with suppliers and experts in the field. All this will contribute to rapid success.
Ride On Bike's first year of sales is expected to be $500,000. By the start of the second year, the company will be profitable, with low overhead and minimal debt. During the first five years, its owners expect to repay all previously taken loans and credits.
On this moment To open a business, it is planned to obtain a loan of $175 thousand from the Small Business Administration. This money will be used for repairs, the purchase of equipment, goods and marketing campaigns. The owner is investing $25,000 in cash and $20,000 in equipment and tools into the project.
download a Western business plan on how to open a bicycle store
Calculator for calculating the profitability of this business
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