The last 12 months have been nothing less of insanity for the Bicycle Retail industry. While every shop owner is juggling a million things planning for having more and more bikes in stock it is a small adventure company in Costa Rica that is forming alliances with bike shops across the US to place itself as a solution to some of the post-pandemic issues all bike shops will likely face.
Owner of the Pacuare Outdoor Center POC in Costa Rica Tom Ranieri says, “It was hard to predict the bike boom until it was already happening leaving manufacturers scrambling to meet up with demand, but the next boom we think is a little more predictable and we are the manufacturer of it and are helping bike shops and other small businesses to be positioned to easily sell our product and make money or earn a much needed vacation for owners and their staff”.
The POC, who has been operating as one of the premier adventure outfitters and eco-lodges in Costa Rica for the last 18 years, thinks bike and outdoor retail will have to deal with two issues they will need to address post-pandemic.
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Taking a Vacation!!!
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Making a game plan to transition to people buying fewer bikes.
While the POC and all of the international travel industry were blindsided by the last 12 months of $0 revenue they have decided to plan for the future as if they were bike shops in late 2019. With the assumption that international travel will explode, the POC decided to look at businesses that were having the most success during the pandemic, thinking that these same businesses would see sales drop after the pandemic and need one of two things. They would need a vacation just to get away from it all and enjoy life for a bit or a way to keep the same clients spending in their stores even if it wasn’t on bikes.
This gave birth to the POC Costa Rica Adventure Affiliate Program, which most importantly is no extra work for small shop owners who don’t have the time to learn about or promote trips. A seamless affiliate program where all shops have to do is share a link on social, include a link in a newsletter, QR code at the shop, or invite their audience to POC’s monthly webinar. Any purchases made are accredited to the retail shops. The idea is to be positioned to earn a piece of the pie for the upcoming influx of international trips by doing nothing more than sharing a link, hanging up a sign, and then back to selling bikes..
The POC Affiliate program offers shops a chance to earn credit. With these credits, travel down to Costa Rica and hang out with POC and their crew on four different vacation options, including credit towards your airfare. Shop owners also have an option to receive cash at $300/trip booked.
The time is now and while the manufacturer couldn’t predict how many bikes they were going to have to make in 2020, the POC is taking a good guess at how many people will be traveling internationally and inviting bike and outdoor retailers to join in on the fun and solve some of your post-pandemic issues before they even happen.
For further information, please contact Tom Ranieri
tom@pacuareoutdoorcenter.com; CR +506 8719 1656
Pacuare Outdoor Center
Turrialba, Costa Rica
