BLOOMINGTON, MN (BRAIN)—Results from a Quality Bicycle Products poll showed dealers are split on Interbike’s decision to move the tradeshow to Anaheim in early August.
QBP polled dealers on its password-protected dealer Web site the week of Interbike and the week prior to the show.
About 31 percent of QBP dealers were happy about the move to Anaheim, while 35 percent said they didn’t care and 33 percent said they preferred Las Vegas, according to its poll, which received 1,103 votes.
But when it came to the dates, dealers weren’t as evenly split. The majority, or 58.5 percent, said they won’t go to Interbike because they don’t want to leave their shop in August. Only 13.7 percent said the move was good or perfect, while 9.5 percent said it doesn’t make much of a difference. The remaining 18.2 percent indicated that August was a bit early. The August dates poll drew 914 votes during the week of Sept. 18 to 26.
QBP regularly conducts weekly online polls of its dealers on different topics, according to Todd Cravens, director of sales and customer service for the industry’s largest distributor.
“We just wanted to get down to what our customers thought of the change,” Cravens said. “That drives our behavior. If they say they’re going to be there, then we have to be there. But we need to listen carefully.”
Cravens did point out, however, that many dealers have indicated they didn’t go to the show this year—53.2 percent—according to an online poll that expires later this week.
Meanwhile, Lickton’s Supply Corporation, an Oak Park, Illinois, distributor of bicycles and parts, administered a poll the final day of the Interbike show, according to Bob Lickton, the company’s chief executive officer.
Out of the 156 exhibitors who responded by noon, 142 were in favor of staying in Las Vegas, Lickton said in a letter to Bicycle Retailer & Industry News. Lickton, who voiced his opposition of the 2011 show dates and location in the letter, is drumming up support for Las Vegas and later dates from suppliers who exhibit at the show.
--Lynette Carpiet
lcarpiet@bicycleretailer.com
