COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BRAIN) — The National Bicycle Dealers Association's Profitability Project, better known as its P2 Program, is moving its monthly reporting to a real-time, web-based system.
Participating dealers can view the program's data at any time. And for P2 dealers who use Ascend's or Lightspeed's POS programs, the data needed for a P2 analysis loads automatically into the web platform, Retail Toolkit.
Kent Cranford, the NBDA's second vice chair, said the new system moves what had been a static Excel-like monthly report to the web where it is always reporting and is automated for Ascend and Lightspeed. Cranford owns two stores—Motion Makers Bicycle Shop in Asheville and Sylva, North Carolina.
"Even the folks who will still enter their numbers manually will get real-time stats instead of waiting for a report to be released," he said.
Jeff Selzer, general manager of Palo Alto Bicycles and a former NBDA board member, called the new system "amazing." It offers him and other P2 members a snapshot of how shops across the nation are dealing with growth, margin, labor and profit.
"Dealers are the boots on the ground and we need current data. This new system gives it to me. I can compare how I am stacking up next to anyone in my full group," he said.
Selzer was one of the P2's founding members. Now in its eleventh year, the program has been widely hailed as an effort to improve retail profitability among IBDs.
Brandee Lepak, the NBDA's chairwoman, said the new system is an example of how the dealer association is investing in the future. "This program has proven over the years its value to participating dealers. And it's an indication of the NBDA's commitment to IBD's," Lepak said.
Among the key features of the new program is its ability to offer participants a P2 Dashboard. That dashboard graphically illustrates labor sales as a percentage of total sales, bicycle sales as a percentage of total sales, gross margins on bicycles, average sales per transaction, sales growth and the growth in average transaction value.
The format is similar to that of groups in the automobile, motor sports, RV and camping industries. Each group is made up of non-competing dealers who meet to learn, compare, network, examine and analyze specific data from their business to improve operations and strategy. Each group meets twice a year in alternating member locations.
Currently, it costs participating dealers $3,000 in dues plus the cost of travel to meet with group members. "On average, I think I spend $4,000 to $5,000 a year on the program," Selzer said. "But for me, I can say I average between $10,000 and $20,000 worth of value from the group every year," he added.
For example, Selzer said an idea he got at one group meeting was a method to store bicycles; it gave him 30 percent more storage in the same space. That in turn allowed Selzer to expand his service department and generate more service dollars.
It was Noel Kegel and his late father, Chris Kegel, who created Retail Toolkit to help solve the challenges facing today's retailers—accurately forecasting sales, managing inventory and payroll. Kegel passed away in early 2017 from liver cancer. He had been an NBDA board member for more than a decade.
They developed the initial program in 2013 to help manage Wheel & Sprocket's multiple locations. As they improved the program other shops and industries—winter sports, outdoors and running—began using it. The NBDA later adopted the program as the basis for its P2 groups.
QBP is now helping to facilitate the NBDA's P2 program. This month Lori Richman, QBP's director of organization development, will meet with three P2 groups. Todd Cravens, QBP's director of national accounts, will provide consultation and support.
