SAN JOSE, Calif. (BRAIN) — Bicycle Blue Book has added a new feature that sends leads to participating retailers, generated from online shoppers who use the retailer's website to check their old bike's trade-in value and consider potential new bike purchase.
The system now generates a real-time sales lead letting the retailer know what new bicycle the shopper is interested in purchasing along with the bicycle they have to trade-in.
"Lead gen is a powerful tool for our partner network that converts prequalified online shoppers into physical store visits resulting in new bike sales. All leads belong to the facilitating retailer and are a value-added benefit to our trade-in program, reinforcing our core mission of supporting IBD and manufacturer new bike sales at a higher AUP while keeping 100% of the trade-in amount in our partner's store," said Chris McLaren, chief business development officer at Bicycle Blue Book. "In 2019, our network is averaging a 4x return on trade. Based on our average trade-in amount, this translates into an average new bicycle sale price of $2,620, which is 216% higher than the current specialty retail average of $830. This combined with 70% of our program's trade-in inventory being less than three years old, means we are significantly shortening the consumer purchasing cycle while increasing the AUP. This translates into real growth for the cycling industry as a whole."
The lead generation tool is available for all retailers who integrate the Bicycle Blue Book Trade-in page on their website. Retailers who use SmartEtailing also now have access to a turnkey expanded function that exposes trade-in value across the website catalog of bicycle product pages, which the company said encourages more active trade-in inquiry.
Ryan Atkinson, the president of SmartEtailing, said, "Retailers tell me that trade ins are an essential tool for closing bike sales
"I want our clients' websites to be a one-stop shop for consumers. With this integration, consumers are able to seamlessly go from shopping for a bike to evaluating their trade in. What we like about this Bicycle Blue Book enhancement is that it bridges the gap between the online space and a local sales person. It is a great way to get contact information from qualified leads on their website."
The lead generation tool and SmartEtailing valuation page are currently available on all partner sites. The SmartEtailing catalog integration is in the final phase of testing and retailers will be presented with the option to opt-in soon.
