A version of this story ran in the October issue of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News.
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. (BRAIN) — Saddle.ai is a platform that lets bike owners track their rides, set maintenance schedules, book service appointments, and even set boundaries for kids rides.
For bike retailers, the platform includes retail operations features including service scheduling and zero-cost payment processing. More importantly, it is meant to provide something akin to an AI-augmented digital salesperson that suggests tailored upsell options and service visits to customers. The platform can also use customer base habits to inform retail stocking decisions.
The startup was founded by Ben Menahem, who worked in the venture capital industry before getting bike retail exposure in his father’s shops during the COVID pandemic. Besides being a shop owner, Menahem’s father, David, is the founder of the Phat Cycles bike brand, which he sold to ASI in 2015. Ben’s uncle, David’s brother, was industry legend Ben Lawee, the founder of the Univega brand. Lawee died in 2002.
Working in bike retail during the COVID boom — and bust — Menahem saw the challenges facing the industry.
“I think every single store owner will tell you it comes down to two issues now: One, no one is coming into our stores, and two, if they do come in, our employees are having a tough time selling to them,” Menahem told BRAIN.
Menahem feels the challenges run counter to the industry’s strengths. “We are now witnessing the most health-conscious generation in history. The gyms are full, the Pilates classes are full. So what is happening in the cycling space that we’re not keeping up?”
Ai ABC?
He says the solution lies in creating “the perfect salesman.” No, Saddle doesn’t offer a robotic Alec Baldwin who’ll Always Be Closing until he replaces all the industry’s showroom pros. Instead Menahem said Saddle’s digital tools “help mesh the best of e-commerce with the retail, in-person platform. Because even if we look 100 years down the road, you’re still going to need repair and locations and mechanics that actually have a deep understanding and knowledge of the space.”
Saddle is designed to integrate with cycling applications including Strava and use available data and AI to create detailed customer profiles. The app then sends smart notifications to spur sales and service at participating shops.
“We are able to predict their needs, optimize the timing and personalize it to the extreme. And over time it just gets better and better,” he said.
The smart notifications are especially effective, he said, because the platform has its own frictionless payment system to reduce purchasing resistance. “There’s no card, no cash. Just a yes or no button on your phone,” he said.
He envisions the platform as something of a trusted marketplace for consumers — a bit like Uber Eats, delivering bike sales and service, instead of pizza and burritos, from multiple locations. “The biggest issue that consumers have with bike shops is lack of trust. What we’re trying to do is have a platform that’s holding both sides accountable.
“So a general consumer comes in and doesn’t know if it’s time to overhaul their drivetrain. By providing them with an application that is tracking their riding, it’s shows them the proof in the data. So the shop says, ‘here’s the data, from a trusted third-party source that’s not owned by us, not owned by the (bike) brand’ … People are no longer using Papa John’s delivery direct, right? They are using Uber Eats.”
The platform recently announced an agreement with the National Bicycle Dealers Association that provides three years of free service and a lifetime discount to the first 100 NBDA members who sign up.
