Rick Vosper
All articles by Rick Vosper
August 5, 2019
Last time, I proposed that bike and equipment companies can succeed and grow in a flat market by shifting focus from pushing units to winning — and keeping — customers; and that they can do this by offering a better customer experience, starting at the in-store level. The current installment unpacks that idea in a little more depth, including the question, "how do we pay for all this stuff?"
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
July 22, 2019
What will shake up a stagnant bicycle sales market? Retailers dedicated to improving customer service while building brand loyalty.
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
July 1, 2019
A deeper look into the Bike 3.0 model, the larger concept of market domination, and into Shimano specifically, perhaps the only truly dominant brand in the Bike 3.0 landscape.
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
June 17, 2019
We’re currently 10 — 15 years into the rise of what I’ve been calling Bike 3.0: a few large companies and retailers rising to market dominance, pushing competitors into marginal positions or out of business entirely. Has Bike 3.0 actually succeeded? And in any case, what comes next?
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
June 3, 2019
Suppliers see direct-to-consumer sales fulfilled through retailers as a way to turn more prospects into customers and to keep more of the profit dollars. Retailers see it as an end-run around themselves and their hard-earned margins. Are they both right? No, they're both wrong. And here's why.
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
May 20, 2019
Bro Deal culture is an integral part of bike culture and just as integral to the bike industry itself. In theory, it’s one of the things that keeps our culture and our industry alive. But in practice it’s also one of the things that holds it back.
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
May 6, 2019
As a new generation of competitors enters the once-profitable high-end carbon bike market, everybody’s going to get squeezed … although probably not the way you’re thinking.
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
April 22, 2019
New estimates show more than double the number of bike shops in the U.S. as previously thought. Here are the numbers behind those estimates, plus dealer share and what it all means for brands, retailers and, maybe, the future of the bicycle industry.
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
April 8, 2019
If competition among IBD, EBD and consumer-direct channels for e-bike dominance isn’t enough, there are two more looming market forces to consider. These have the potential to not just disrupt e-bike markets, but to turn the entire Bike 3.0 business model on its head.
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
March 25, 2019
In terms of e-bike units sold, the e-bike-only EBD channel is as big as the IBD. And they’re both growing.
Posted in Opinion/Analysis
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