ALLENTOWN, Pa (BRAIN) – The IBD industry has been fretting for years about why many consumers are choosing to buy bikes online. Industry research group Gluskin Townley Group, LLC, is turning that concern on its head and looking at why some consumers still continue to buy from brick-and-mortar stores, including IBDs.
"All of the bigger world consumer research that we have reviewed clearly indicates that despite all the emerging technology and connectivity, stores are not going away," said Elliot Gluskin, managing partner of The Gluskin Townley Group. "There will be changes, but American consumers will still want to visit brick-and-mortar stores, including bike shops. The problem is ... we no longer know why."
"American consumers will still want to visit brick-and-mortar stores, including bike shops. The problem is ... we no longer know why" — Elliot Gluskin
This month, Gluskin Townley is surveying its American Bicyclist consumer panel to ask why some bike buyers continue to buy from stores. The Consumer Path to Purchase Bicycle Research Study will have results by June.
"The retail research community and specifically the U.S. bicycle business is now facing the question of what brick-and-mortar stores, including bike shops can do to become more relevant to American consumers and shoppers," Gluskin said.
"We will ask our American Bicyclist consumer panel of adults if they shopped for a new or used bicycle during the past year, if they made a purchase or not, and all the good and not-so-good touch points, people and places they asked for information and advice along their path to purchase, and why they ended up buying a bicycle from a particular retail channel – or not," Gluskin said.
The questions are being distributed to a panel of U.S. consumers managed by Toluna, one of the largest and most prestigious panel research companies in the country. This is the same panel of U.S. consumers used for the Gluskin Townley's American Bicyclist Study. All responses will be verified as coming from U.S. adults who owned a bicycle purchased either new or used and U.S. adults who considered but did not purchase a new or used bike.
Toluna will clean up the data and entire it into a database that will be delivered to Gluskin Townley Group. After review, Gluskin Townley will forward the database to Sports Marketing Surveys, a global research company, which will conduct statistical segmentation and market sizing analyses.
More information is available by emailing Elliot Gluskin at elliot@gluskintownleygroup.com or Jay Townley at jay@gluskintownleygroup.com.
