Specialized Founder Mike Sinyard Blasts Amazon’s Price Check App

I see this as Sinyard trying to protect his way of doing business. They develop alot of concept based products and the concepts themselves which are fruitless without the backing of a human, preferably in a shop. Specialized is in a position in the market where they can make such “moral” claims. Its a shame that a large company like Bell Giro Easton are not. Sinyard is not the only one at the wheel with all of this, alot of people and companies have a stake in Specialized (ie: Merida).
Having worked for small and large bike shops, I can say that we are always trying to sell more than a piece of foam to strap on your head, or some new kicks to clip in with. We are selling our stores passion, community, and economic (buy local) beliefs (yes even the big ones). Although I am not always drinking the Specialized kool-aide that comes with every new idea, I respect that Sinyard and Specialized have the balls to bring up a topic that should be a concern to the entire industry.
I admit, Specialized is trying to have its foot in all parts of the cycling experience. But is it their fault they do some of those parts better than alot of other companies? I mean who knew those dorky looking seats back in the day would work for alot of the market. (I still prefer traditional) I think critics who feel like Specialized is limiting their selection are shopping at the wrong kind of shops. There has never been a time where a Specialized rep has discouraged me from selling similar products right next to theirs. Sometimes they loose, sometimes they win. Its called consumerism. Buy what works for you and if your shop cant provide by in stock items or ordered, then go somewhere else.
Change the type of store you shop at, or help change your current store to work for you better. Local Bike Shops love to sell you whatever you want.

@craigsj – well put… Agreed…. Amazon is just doing what Amazon was designed to do, collect markets. As for the bike industry, it needs to work together on all levels. Adding value is key! But, when a brand you sell in your store is decreasing the value of the product on your shelf by allowing it to be sold under what you pay for it online? That brand should be scolded by the LBS and those who support what we do. Its our way of adding to the *values* we sell.

I agree with Adam. When you go to your local cycling stores and pay MSRP, you’re supporting so that shop exists at that location. Most shops make little money, and they need that profit margin from MSRP to stay afloat. I just went by a shop near-by, and it’s in chapter 11. Unless you’reTyler/Marc&Co., most of us need these shops for repair services.

A knowledgeable bike shop staff adds a huge amount of value to a purchase because it helps a customer to buy the right thing on the first try. Some shoppers take a very shortsighted view of their purchasing decisions and see internet sales as a great way to save some money; in some cases, lots of money. The irony of the ‘bike shop abuser, internet purchaser’ practice is that if it continues, bike shops will disappear and cyclists who once thought they would save wads of money by testing in the store and buying online will have to buy two or three times in order to get the bike, clothing or repair part that actually works for them. All those savings? Gone. The long view reveals that a good bike shop employee will save you money because with their research and advice, the consumer minimizes the risk of buying the wrong thing and wasting money.
And lets not forget the saying, “membership has its privileges”. A customer that makes friends with and shows loyalty to a bike shop gets special attention and sometimes even a price break. On the other hand, renegade shoppers do not get these perks and bike shops quickly learn that such individuals are not worth their time and attention. Good business is a two-way street between retailer and consumer. Make it worth a retailer’s time to help you and a retailer will make it worth your money to support them.

This is just Specialized spinning stories to try and convince their shops to stop carrying a variety of products that compete with theirs. I guess this method is better than threatening price markups and withholding discounts for those who continue to carry a competitors product. Still makes him and the company look like an ass.

This, and any other barcode scanning app aren’t new, they’ve existed for years, since the rise of the modern smartphone. This isn’t Amazon targeting the cycling community like he tries to spin. It’s Amazon doing what they do best, offer products at often significantly cheaper prices, and they want to prove it to you.

It boggles my mind that so many big cycling names like Specialized think they can fight the rise of e-commerce and sell only through local stores and not lose ground to its accessory competitors. Only certain product markets really reinforce that model, and cycling isn’t one of them.

I have no sympathy for Specialized since they seem to be completely fine with asking $8000+ for a bike. That is price gouging loyal customers like myself.

Fine, if they want to play that game, then I’m going to vote with my wallet and price check the heck out of anything with the big S name on it. Sorry Specialized, internet has a way of keeping manufactures in check, and as a consumer, I’m going to exercise that right.

I bet everyone complaining about this practice will gladly buy shoes, clothes, appliances and electronics online after going to the local department store or mom and pop TV store. Get over yourself. In the end, all that matters in the amount of money in my checking account. If I can get something cheaper elsewhere, I am going to do it.

@craigsj has it quite right.

The consumer chooses what to buy and where to buy it and does so based on VALUE, price, range, service availability and a host of other factors including convenience, staff attitude (or lack of) etc etc. – Just like we all do.

Blaming the competition is the same as saying the competition did a better job at understanding the above.

Good shops will thrive – those taking a margin without adding enough value will rightly struggle.

Same goes for brands – Mike S take note.

Is it possible that the markups for items in the bicycling arena are to high? I’ve seen tights sold as “biking tights” without chamois have a price of 75 dollars. Than turned around, gone to the running area and seen similar tights sell for 35 dollars. “Technical riding jackets are made in varying quality so that companies can sell similar products with stepwise rising prices”. The materials may be nicer, but probably don’t warrant a difference of 100 dollars or more, and the often cited “research” on the cut and materials can’t cost that much.

Does Mike Sinyard feel like we shouldn’t shop around? This is akin to the music industry hating on digital music sales. Music sales are actually at an alltime high, only the producers of music were unable to innovate to control the digital market thus retailers like amazon and apple took a piece of their pie.

Like anything in business either adapt innovate or perish.

IMO, this was a very ignorant and hypocritical thing to do. If they feel so strongly about it why does Specialized do this very thing on their own website (example: http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProductList.jsp?sid=2011EquipTires26_Specials&pscid=1008&scid=1132)?? They’re constantly clearing out stuff that my LBS carries. I’ve never ordered anything from the Specialized site but it would make more sense for them to offere these deals to their LBS’s and pass some savings along to the customers.

Anyways, I buy quite a bit of my stuff online but the few LBS’s that I frequent can usually give me a fair deal on the items that I’m looking for especially when it comes to soft goods. There is great value in being able to try helmets and clothing as well as being able to touch the parts that your’e buying. I wouldn’t dare go into any shop, try something on then order it online.

Cant please everyone, Support your LBS. I know the bike shop has the tools for installs and repairs!

I like that most of the “Anti Specialized” people have ignored that you can typically haggle pricing at your LBS. The point of the letter is to let SHOP OWNERS know that this app is out (believe it or not, not everyone has a smart phone or internet), so they can do their best to help customers and retain the in store purchases which ultimately keep their business afloat.

Shopping around is fine, but when you look in the shop and buy solely online you are wasting the shops time, and essentially stealing from them. Doing so consistently will eventually mean they stop helping you as thoroughly, which can mean less informed purchases, and with enough people doing this constantly could mean closing of local shops, which in turn means you won’t be able to try before you buy or have your bike fixed.

I can definitely see this affecting the smaller, mom-and-pop style shops, especially in the smaller towns. I am sure most of you think “Who cares”, right? Well those shops going under means less competition for the bigger shops, which in turn means less competitive pricing all around, which means even your online store pricing goes up over time, because there will no longer be actual stores for the online shops to try to beat the pricing.

Also keep in mind when you install the parts wrong or break them on a ride and need to get the bike fixed, online stores won’t be able to do that for you.

And to the person whining about the $8,000+ dollar bike, LOTS of companies clear that cost. Specialized happens to make NUMEROUS bikes well under that price point. Stop acting like it is the only thing they offer. Do you complain to your friends about Ford having trucks for more than 25 grand? How about Mercedes for making a sedan that is over 40 grand? I mean they must be ridiculous considering you can buy a truck for under 20, and a sedan for under 15 grand that is well built, right? Everyone has different wants and needs, and Specialized does a damn good job accommodating people of nearly any financial situation. Just because you don’t need/want it doesn’t mean the world shouldn’t have it available. The high end stuff that comes out and is super spendy at first nearly always comes down in price over time. Look at DA Di2, quite expensive when released, and they had to custom build servo motors for it. Since then, Shimano managed to use generic servo motors and bring the price down, hence Ultegra Di2. Sure it weighs a little more, but the pricing is coming down. So those $8,000 dollar bikes of today will be the $3,000 dollar bikes of the future.

I’m still placing bets on which Big Bike Company (Trek/Cannondale/Specialized/Giant) is going to do DIRECT TO HOUSE sales of bikes from company site first.

Which one do you think? Who’s going to sabotage the middle man first?

@ dave, its pretty naive to think that you can haggle down an $8k bike, to what? 7k?. There are plenty of examples LBS advertising their supposed “clearance” prices still hovering at $6k, which is still insulting. Seriously, add up the cost of each component, even at retail price, and you wont even come close to $8k, thus = pure markup profit at the expense of the consumer.

Look at the rate at which bikes prices has inflated compared to the rate of income for your average middle income professional and you will see that Specialized is participating in anti-consumer behavior and the LBS is blindly accepting it as just doing business. Nice try.

And its BS that Specialized warranty is worth the extra $$. Look at the epic shock maintenance schedule, something like required service every 20 hours, which if you don’t prove that you took it to the LBS and have it serviced, SBC may VOID your warranty should you have issues. You can blow 20hours in one bike riding vacation.

I agree with halfwheel, the great thing about the internet is that it puts the knowledge base in the hands of the consumer is a good thing. There is definitely a HUGE markup going on here that the internet has allowed consumers to access and make that judgment for themselves if the price is fair market rate. Wah wah is right, too. I’m betting everyone commenting here purchase online, purchasing bike goods online is fair game, too.

So Dave, there are two sides to each story, please don’t drink the cool aid and do some critical thinking. Everyone has a right to purchase from who ever they want, online or not. Its not about right or wrong, but more choice and educating the consumer, ie fair market.

As for LBS, I love you guys but please get you head out of the 19th century and learn to compete in an internet world. Its here and if you think your service is reason enough to charge 20-50% markup, then, hey good luck with that. You are a dying breed, as many examples of other brick and mortar companies who ignore online competition.

Additionally everyone who thinks Mike is bashing Amazon is wrong, he is upset with brands that undercut shops and is telling everyone that he (Specialized) does not.

Amazon just facilitates it, but the real problem are the brands that form and rely on LBS to support them and then once large enough cheat the LBS by selling customer direct and competing with the dealers for sales.

Most industries that have products that require educated professionals have price floors. The sick thing in the cycling industry is that a brands require LBS to follow a MAP pricing schedule and dealer must charge certain prices to remain authorized dealers, then in the same breath of air sell direct for less and cheat the dealers out of the sales. Effectively the shop talks the product up, educated everyone and then the manufacture is sniping the sales by offering their products at a lower, but even more profitable price then what they sell to dealers. SICK SICK SICK Good on ya Mike!

Just my 2 cents.

the most pathetic group of cyclists are the “club/group” riders. they are overwhelmingly left-leaning, politically, and complain about sales tax.

moral of the story: most cyclists are hypocrits. focus on the customers who appreciate your existence.

One word for you all. GLOBALISATION. Although I agree it’s unfortunate to see LBS disappear it’s a sign of the times. Like it or not it’s here to stay. Take for example a Pinarello Dogma Frame here in Australia. US retail price is around $5000. Australian retail price is around $8000. Now take into consideration that the AUS dollar and the US dollar are generally of equal value (and often the AUS dollar is higher). Would you be happy to spend an extra $3000 for exactly the same thing?? That’s just an example but the same applies to all other brands here. I know economies of scale need to be taken into consideration but still……. I would never buy a bike/frame online but you get my point. No such thing as a national market anymore, it’s a global market.

Fortunately I live in an area with several excellent LBS’s that do a good job with their inventory and pricing. If they have what I need in stock, then I always buy from them rather than on-line. However, the area where almost all of them struggle is when I need something specific that they don’t have in stock… they can’t seem to break out of their standard “orders go in on Friday, we get it by the next Friday” routine…. which is fine if that’s how they want to run their business, but I’m not sitting on my duff for almost two weeks when I can have the part in a day or two and be back on the bike.

And as far as Specialized goes, as an LBS, if you buy in and sell out to Specialized hook, line and sinker, then I’m sure they’re great, but back in my bike shop days, I was on the other side of their soul-selling formula (twice even) and I’ll never buy another Specialized product, nor will I recommend them to anyone. I like my LBS’s to also be IBD’s and not soup-to-nuts “company stores” that push one brand, even if that brand doesn’t suit the customer for whatever reason.

specialized wrongly assumes that price is the only factor.

I think Specialized is working towards to franchise dealio, thinking that IBD can pop up to cover certain radius of customers, offering the same price on their stuff, like McDonalds. They can analyze others like Carl’s Jr and offer competitive prices, but that’s not the bike industry. Bike stuff is expensive, while fast food is not, so people will look to spend the least and learn to live without extra luxuries, as it’s already enough of a luxury to own such bike related stuff.

I figure it would be best to get them to use it more to make them feel it’s worth it. Invite them to do club stuff and use the local store as a “base camp” to prepare. Offer community discounts. The store should be the hub for the community of enthusiasts.

local bike builders charge too much for their garbage frames anyways MIKE