Specialized ‘Ship to Home’ option is now live, plus more consumer-direct sales details!

Curious to hear from any Specialized dealers here. So far the feedback about this move is very-very negative.

Al they need are some bikes to sell and they are on to a winner!

Truth is, most bike shops will be going the way of record shops before this decade is up. Direct to consumer will continue to grow. That said, there will still be some brick-and-mortar (and guy-with-a-van) businesses providing bike maintenance, and maybe some bike fitting. Everything else will be moving fully online.

This would be fine if consumers saw a discounted price. Sure, it costs specialized money to assemble the bikes but at the end of the day they just get all the margin the bike shop had. Over the decades, bike shop margin has gotten smaller and smaller, but this is the final kick in the face. At least with canyon, the consumers get a win for the value and bang for buck they offer. But this is a lose for everyone except specialized. Tired of the big S. I’ve ridden my sworks epic for 5 years, loved it and thought about grabbing an evo this year but I’ll be looking elsewhere.

I suspect that this is a power-play by Specialized to disrupt the current state of the market, to move the sales-needle in their favor. Trek has been buying up IBD’s for a number of years that are so underwater in debt to them, they can’t hope to get their numbers back into the black. Trek buys the store, absolves the retailer of debt, and removes the competition from the store’s product assortment. Specialized has also been buying up IBD’s, but Trek has had a longer head-start.

With the supply chain shortages caused by the pandemic, Trek has been making offers to purchase stores who are doing well (not just in debt), and with those supply chain shortages in full-effect, a number of retailers have been jumping at the chance to “get out while they can”.

Trek purchased a large, multi-store retailer in Texas late last year (and obv removed Specialized from those shops). Specialized lost a HUGE market in a major metro-area with that acquisition.
Someone else mentioned the Mike’s Bikes purchase by Pon. Mike’s was the largest distributor of Specialized in Northern California. Pon also just purchased Cannondale (you can see where this is going). It’s not hard to see that with another sizable market loss, Specialized has to do something to positively affect their market-share.

IBD acquisitions by large bike brands is going to continue. The retail landscape has has been shifting drastically in the last 10 years, and was accelerated by the pandemic. Bicycle retailing is a business, and business is volatile. Successful retailers will find ways to adapt.

Well despite them being our shop’s #1 brand for 30 years, Specialized has just dropped entirely. Their lofty PR crafted words disguise the undercutting of their local bike shops’ existence. This is ironic in that shops have suffered with super high demands from them in the past to remain as dealers. Then this.
Re: warranties. Many readers do not understand that bike dealers, unlike the automobile industry, are not compensated at all for time spent processing warranties nor repair labor. The manufacturer supplies the part in question, but shops eat any labor. (There are very few small exceptions like recall items and burned out e0bike motors.) Is it a surprise that dealers are not happy to process a warranty on a product they did not sell?
There are other brands out there who will benefit from Specialized’s move. Life goes on, with you or without you.

It might be OK for experienced customers who can examine a geometry chart and figure out if a bike they have never ridden will fit, but not so good for first time customers. Have seen a few Canyon bikes for sale because the owner picked the wrong frame size. Not a great way to introduce a brand to a new cyclist.

Trek and Specialized are buying large dealers in metro areas. My LBS in North Dallas told me that they will not be able to order a specialized fuse due to direct to consumer along with supply chain problems. They had to refund my deposit.