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But bike shops are not in a unique position of being undercut by Internet /forrins.
As a designer it was abundantly clear 5-8 years ago that competing on price just didn't work any more, you had to offer a compelling quality or customer service, or a mix of the two
branwen-
But bike shops are not in a unique position of being undercut by Internet /forrins.
This is true, but their pricing is essentially controlled by their distributors - if they want to sell discount 'dales online, it's unlikely CSG will let them do it.
The result is the same, they have to complete on something else. I agree. The problem is that something else is hard to pull off.
I'm not excusing them, I'm just saying I can understand how you could arrive where they are.
Howard
It's stupid to do it in front of customers, yes. I can see where they are coming from though - they can't match the prices of online EU sellers.
Given the context - that they couldn't have sold me the bike even if they wanted to - makes it more stupid.