What's the deal....are dealerships missing the boat?

[Boneman]

^^ Yeah the bike shops around here almost have more scooters than bikes on the show room floor! Easier 'walk in sales'.

 

[Hellgate]

I didn't read all seven pages of this and maybe another Texan post this already. In Texas there are still several old "Blue" Laws. One of which states an auto dealership must be closed on Sundays. Recently, last 10 years or so, the dealer can choose Saturday or Sunday.

Another silly blue law states that you can't buy beer or wine prior to 12:00 on a Sunday.

However on the Monday closed thing I don't get that one. Tradition I suppose. Maybe because many motorcycle dealership are small family owned operations and they want a weekend too?

 

[goker]

There was a comment about people buying things on the internet these days therefore it is hard for the local shops make money these days. Well guess what? I started doing just that "because" hours of operation on most bike shops are outside of times I can get to them. Yes, you will have many people looking around and not buying on Sundays, but, that is true in "any" retail business. You will have people looking and not buying on any given day. As much as one might want to make MC business something else, it is NOT. It is a "RETAIL" business. So, unless, you wake up and smell the coffee, you WILL lose even more business to internet shopping. From what I can tell, most people in this discussion believe not being open on Sundays (unless prohibited by law) is behind ridicules. Perhaps you can get a clue on that one.

I work fairly crazy hours (including weekends) and still have family time, so unless you work 8-5, you can't have family life or other things is total .....

People may not “like” working on weekends, but when it comes right down to it, there is “always” somebody who would like to (or need to) do it. So, it is a pretty bad generalization that it is “impossible” to find somebody who would work on weekends.

When it comes right down to it, if you want to build a business and make money, you need to alter your work environment to match what will be best for the that business. Do you think I like working in the middle of the night or in stretches that only allows me to sleep hour or two here or there? No, but, I am in type of work that requires it and “because” I do that, I make pretty good living. It is not I (or others in this forum) who are “whining,” it is you (who are in MC business one way or the other) are “whining” because you cannot seem to get yourself in to what public demands and you talk about “losing business” to the internet or complain about people not buying things.

HEELLOOO!!!!!

 

[Bruce McCrary]

Harley is laying off people and shutting down production.

And yet Harley has required it's dealerships to be open on Sundays for more than 10 years now...

Bruce

 

[Bruce McCrary]

As much as one might want to make MC business something else, it is NOT. It is a "RETAIL" business.

Welllllll... Yes and no.

The same generality and wide scope point of view could be used to compare it to the automotive industry, and in fact most people do, but it really isn't.

We are certainly "retail" because we sell goods and services for profit (*cough*cough*) but there is no way you can compare a motorcycle dealership to say a clothing store, or hardware store. These are completely different businesses.

If someone really feels the need to sub-categorize the powersports industry it would have to lumped into the same one as boat and marine dealers, RV dealers or maybe even exotic cars.

Wants not needs bought with discretionary income for pleasure and entertainment.

So, unless, you wake up and smell the coffee, you WILL lose even more business to Internet shopping. From what I can tell, most people in this discussion believe not being open on Sundays (unless prohibited by law) is behind ridicules. Perhaps you can get a clue on that one.

Good Lord... Internet sales aren't really costing the industry any business. Who do you think owns the web sites? Dealerships and independent shops. I don't know of any, not one distributor, wholesaler or manufacturer that will knowingly supply someone that is an Internet only business with any product. Part of the requirements to do business with any reputable supplier is having a store front and doing business with walk in customers. Oh sure, you get those that sneak through the cracks, but they are eventually found out about and shut down. Also, keep in mind that if you buy any O.E.M. hard parts or accessories they absolutely came through a dealership at one point. Part of the franchise agreements are that the factories only sell to authorized dealerships. There will always be those that prefer to sit at home in their underwear eating Cheeto's while they shop for motorcycle parts. We know that. Please, feel free to visit ours and we'll be glad to help you in any way we can.

When it comes right down to it, if you want to build a business and make money, you need to alter your work environment to match what will be best for the that business.

BINGO! EXACTLY! Now that you've said it, isn't it just the slightest bit possible that whatever shop you could be referring to has already done that and has determined that IT WOULDN'T BE PROFITABLE TO BE OPEN ON A GIVEN DAY OF THE WEEK???????? And when exactly did wanting to take care of and be good to your employees become a bad thing????

Do you think I like working in the middle of the night or in stretches that only allows me to sleep hour or two here or there? No, but, I am in type of work that requires it and “because” I do that, I make pretty good living. It is not I (or others in this forum) who are “whining,” it is you (who are in MC business one way or the other) are “whining” because you cannot seem to get yourself in to what public demands and you talk about “losing business” to the Internet or complain about people not buying things.

HEELLOOO!!!!!

I hear ya. As my son mentioned I'm at the shop at least a half hour before opening time (and gladly let customers in when/if they are there) and never get away much before 7:00 pm during the week and 4:00 on Saturdays. This past Saturday we didn't leave until 4:30ish because as we were locking the doors a guy drove up and needed something, so we opened back up to get him what he needed/wanted. But I didn't mind, the guy was great to deal with and we even swapped some information on places to ride.

Does that sound to you like I'm not getting a whiff of the coffee?

Look, I'm one of the biggest fans of this industry, I can't imagine doing anything else. I love it so much that I took over a $10K a year pay cut, as well as company supplied (or the ability to purchase through) health insurance, retirement and lost a lot of paid time off. As much as I love it, I'm also one of it's biggest critics. We could be doing some things differently, and we could be doing some things better. But c'mon guys... This whole thing is getting blown way out of proportion. You're assuming that we're all idiots and that the answer to all of our problems is for every motorcycle shop and dealership to simply open up on Sunday. Have you really stopped to read and think about what you're writing here? This is so ridiculous it's laughable.

Do you not think that as business owners who have literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars invested and need a return on that investment they don't constantly evaluate what would be best course of action to do that? I can tell you with almost absolute certainty that in our case if we opened on Sunday we would loose money. We've done traffic counts on the road we're on and surrounding roadways, we've set up our security cameras to monitor traffic while not there, and most importantly we've asked our core customers what they thought and have decided that it is not in out best interest.

Could it be that others have done the same thing?

The problems and challenges the industry faces right now are far bigger and more in depth than simply being open on Sunday folks. Let's talk about how we have to take almost 20 credit apps before we get one that will fly. Or that damn lead law. Or how the sport is losing riding areas and how towns are all but banning motorcycle traffic.

In the grand scheme of things this is really kinda silly...

Bruce

 

[DaveOTZ]

I too did not Dredge through all 7 pages...

But, really just because people feel it necessary to do 5 days work in 6 days it is no reason to tell a dealer that is getting by (probably better) staying closed on Sundays, so be it...

We live in a capitalistic society, let the market decide, don't shop there, boycott the shops...

If they are truly missing the boat then let them fall by the wayside, looks to me they are doing fine...

If I want my tuchas kissed Ill go to TGIFridays... Let people have their Sunday

 

[goker]

If someone really feels the need to sub-categorize the powersports industry it would have to lumped into the same one as boat and marine dealers, RV dealers or maybe even exotic cars.

Well, yes, MC industry may be compared to boat and marine dealers. Yes, it may be more of an hobby than anything else, but, around where I am, marine stores do not close on weekends, in fact, in the height of the season they have longer hours and are open both on Saturday and Sunday. How do I know this, sailing is one of my other hobbies and I happen to own a boat. Only marine businesses I do regular business "are" the ones who accommodate "my" schedule which happens to be same as many others around here. Others, come and go and are not successful. You may own a business, but, I bet, you do the same thing when you are "buying" from somebody. Do you run after people just to get them to sell you anything? I seriously doubt it. Why are you expecting everybody else to run after you to buy things? ("You" is not necessarily Bruce here those of you reading this, it is anybody who assumes people will chase after them to buy things). Which brings me to.....

Good Lord... Internet sales aren't really costing the industry any business. Who do you think owns the web sites? Dealerships and independent shops.

I know that. I was not talking about MC industry as a whole, I was talking about whiners around here who does NOT want to compete globally and complain about not having customers in their stores because people are buying stuff from distant dealers on the internet. I have no problem supporting my local shops, but they need to do something in return like make it convenient for me to shop there. And picking up from above... Internet made it so that consumers now have many many choices, so it makes no sense to "assume" people will walk into your store to buy things when you do not do anything for them. And those shops who happen to run the these sites are not selling these items more in the store than they do on the internet. Which goes back to another comment someone made earlier about people coming into the store to try out things and they go and buy it on the internet. Why should they not? This is now a global business, and you need to treat is as such. So if you don't want people to do that, price your items accordingly. Personally, I like to go look, touch, feel and buy. So even if I have to pay little extra sometimes, I don't go back and order on the internet when I find something I want to buy. There are others out there like me, but very few businesses to support customers like me. For example, I paid $20 extra for my helmet than what I could have gotten on the internet. Why? Because I wanted to just pick it up and go home and extra amount was just not worth the wait for me.

I hear ya. As my son mentioned I'm at the shop at least a half hour before opening time (and gladly let customers in when/if they are there) and never get away much before 7:00 pm during the week and 4:00 on Saturdays. This past Saturday we didn't leave until 4:30ish because as we were locking the doors a guy drove up and needed something, so we opened back up to get him what he needed/wanted. But I didn't mind, the guy was great to deal with and we even swapped some information on places to ride.

Good for you. Believe or not, only local store I do business these days is somebody with your attitude. He stayed open extra time just so that I could drop my bike off there for a service because he knew I could not make it there during his "usual" hours. Unfortunately, he is not big enough for me to be able to get everything from him, and I understand that he is not big enough at the moment to handle longer hours and hire more people at the moment so we work out things. But, he is doing what is necessary to build his business and many of my friends now go there because he accommodates our crazy schedules. I think main reason that brought up this issue is not small shops that are just getting off the ground who obviously can only do so much, but bigger dealers who have the staff already and "we are going riding on Sunday" for them is a pretty bogus excuse.

Do you not think that as business owners who have literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars invested and need a return on that investment they don't constantly evaluate what would be best course of action to do that? I can tell you with almost absolute certainty that in our case if we opened on Sunday we would loose money. We've done traffic counts on the road we're on and surrounding roadways, we've set up our security cameras to monitor traffic while not there, and most importantly we've asked our core customers what they thought and have decided that it is not in out best interest.

I am glad you bring this up. I don't think anybody here saying opening Sundays at "every" location is something that should be done. But, as you can see from many who posted here, majority of the consumers (your customers) would like their local shops to be little more consumer time frame friendly. If you have done that study and found that your customer base does not require you to change your hours, that is fine, good for you. I seriously doubt any of them said anything in this posting because they are fine unless you did this survey several years ago which may different for them. But, there are parts of the country, "not open on Sunday" makes no sense and I happen to live at one of those locations. I am guessing Boneman feels the same way as many others here who is saying "what's up with that?" Hopefully, there are few other MC businesses out there who are reading this and perhaps will reevaluate their positions on this subject.

Could it be that others have done the same thing?

Certainly, nobody around where I live. If they did, they did it many years ago when dynamics of the society was much different or asked to wrong people. It is time to reevaluate.

The problems and challenges the industry faces right now are far bigger and more in depth than simply being open on Sunday folks. Let's talk about how we have to take almost 20 credit apps before we get one that will fly. Or that damn lead law. Or how the sport is losing riding areas and how towns are all but banning motorcycle traffic.

These are all the more reasons for MC industry to start being little more consumer friendly for those locations where they are not. How are you expecting to increase ridership if you make it unfriendly for your customers to own the thing?
Again Bruce, I am not saying "you" are in this category. You seem to look at the things more open minded which is very good and seem to care about your customers which is very very good. I wish you were close enough for me to do business at your shop.

 

[Bruce McCrary]

I'm soooo bad...

Couldn't resist resurrecting this thread with a picture of the hours of operation sign on our window.

The thing is, it's true!

Bruce