With over 60 years’ experience in the bike business, Jay Townley has seen decades of change happen in the industry. Speaking on our Better Connected webinar recently, he reflected on a past where shop owners and supplier reps had the kind of relationship that built businesses and served communities.
Jay told us rep visits used to be something bike dealers could set their watches by, and now they’re practically a thing of the past. It’s a huge loss to the industry and it’s affecting how and what bike shops buy.
Reps used to be a bike shop’s best advisor
Like Jay, some of you may also remember a time when your regular rep turned up on the same week every month like clockwork. For those who don’t, imagine having consistent access to a familiar face who took the time to really get to know your business, understood your customers, and knew as well as you did what sold and what didn’t last season.
The result of this was a trusted advisor that was just as likely to talk you out of a bad buy as to talk you into a good one. In more recent years, this relationship has declined (due to fewer resources and increasing time constraints), and the quality of the conversation has suffered, becoming more transactional than it’s ever been before.
We’ve become a much more transactional business today than we ever were, and it’s not good for the retailer, it’s not good for the business.
Jay Townley
Ultimately, this has completely shifted the way buying decisions get made in bike shops today. If supplier-retailer conversations aren’t driving decision-making, something else needs to fill the knowledge gap.
Jay’s answer? Data.
What changed supply conversations for independent bike dealers?
The conversations didn’t disappear overnight; it was more of a gradual fade. Timelines got tighter and what used to be a two-hour conversation became (more often than not) a phone call or an email. The substance of the chat whittled down to what do you want, and how many.
Lost along the way is the richness and depth of observation gathered as the rep moved store to store along their route. They could confidently tell you, “Don’t buy this one, it won’t move for you”, because they’d have an anecdote from a similar store that they’d seen struggle to shift units. It was a free second opinion, from someone you could trust.
Take that away, and what’s left? When you don’t know what to say no to, things start to drift. Multiply that across the industry, and the inventory backlog that’s been building since the pandemic keeps growing.
What replaces advice from reps
The old model isn’t returning, so bike shops need to find new sources to aid judgment. Those details that lived inside your rep’s head also exist in your store’s systems, but whether you can get to them and interpret the data is another matter entirely.
The information needed is right there: what items sold, at what margins, which colorways were popular, what didn’t move. And you may think you instinctively have a good idea of this without digging into the details, but the details matter more than you realize. According to the National Bicycle Dealers Association’s 2025 Cost of Doing Business Study, gross margins are not spread evenly across categories.
Industry-wide, gross margin on complete bikes sits around 32 percent, compared to nearly 46 percent on parts and accessories (e-bikes are the weakest category at 28 percent, and used bikes the strongest at 47). Two shops with similar inventories on the surface can have very different years depending on the category split of their order.
In the old supplier-retailer model, a rep who knew your shop would have factored these margins into their advice. You can do the same with your own sales data, as long as you look at margin by category and not just units moved. This is the level of detail that should stop an order before it’s placed.
Becoming a data-driven bike dealer
None of this means gut instinct disappears. Your years of experience still count, and always will. But don’t underestimate the power of a second opinion, even if it’s not coming from an honest chat over a cup of coffee with your favorite rep.
Jay was specific about where that second opinion comes from now: a good POS system, checked daily, with reports that are detailed enough that you can sit down and compare one item against another. As he put it, “the most instructive and best tool you can have is, let me show you the data.”
Before your next reorder, dig into your sales history and see if it can answer the following:
- What is your sell-through rate on your last three restocks in this category?
- What margin did this category return last season, not just how many units moved?
- Could you easily compare one item against another and know which one to leave off the next order sheet?
If getting to these answers is tricky, your retail systems may be holding you back. Find out how our bike shop POS solution can help you run a better-connected cycling business today.
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FAQs
What is sell-through rate and why does it matter for bike shops?
Sell-through rate is the percentage of stock sold within a given period compared to what was received. It matters because it’s the clearest signal of whether an item is worth reordering, the same judgment a sales rep used to offer based on how similar products performed elsewhere.
How can independent bike shops make better buying decisions without advice from their suppliers?
By treating existing POS and sales history as the source of that judgment, rather than as a record to check after the fact. Reviewing sell-through and margin by category before placing an order replicates the second opinion a rep used to provide.
What POS data should bike shops track to avoid overstocking?
Sell-through rate by category and SKU, how quickly similar items moved in past seasons, which reorders underperformed, and the margin each category actually returns. Together, these show whether an item is likely to move, and if it’s worth moving, before the order is placed.
What should I look for in a POS system for making buying decisions?
Look for reporting that surfaces sell-through and margin by category without extra digging, ideally daily rather than at season’s end. That’s the level of detail a good rep used to bring to the table, and it’s what Citrus-Lime’s reporting is built to put in front of you at the point of order.
