Discount

[tyreon]

Forgive my naivety,I am looking to buy a product from a shop that may not offer discounts at shop,but seems to online. What to do? I can go to the shop try to purchase the product but be refused the reduction to come home and order the same product online to collect the product at the shop for the discounted price having given the simple discount code. No compris. What am I missing?

I don't want to undercut the retailers mark up price,but I also don't want to pay the full price when clearly it's available cheaper.

Should I just say to the retailer, these goods are available cheaper when ordered online and I will order them online to pick up at your shop later if you don't offer me the discount? I don't wish to appear too forward,but there's little point in being backward

[JohnW]

Forgive my naivety,I am looking to buy a product from a shop that may not offer discounts at shop,but seems to online. What to do? I can go to the shop try to purchase the product but be refused the reduction to come home and order the same product online to collect the product at the shop for the discounted price having given the simple discount code. No compris. What am I missing?

I don't want to undercut the retailers mark up price,but I also don't want to pay the full price when clearly it's available cheaper.

Should I just say to the retailer, these goods are available cheaper when ordered online and I will order them online to pick up at your shop later if you don't offer me the discount? I don't wish to appear too forward,but there's little point in being backward

I don't buy on-line - it's the quickest way to destroy our local bike shops.

I don't know which retailer you're referring to, but I have no trouble in this respect at my local Evans shop (in Leeds). I tell them what I've seen on their web-site, if they have it in stock I can buy it at the price advertised on their site. If they don't have it in stock, they order it for me, at the web-site price. Sometimes I find that showing my CTC card (presumably CUK cards will have the same effect) I get a further discount - I think it depends on whether the web-site price is an 'offer' price or not.

I quite like Evans incidentally - the assistants are always helpful and friendly - they don't all ride bikes though!

[Phil_Chadwick]

I don't buy on-line - it's the quickest way to destroy our local bike shops.

Which is nice if you have a local bike shop. My nearest one is about 30 miles away, so I rely on online availability of cycling bits. Clearly, that online presence can't be supported only by people who don't live in towns with bike shops.

i'd also say that physical chainstores like Halfords and Evans are different kettle of fish than the old LBS, like Woodrups, which I would pay a little over the odds to support if I had one local. I used to live just round the corner from one in Headingley many years ago, but I think I was his only sustaining customer, and after we moved away he closed down.

[Phil_Chadwick]

and in answer to the OP: if it's the same shop then I'd just be open and honest and say "look, I can buy this from you here or go home and get it on the internet cheaper; can you match the internet price?"

if it were not the same shop, then I would probably accept that the price over the counter of a real shop is a little higher than a purely onlne outfit can punt them out at, and just pay it.

[Annoying Twit]

I don't buy on-line - it's the quickest way to destroy our local bike shops.

I don't know which retailer you're referring to, but I have no trouble in this respect at my local Evans shop (in Leeds). I tell them what I've seen on their web-site, if they have it in stock I can buy it at the price advertised on their site. If they don't have it in stock, they order it for me, at the web-site price. Sometimes I find that showing my CTC card (presumably CUK cards will have the same effect) I get a further discount - I think it depends on whether the web-site price is an 'offer' price or not.

I quite like Evans incidentally - the assistants are always helpful and friendly - they don't all ride bikes though!

When Evans tried to sell me 2x Marathon Plus tyres for £84 total (!), and I demurred at the price, they did proactively tell me that they price-matched. If my phone's internet had been working (gee, thanks 3), I could have bought up the much cheaper Halfords price in store and bought it there. As it was I went back to work and printed the Halfords price.

That saved me a lot of money, as it was then £50 for the pair.

[tyreon]

It's as you have described,Phil. Good advice. I guess if you don't ask you won't be given. No use being shy .

[Heltor Chasca]

Cycle Surgery in Bristol price matched a pair of front Ortlieb panniers for me. No teeth sucking involved. Painless experience. I get half my enjoyment from the research I do when hunting for something I need. While I was in there, I remembered the price and the website so I was processed very quickly.

I don't use the same approach at my independent LBS. Chain retailers have absorption abilities that small retailers don't.

[ribblerouser]

Bought something for £60 online from Alfred's which was £70 in store . Picked it up from my local branch where they just picked one off the shelf when I went in. Also I went in on a different occasion for a tyre I'd seen advertised on their website and when I inquired about them they offered it me at the online price.

[Airsporter1st]

I don't buy on-line - it's the quickest way to destroy our local bike shops.

I don't know which retailer you're referring to, but I have no trouble in this respect at my local Evans shop (in Leeds). I tell them what I've seen on their web-site, if they have it in stock I can buy it at the price advertised on their site. If they don't have it in stock, they order it for me, at the web-site price. Sometimes I find that showing my CTC card (presumably CUK cards will have the same effect) I get a further discount - I think it depends on whether the web-site price is an 'offer' price or not.

I quite like Evans incidentally - the assistants are always helpful and friendly - they don't all ride bikes though!

When Evans tried to sell me 2x Marathon Plus tyres for £84 total (!), and I demurred at the price, they did proactively tell me that they price-matched. If my phone's internet had been working (gee, thanks 3), I could have bought up the much cheaper Halfords price in store and bought it there. As it was I went back to work and printed the Halfords price.

That saved me a lot of money, as it was then £50 for the pair.

I bought new pedals in Evans at the beginning of the year and the Sales guy, without any prompting from me, checked the online prices himself. Halfords were the cheapest and that was the price he charged.

[Psamathe]

I think LBS (and other retailers) have to find a business model that works.

One of my (good) LBS will happily fit parts you have purchased online and bring in to them. I found this when they did not have in-stock a part I needed for my bike service and they phones Shimano and it was out of stock and their next shipment was also all pre-ordered so I asked the shop if I could look online - and they said they were quite happy (I also asked about a few other upgrades and they were fine). They charge by the hour for fitting parts you bring-in. and they seem to be doing fine. So I guess they have found a business model that works with internet online pricing.

And I guess other retailers haven't.

Ian

[Sum]

It's as you have described,Phil. Good advice. I guess if you don't ask you won't be given. No use being shy .

+1

My LBS will offer their online prices in store if you have one of their loyalty cards freely available to anyone. Seems daft but the shop is prospering well so they must be doing something right.

[Postboxer]

You do have more rights to return when buying online, if you change your mind, compared to buying in store, then there's sites like topcashback and quidco, that may give you cashback that you might not get in store, making it even cheaper.

[landsurfer]

J E James cycles often have higher prices in the shop than on line.
But if you query the prices they will check and happily charge the lower price.

[TrevA]

J E James cycles often have higher prices in the shop than on line.

Halfords too. I ordered a pair of Conti Gatorskins, they were £23 online and £32 in store. Picked them up an hour after ordering.

[fastpedaller]

I think LBS (and other retailers) have to find a business model that works.

One of my (good) LBS will happily fit parts you have purchased online and bring in to them. I found this when they did not have in-stock a part I needed for my bike service and they phones Shimano and it was out of stock and their next shipment was also all pre-ordered so I asked the shop if I could look online - and they said they were quite happy (I also asked about a few other upgrades and they were fine). They charge by the hour for fitting parts you bring-in. and they seem to be doing fine. So I guess they have found a business model that works with internet online pricing.

And I guess other retailers haven't.

Ian

A pub near us advertises that customers are welcome to sit down and eat food they have bought elsewhere AS LONG AS THEY DO BUY A DRINK - it seems to have upped his sales considerably!