grant i don't lament the changes i cited. i'm just an observer. i don't think the industry lives in a vacuem. actually, all the changes have served to improve the quality in bicycles at all levels. i'm not a detractor. i'm all for this stuff!
e-RICHIE 'just back from a 2 hour-er
On Sun, 09 Feb 2003 15:28:39 -0500 Grant McLean
<Grant.McLean@SportingLife.ca> writes:
> e-RICHIE wrote in part;
>
> "more than ever before, the bicycle industry is now part of the
> sporting goods industry. it mimics the packaging, the synergy, the
> glitter,the merchandising , etcetera of the ski biz, the running
> shoe biz,
> the name-your-fav-high-profile-sport biz. imho, the way some of the
> major firms promote their bicycles, you'd think they'd (the
> bicycles)
> pedal by themselves. that take some big balls! perhaps this is
> attributable to the tennis market's 'influence'."
>
> Richie,
> Will the "bicycle industry" ever wake up to the fact that the
> "bicycle
> industry"
> has always been the same as every other industry? It just shows how
> far out
>
> of step the bike biz is with reality to think different rules apply
> to them.
>
> As a buyer in the "sporting goods" industry, who has purchased at
> least 100
> million
> dollars of sporting goods in the past ten years, I'll finally expose
> my
> secret formula:
> We buy what sells. The consumer, whether conscious or not, is
> always the
> most powerful
> influence on any industry. Yes, we buyers consciously try to get
> people to
> buy certain
> things over other ones for our/their own good, but in the end, it's
> the
> billions of choices
> made by the consumer that change things, for good or bad. The
> "industry" is
> powerless
> to prevent this, the rules are set.
>
> The difference I see today is the customer. The golden rule today
> for
> selling anything
> is "game improvement". Golf clubs to tennis racquets, to bikes,
> everyone
> wants to buy
> their way to greatness. Why spend time you don't have at the
> driving range,
> learning to
> smooth out your swing, just buy better clubs!
>
>
>
>
> Grant McLean
> Toronto.Ca
>
> O \O/
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