BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Chicken Cycle-Kit
Nalini is one of the few firms still producing tailor-made garments within the trade and as such it should be on any high-end clothing specialists ‘check out’ list. The brand’s motif has appeared on the jerseys of champions for decades. Close to Montava in Italy, you will find the warehouses using some of the finest wool, silk, polyester and versatile modern day synthetic fibres.
The Bianchi Milano range is available as ex-stock throughout the year. A range of kid’s clothing is also listed in the Chicken Cycle-Kit catalogue for the first time.
The latest Nalini 70 collection has a wide lifestyle appeal and there is also a complete customised clothing service available for amateur teams and clubs.
Cedric Chicken of Chicken Cycle-Kit comments: “Dealers interested in ex-stock supplies of Nalini are more than welcome to experiment with the brand. Others, with more definite plans, can benefit from a ten per cent early order discount providing values in excess of £1,000 for a two-delivery drop order are pre-registered. There’s also a five per cent extra discount for a £600 order.”
Jet Black’s brand new turbo trainer range will be one of the highlights of the Chicken Cycle-Kit booth come January. The brand’s greatest appeal is the impressive margin for a product range of trainers not typically known for profitability.
Chicken Cycle-Kit will dedicate part of its booth to Sapim, highlighting its growing acceptance among mountain bikers. Sapim already supplies most of the big names in road wheel production with a substantial part of their spoke requirements. Hope has also decided to fit Sapim to some of its top-end wheels.
To have such a prominent and respected UK manufacturer fit Sapim is a clear indication of the growing importance of this Belgian spoke brand. Sapim works closely with Rigida and thus the Dutch and Belgian companies share a certain synergy – specialising in a high degree of manufacturing know-how. Sapim will willingly check out any OEM wheels laced with Sapim, in order to offer customers the best build available. Retailers can already benefit from the preferential terms offered for sets of Sapim spokes and Rigida rims.
Retailers should note that discount changes at Chicken Cycle-Kit mean that more dealers will achieve ‘Elite Status’ in 2010 following the reduction in the annual sales target from £25k to £20k of invoiced turnover. Many brands list product reductions in price, as Chicken becomes more competitive with an increasingly diverse portfolio.
Citrus-Lime
Following the company’s trade debut last year, Citrus-Lime is back at Core Bike and will be showing off its wares to the cycle industry – namely its integrated EPOS, e-commerce and stock control system.
Last year the company launched its workshop module, which calendars each job and tracks it from start to finish, records each part used and any labour extended and automatically emails or texts customers when the job is complete. Since then, the workshop module has been updated as part of Citrus-Lime’s commitment to continual development, with improvements made based on feedback from independent bike dealers and new features added in response to requests.
The firm will also demonstrate the Supplier Integration Module (SIM) for the first time at Core. The SIM brings up-to-date and accurate stock availability with pricing data from suppliers direct into dealers’ EPOS systems. The ability to have this data at the point of sale provides IBDs with a much easier way to take special orders, to update their pricing and to add new products to their stock file.
Demonstrations of the Supplier Integration Module as well as Citrus-Lime’s fully integrated EPOS and e-commerce system will be available at Core Bike.
Citrus-Lime MD Neil McQuillan tells BikeBiz that the firm has enlisted the help of the trade in putting the module together: “We have been talking to most of the main distributors about how we can integrate with their systems to provide IBDs, with the data they need and have made much progress. The ability to quickly find this data not only helps the IBDs but allows the disties to sell more product too.”
For more on the products and services on show at Core Bike 2010 click on the links below:
2pure and Buffera
Cordee and Extra
