BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Fisher is to launch a pioneering new Home Delivery Service exclusively for the specialist IBD.
The scheme will allow independent bicycle dealers to order any item from Fishers’ extensive product portfolio for next day delivery direct to the end consumer.
Crucially, the Home Delivery Service will enable an IBD to offer consumers extended ranges from across the Fisher portfolio without taking on the inventory risk – if a consumer wants something the IBD doesn’t have in stock they can chose to have it delivered next day to an address of their choice, or even select a Saturday delivery slot.
James Browning, Fisher CEO, explained: “The cycling marketing is continuing to grow, attracting more competition and becoming more sophisticated. This puts pressures on margins for brands, distributors and retailers.
"Each player needs to add more and more value and each sales channel will have different opportunities. We see the need for brands to exist in all sales channels and we recognise we have to offer more value than just logistics and fulfilment, both to our customers and the brands we represent. This is why we are rolling out a series of initiatives which enable our brands to exist in all channels.
"Home delivery is another service which enables independent dealers to offer consumers a wide range of products and choice in store with the convenience of shopping online whilst at minimal risk to the dealer. We think giving IBDs the ability to offer next day delivery to a consumer’s address of their choice across over 7,000 stocked lines is a great tool which will allow our dealers to convert more sales in store.”
Fisher said that supporting the IBD is at the very heart of its strategy and the Home Delivery service is "yet further evidence [we] are working hard to recognise the important role independent specialists play in connecting brands with consumers".
Recent initiatives from Fisher designed to help IBDs compete fairly with increasingly competitive online retailers including the Rockshox, Tacx and Zipp margin support programs, the SRAM and Campagnolo groupset builder and the new unique customer pricing EPOS feed. Next around the corner is functionality to allow dealers to pay their bills on-line, a Euro B2B site for Irish customers and online returns, the firm revealed.
Browning added: "These are exciting times at Fisher and there is clear evidence that IBDs are rewarding our efforts with ever greater shares of their buying budgets, we expect to add 2-3 more prestige brands to our portfolio in the coming weeks and we’re continuing to recruit account managers and product managers into the business.”
Fisher’s Home Delivery service is available now and will be rolled out in a phased approach with about 60 dealers initially receiving the service. Dealers interested in signing up to the service should contact your territory account manager.
To keep up to date with all of Fisher’s news you can follow them on twitter @fisher_outdoor, facebook or b2b.fisheroutdoor.co.uk
