Saturday, January 25, 2014

Shopping Local for Deals on Bicycles: Closeout Bikes

If you've ever been frustrated when shopping for bicycles in your home area because you couldn't seem to find the deals that others have bragged about, Closeout Bikes may be a place to try out on your next search. The website is a place to find local deals that a shopper may not have been aware of unless s/he searched every local bike shop. The intention of the site is not to create a global commerce site, but rather to provide one location for dealers to advertise their current sale bicycles. Then, the transactions/purchases are made locally by the individuals involved.
*Image found here
Here's what the site owner has to say:

CloseoutBikes.com is a marketplace that allows dealers and manufacturers to post their closeout or slow moving bicycles on a site so that consumers can search for something they like at a great price in their region. It is not an e-commerce site- the goal is to promote buying local and supporting the independent bike shop.  

If someone is searching for a good deal on a bike the options are either mail order or eBay, and the bikes on sale at dealers and especially manufacturers are essentially hidden.  Sure, some shops do a great job of posting their sales on a website, but that means that everyone has to find each site and navigate through it, and it means each shop has to have the technology to have a site that allows that. CloseoutBikes.com allows that for any shop very inexpensively.  

As a former retailer and a huge lover of bicycles and the industry I am trying to help the bike shops market their sale bikes in a new and non disruptive way.

The website is fairly new and is still building a base, but there are actually quite a few bicycles currently listed, depending on a shopper's region. I think of it as an AutoTrader or Cars.com type of site, but instead this site is aimed at those looking to buy a bike at a great price locally. So, the next time you're in the market for a new ride, pop over for a quick search and hopefully make the shopping experience that much easier (and hopefully save some money in doing so).

2 comments:

  1. Thanks, was looking at options for my son away at college with no car.

    Go Hawks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad it's helpful. I think it really is an innovative way to be able to purchase locally, but still find the deals instead of traipsing all over to find the "right" one.

      Delete

I believe that comment issues when posting have been resolved; however, I recommend copying your comment before sending it through to make sure that Blogger doesn't eat your comment. If you still have problems, please feel free to email your comment and I will gladly post it for you either with your name or anonymously (whichever you prefer). Thank you.