Author Topic: Flatland Bikes at Wal*Mart????  (Read 7052 times)

Offline Rad255

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Re: Flatland Bikes at Wal*Mart????
« Reply #15 on: October 08, 2011, 05:09:12 AM »
Gotta love all the cool kids. The company is still great, they put out great bikes, and they support flatland. But the second they make a Wal-Mart bike it's all over. Ridiculous.

Offline pwh4130

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Re: Flatland Bikes at Wal*Mart????
« Reply #16 on: October 09, 2011, 02:43:21 AM »
I don't think the General Lee has changed spec at all so it's the same bike.  The lower price is due to the lower mark up by the retailer.  DK is a good brand.  Don't sweat it.

Offline wookie

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Re: Flatland Bikes at Wal*Mart????
« Reply #17 on: October 09, 2011, 04:39:53 PM »
Gotta love all the cool kids. The company is still great, they put out great bikes, and they support flatland. But the second they make a Wal-Mart bike it's all over. Ridiculous.


The BMX customers that come into our shop want something different and better than what they can get at Walmart.  So while the IBD (independent bicycle dealer) DK models are good quality bikes with a solid team to market the product the move to putting ANYTHING with the DK brand name in Walmart ruins the appeal for the customer first and foremost.   Ultimately it leads to this comment  "Your prices are too high!  DK bikes are $169 at Walmart NOT $299! I'm going there."   And it hardly matters if you explain the difference in part spec, service, quality, etc you already lost 90% of those customers.  It pains me to see this because DK was a very strong brand for our shop due to OHIO ties and just the history of the company had dads coming in buying DKs for their son as their first GOOD bike. 


Brian

Offline wolverines

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Re: Flatland Bikes at Wal*Mart????
« Reply #18 on: October 09, 2011, 04:53:48 PM »
Anyone know the true meaning to what DK stands for?

I've always know it stood for Dam Kids or Dayton Kids.  Just curious.

Re: Flatland Bikes at Wal*Mart????
« Reply #19 on: October 09, 2011, 07:12:12 PM »


The BMX customers that come into our shop want something different and better than what they can get at Walmart.  So while the IBD (independent bicycle dealer) DK models are good quality bikes with a solid team to market the product the move to putting ANYTHING with the DK brand name in Walmart ruins the appeal for the customer first and foremost.   Ultimately it leads to this comment  "Your prices are too high!  DK bikes are $169 at Walmart NOT $299! I'm going there."   And it hardly matters if you explain the difference in part spec, service, quality, etc you already lost 90% of those customers.  It pains me to see this because DK was a very strong brand for our shop due to OHIO ties and just the history of the company had dads coming in buying DKs for their son as their first GOOD bike. 


Brian
[/quote]


Sadly, you are going to spend all your time and energy explaining this...instead of selling the good bikes you have on the floor.  This isn't good for anybody.   If your customers hear "DK is a good brand" from you, they will go straight to Wally. 


Offline pwh4130

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Re: Flatland Bikes at Wal*Mart????
« Reply #20 on: October 09, 2011, 08:14:29 PM »
Bil DanisheK started DK.

Yes, it can hurt the sales for IBD's but then again, my experience shows that many shops aren't knowledgeable about BMX and don't sell as much as they could to get the bikes out of the door.

Offline Ultraman Zoffy

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Re: Flatland Bikes at Wal*Mart????
« Reply #21 on: October 09, 2011, 09:59:46 PM »
Compared to the chunky, fat tubed pieces of crap you'd usually see at Wal-Mart, I'd say those DK's look pretty nice. I better run out and grab a DK Golf Bag finally, though, just in case the company ever takes a header.