The e-commerce industry is at its peak, whether you already established an offline business or just spark an idea about opening one, you wanna get in the race. If you're looking to sell bikes online, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. The best way to avoid those issues is by being smart about your shop and where to sell bikes online.
Worriless because in this blog post, we'll walk through everything about how to start an online bike shop on Shopify, from what you should prepare to tips to grow your small business. Without any further ado, buckle up and let’s start!
Outline
- Why Shopify Is The Best Platform To Sell Bikes Online
- What To Consider Before Launching A Bike Shop
- Understand the bicycle industry
- Find the right business ideas for your Shopify store
- Determine your audience
- Define your brand mission and message
- Prepare a thorough business plan
- Map your finance
- Set up your short and long-term sales and marketing goals
- How To Start An Online Bike Shop On Shopify
- Success Stories Of Online Bike Store For Your Inspiration
- Conclusion
Why Shopify Is The Best Platform To Sell Bikes Online
Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in 2023 with2,002,945 live stores on its platform as of Dec 28, 2022. Shopify is an easy-to-use website (with manycourses on how to start and level up businesses) that comes with many mechanisms to help you analyze every aspect of your online shop and boost the Return on Investment (ROI). The technology also allows for cutting costs across the board by automating customer relationship management, inventory management, transactions, etc.
- SEO is built-into Shopify online stores, with capabilities to help you optimize your content for maximum impact. Shopify’s SEO tools can help you outperform your competitors by ranking your bike selling website high in search engines and increasing everyday traffic. It is also a less expensive method of gaining customers than paid advertising.
- Shopify allows merchants to build long-term buyer-customer relationships usingShopify’s Customers Engagement Tools. It helps leverage customer segmentation, email marketing, and more to reach the right customers with personalized messages based on unique behaviors.
- Shopify Analytics has a built-in data dashboard that provides insights into your business performance, sales and product metrics, and customer behavior. Shopify Analytics has the answer to your burning questions:
- How many bikes did you sell this month?
- Where are your customers coming from?
- What’s your Average Order Value (AOV)?
It is basically a cheat sheet that helps you understand how to improve, so it’s a fit for small businesses and to step foot in the e-commerce industry.
What To Consider Before Launching A Bike Shop
- Understand the bicycle industry
Conducting market research is the first step in opening a bike shop, as it is with any new business. By doing so, you can determine the amount of demand in the market where you want to open your business and whether it will succeed there. Understanding the purchasing preferences and expectations of your potential clients can help you gain a clear understanding of the state of the bike industry.
For example,the worldwide bicycle market, which was previously forecast to be worth US$54.7 billion in 2020, is expected to grow to US$82.4 billion by 2027. On the other hand, bicycle revenues in the United States are estimated to total over $6 billion.
- Know your competitors
You have identified your product, assessed its profitability, and selected a supplier. But ahead of that, you must properly investigate your competitors so you can understand who you're up against and how to set your company apart from theirs. Are there other businesses competing in this space already?; what makes one stand out above others?; also consider whether there might be any future competitors joining soon which could impact your ability to grow rapidly while maintaining quality levels over time.
- Find the right business ideas for your Shopify bike store
If you already have an established offline shop, all you need to do is make it available online. But if you just have a vague idea, you’ll need to define the scribe niche you want to target in this segment. Measure your budget and choose whether you’ll sell new or used bikes, or even cycling service and repair equipment.
- Determine your audience
Another thing to define is your target audience. There are plenty of types to focus on such as mountain bicycles, hybrid bikes, normal bikes, etc. So, you’ll need to define whether your target customers are professional athletes or others based on the type you sell. Additionally, knowing who needs your product can help you fine-tune your offers and make sure your marketing and sales efforts are targeting the appropriate audiences. Knowing if your business is a business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) operation is a necessary element of this decision. You can also choose to cover it all, but as for new business, you should focus especially on a group of customers and then expand your business later when your shop is stable enough.
- Define your brand mission and message
There is no quick fix or magic recipe that will make you stand out. The key to dealing with these decisions is understanding the goal of your business. You can choose wisely to later extend your services and markets in a way that is harmonious if you are aware of the strengths, differences, and purpose of your business.
- Prepare a thorough business plan
The actions you must follow for a successful launch and ongoing growth are laid out in a business plan. This document is crucial for giving your startup a focus, attracting C-level professionals to work for you, and finding and keeping capital. Spend some time assembling the essential elements, such as:
- Describe your mission.
- An overview of your shop.
- A list of the goods and services you offer
- An examination of the potential and market at the moment
- Your financial strategy so that anyone reviewing it may see the potential
- Set up your short and long-term sales and marketing goals
Determining your key performance indicators in advance can help you know what metrics to track once your project is launched. Also, it helps with picking the right marketing strategies which fit to achieve the goals strictly.
Related article:A 14 Point Ecommerce Checklist To Launch Your Shopify Store
How To Start Selling Bike Online With Shopify
9 Simple Steps Under 30 Minutes To Set Up Your Shopify Bike Store
Of course, these 30-minute-steps don’t count the time you come up with your ideas, define products, and plan your strategies,... and all the things above. It’ll be quite a long process. But after having all that in mind, only 30 minutes more will be made to finish your own bike shop. Opening a bike shop on Shopify is relatively easy because there are no upfront costs, only a few steps to be done:
01. Create Your Shopify Account.
All you need is your email address and a password. Next, you’ll need to create a unique name for your store and provide details about yourself and the products you sell.
02. Add products and their descriptions.
Add a product image, title, price, and description to give customers more details about your products.
03. Add Pages to Your Site.
You can start by adding Contact, About Us, FAQs, and Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Also, click on Remove password so customers can visit your store freely.
04. Select Your Store’s Theme.
Shopify has themes for a variety of industries and businesses kinds, both free and paid. Play around with some features to see how your homepage can best serve your specific business objectives.
05. Customize Your Checkout Setting.
Here you can customize how customers will do their checkout such as collecting customers’ information, order processing, customer self-serve returns, etc.
05. Set up Shipping.
Another area of your eCommerce business that requires consideration is shipping. Product weight, shipment locations, packing expenses, marginal profitability, and carrier rates are considered factors.
06. Configure Your Taxes.
Shopify makes this process simple for you by automating tax calculations. Regardless, it's still a good idea to do some study or hire a tax specialist just to be sure.
07. Set up Payment Gateways.
You must fill in some information about yourself and your company. You will be able to receive payments at no additional cost if you use Shopify Payments, Shopify's own payment system.
08. Launch Your Store.
First, you add a custom domain. Then, set up analytics. At this point, you’re all set.
Tips To Grow Your Shopify Bike Business
- Understand the trend: Even though the bicycle sector is booming with high-ticket purchases, trends can still affect it. Different product categories are expanding more quickly than others. For instance,the annual growth rate for hybrid bicycles is 3.1%, the annual growth rate for road bicycles is 1.7%, and the yearly growth rate for mountain bicycles is 2.1%. Of course, trends affect more than just which product categories are popular; they also affect the way in which customers are seeking to interact with your business.
- Build up a community and blog section: Running a blog is essential for a Shopify bike store. Specifically, a bike selling website ought to have a blog where your content writers may publish engaging, intriguing, and high-quality bicycle-related content. This will draw in new customers while also retaining your current ones by keeping them interested in your content and earning their loyalty. Your online bike store's professional image will benefit greatly if you somehow engage with the cycling community.
- Focus on visual content: The key is that you are selling a means of transportation, and most users place a high value on its reputation, image, and quality. Using high-quality images and videos to draw customers to your online bike shop is crucial. If you offer bicycle parts, it also applies because you can show them up in high resolution, which is essential for bike owners.
- Working on your marketing and SEO effort:
- SEO content: Notably, having a basic grasp of SEO tactics can help you produce content that is SEO-rich, including keywords, using the right metadata, adding images, and employing other techniques to make the content search SEO-friendly.
- Promotion and discounts: If you plan regular promotions and implement a discount program for devoted consumers, selling bikes online can be more lucrative and draw in more customers. Bike prices are typically not low, so these specials and promotions will increase traffic to your online bike shop and your sales.
- Email marketing: This method has been demonstrated to be very effective. When you generate leads, you can regularly email your potential customers about your exclusive specials, promotions, and interesting blog content. Email marketing can be bothersome to certain people, so you should refrain from using odd email subjects, sending too many letters, or providing pointless material. It is preferable to be brief, informative, and to provide high-quality material in emails.
- Social media: Being active on social media is probably the best way to market your store. Although customers are more likely to place orders and request information from your online bike shop's website, social media is a great way to advertise the bike business and its services.
- Ads and landing page: In order to boost fresh visitors to your online bike shop, advertising your bike shop business through ads and landing pages is also essential. Additionally, it will improve the professionalism and reputation of your store.
8 Best Ecommerce Ads Techniques To Transform Your Business
- Analytics: There are no universal tools that work for every store and every industry, so it is a good idea to gather data and analyze what brings you profit and what doesn't for your online bike shop sales.
- Build a website that's easy to navigate: The design of your website is the first thing in customers’ impressions. A responsive design will help you keep the site looking good on any screen size, while also making sure your customers can get the information they need quickly and easily. PageFly is one of the best third-party page builders with a simple drag-and-drop feature that you may try to design your own Shopify bike shop, from the landing page, the home page,... to the product page.
Also, utilize a nice theme to make it seem fantastic on mobile devices as well as other devices. If you run an eCommerce bike shop business, check that your logo isn't too complicated to fit in the given area on your homepage or product pages without being too distracting.
- Find some inspirations or mentors from the same kind of niche: See how they did, analyze what is best for your bicycle store and learn from them. You can refer to this Youtube video on how Tokyobike has doubled its In-Store Pickup Sales with Shopify POS:
Success Stories Of Online Bike Shop For Your Inspiration
01. Madsen Cycle
Jared Madsen was captivated by Denmark's biking culture after visiting family there. He made the decision to create a bike that would also make cycling more accessible to families in the US. In 2008, the "Bucket Bike" was created in this way.
In 2021, Madsen Cycle was a leading US maker of cargo bikes and had a Shopify store. As a result of its useful design, Bucket Bikes are now a joy for thousands of families.
The brand targeted social media marketing as a means of expansion because it had a distinctive product. Madsen Cycles supported user-generated material in addition to producing high-quality, captivating original content to boost credibility.
The company now displays social network content on the Shopify store. Viewing the most recent user-generated material increases visitors' trust in the brand.
02. THESIS
THESIS was developed by Randall, one of the company's co-founders, to address many of the problems he observed in the sector. He designed a top-of-the-line carbon bike that would be ideal for every road, including dirt, road racing, bike packing, and touring. He took great care in each and every component, without using the sneaky cost-cutting tactics that you see from many larger firms. He created the bikes with an open, honest design process, avoiding the industry-wide marketing hype. And he cut out all the middlemen to produce a bicycle that would normally cost $6000 for $2999.
Customers who purchase THESIS’s customizable bicycles can choose from more than a dozen different modification options, allowing them to truly have the bike of their dreams.
Customers can select a build kit, frame size, frame color, including a custom Pantone shade. The chainring, cassette, seat post, handlebar width, stem length, crank size, and addition of a second wheelset are all additional options that riders have if they so choose.
Read more interesting success stories:
How to Start Bike Parts Business Online on Shopify Australia
How to Start Kids Bicycles Business Online on Shopify
Conclusion
While operating a successful bike shop doesn't require advanced knowledge, it does require strategic planning and the ability to put that planning into practice. By following the tips given above, you'll be well on your way to opening a unique brick-and-mortar bike business.
Reading this far, we hope this blog post has helped you somehow on imagining the big picture of opening a bike shop on Shopify and getting to know how to start. Check out our blog section to find more useful articles for your store: PageFly Blog.
