Evans Cycles

[Steve T]

Mod note: This discussion moved from the "Found a Bargain?" thread where it was going off topic:

Evans are having a big sale online but buyer beware:-

https://news.sky.com/story/bike-ret...alks-with-lenders-as-chain-struggles-11492689

I wonder if the new short sleeve top I ordered earlier will appear .... but it is a serious matter the high street is getting battered at the moment.

 

[NorthernDave]

Evans are having a big sale online but buyer beware:-

https://news.sky.com/story/bike-ret...alks-with-lenders-as-chain-struggles-11492689

I wonder if the new short sleeve top I ordered earlier will appear .... but it is a serious matter the high street is getting battered at the moment.

A shame but I can't say I'm surprised - I've posted before about the attitude of several of the staff at my local branch, and the fact they have very few bikes under £2k in store (C2W anyone?) and that the staff direct you to look online rather than sell you something in store..

 

[bruce1530]

A shame but I can't say I'm surprised - I've posted before about the attitude of several of the staff at my local branch, and the fact they have very few bikes under £2k in store (C2W anyone?) and that the staff direct you to look online rather than sell you something in store..

I also have had some bad attitude from my local branch - which is a real shame as it’s only a couple of hundred yards from my office, and I pass it every day. If they were friendly and helpful, I’d have spent a fortune! I had gone to the branch knowing roughly what I wanted, with a variable budget (“I was planning on spending around 800, but you could probably persuade me up to 11 or 12”) - a salesman’s dream. But the guy’s reaction was “There’s a few over there that might suit you, but we probably don’t have your size” (and returns to ignore mode).

So now I do occasionally use it for convenience, but only if I’ve price matched in advance.

 

[Spoons47]

I think something has been started here!!
Since my cycling return about 2 months ago, I have been to my local Evans 4 times. I have to say that the trip when I found perfect saddle on the third attempt was a perfect experience and they could not have been more helpful. The others have been to get accessories or get advice. None of those trips were pleasant! Why does it take 20 mins to get something down from the warehouse??
If they are losing money they should look from the ground up and train the staff.

 

[Milkfloat]

Mine two local Evans have been fine. C2W even on sale and price matched bikes. Good with price matches, 10% BC discount. At least some of the staff are active cyclists. However, I have not tried them on their knowledge and I know a friend had servicing issues.

 

[tom73]

If they had stuff in stock it may help I’ve only managed to once to find what I wanted in stock. Price was good and it arrived quickly. Can’t comment on the customer service not used them via a store. But service is hit and miss in most chain’s. Even small high street one’s can be off the mark too. You either understand it or you don’t no matter how many endless , pointless customer training you do. Timpson worked it out year’s ago people who want to help can be trained to repair shoes not the other way round.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Can’t comment on the customer service not used them via a store. But service is hit and miss in most chain’s. Even small high street one’s can be off the mark too..

Getting decent staff to work in retail is a real headache, ask any manager of a chain establishment. Doesn't matter if they serve coffee, bikes, DIY supplies, beer or catalogue goods, they all have much the same problem recruiting then retaining reliable staff with a good attitude.. The money isn't great (and managers often have no discretion to pay good staff more), the hours can be unsocial, plus the prospect of having to serve rude members of the public with no manners, doesn't make it any more appealing either. How many people reading this with a decently paid job on fixed daytime hours Monday-Friday, would swap for one in retail that only paid half as much, and involved all sorts of early starts or late finishes, weekend shifts, bank holidays, flat rate overtime pay etc?
I'm not excusing bad service and an indifferent attitude, but ultimately the jobs that offer the best money and conditions tend to get the best staff. The min wage outfits can generally only attract the part-timers, between-jobbers, students, drifters, and semi-retirees just looking for a bit of beer money but don't really need to work. The calibre of such staff is very variable and good ones tend to jump ship as soon as something better turns up nearby, so you get high turnover too.
It boils down to how much of the price of the product you are buying are you willing to see go into staff wages rather than the actual cost of the product itself, and the cheaper the goods the greater the shop wage overhead as a percentage of the transaction. It's the only overhead the retailer has much control over; things like rent, rates, and utility bills are pretty much fixed. Paying flat rate for working weekends and no sick pay etc might shave a few percent off their costs but it also makes working for that employer less attractive, so they get lower calibre staff. Years ago, you'd often see a "Saturday boy", a teenage schoolkid, doing shop work just on Saturdays for extra pocket money, which was a useful source of labour and meant less compulsory weekend shifts for the regular staff. That seems to have died a death.

 

[DCLane]

As with any retailer at present it's WACD (what Amazon can't do). Or Wiggle/etc.

Evans has stuck to the same model of shop plus service when others have moved on. That combined with premium price stock in a market slow-down where there's less willing to spend with greater competition.

I'm not surprised they're struggling. In-store coffee shops, a focus on servicing and bike fits seems to be the survival route, not supplying a small stock of retail price items.

 

[Truth]

We need to find a nice play on words for Evans now .....as we have Halfrauds.... .
Same as with Halfords you will get good and bad branches

 

[400bhp]

Getting decent staff to work in retail is a real headache, ask any manager of a chain establishment. Doesn't matter if they serve coffee, bikes, DIY supplies, beer or catalogue goods, they all have much the same problem recruiting then retaining reliable staff with a good attitude.. The money isn't great (and managers often have no discretion to pay good staff more), the hours can be unsocial, plus the prospect of having to serve rude members of the public with no manners, doesn't make it any more appealing either. How many people reading this with a decently paid job on fixed daytime hours Monday-Friday, would swap for one in retail that only paid half as much, and involved all sorts of early starts or late finishes, weekend shifts, bank holidays, flat rate overtime pay etc?
I'm not excusing bad service and an indifferent attitude, but ultimately the jobs that offer the best money and conditions tend to get the best staff. The min wage outfits can generally only attract the part-timers, between-jobbers, students, drifters, and semi-retirees just looking for a bit of beer money but don't really need to work. The calibre of such staff is very variable and good ones tend to jump ship as soon as something better turns up nearby, so you get high turnover too.
It boils down to how much of the price of the product you are buying are you willing to see go into staff wages rather than the actual cost of the product itself, and the cheaper the goods the greater the shop wage overhead as a percentage of the transaction. It's the only overhead the retailer has much control over; things like rent, rates, and utility bills are pretty much fixed. Paying flat rate for working weekends and no sick pay etc might shave a few percent off their costs but it also makes working for that employer less attractive, so they get lower calibre staff. Years ago, you'd often see a "Saturday boy", a teenage schoolkid, doing shop work just on Saturdays for extra pocket money, which was a useful source of labour and meant less compulsory weekend shifts for the regular staff. That seems to have died a death.

Generally agree with that, albeit it's as much about getting staff engaged rather than the actual £ p/h. However, it's very difficult to get an engaged workforce otherwise everyone would be doing it.

 

[Kajjal]

Much of Evans problem is the impact of on line even next day deliveries at lower prices and the lack of real growth in most people’s incomes compared to the cost of living. Increasingly bike shops are looking to value added services, they cannot have a large full warehouse with lower priced goods at the back of every store.

 

[BalkanExpress]

I think something has been started here!!
Since my cycling return about 2 months ago, I have been to my local Evans 4 times. I have to say that the trip when I found perfect saddle on the third attempt was a perfect experience and they could not have been more helpful. The others have been to get accessories or get advice. None of those trips were pleasant! Why does it take 20 mins to get something down from the warehouse??
If they are losing money they should look from the ground up and train the staff.

@Spoons47 I guess your local is Gatwick. Service used to be good but the last couple of times i have been there has been a shortage of shop floor staff. As you sat they are in the warehouse. The only advantage being that because it is THE warehouse they usually have everything in stock. They are also fairly laid back on checking price matches

 

[Cycleops]

The ' curates egg' experience is a common one with hobby type shops. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not. I used to run a radio control model aircraft/car shop and the staff were all enthusiastic, knowledgeable and helpful but you'd sometimes get the odd one.

In Evans case their problem is that new bike sales just fell off a cliff about eighteen months ago and haven't recovered much. They still have all those stores, staff and all that overhead. They are now owned by a private equity company and they want their pound of flesh so expect to see them losing a lot of shops and concentrating on their on line sales.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

The ' curates egg' experience is a common one with hobby type shops. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not. I used to run a radio control model aircraft/car shop and the staff were all enthusiastic, knowledgeable and helpful but you'd sometimes get the odd one.

If you're lucky enough to employ someone who is an enthusiast of the product or service you sell, you get a lot of "added value" for free, because genuine knowledge or enthusiasm is very apparent from a customer perspective. You can always tell the staff who like their job apart from the ones who are only watching the clock waiting for their finish time. The two types of staff give a vastly different customer experience, regardless of the type of business.

In Evans case their problem is that new bike sales just fell off a cliff about eighteen months ago and haven't recovered much. They still have all those stores, staff and all that overhead. They are now owned by a private equity company and they want their pound of flesh so expect to see them losing a lot of shops and concentrating on their on line sales.

If all Evans are flogging are £2k carbons and the like, then they need to go downmarket and start punting out the cheap stuff much nearer to the BSO end of the scale. That's where the sales volume is if they can price competitively. Take a look at any cycle rack; the majority of bikes bought in the UK are somewhere between cheap but decent and cheap outright junk. The members of forums such as CC are NOT typical of the average bike-buying member of the public by any measure. On a different note, the normal MO for private equity is to buy business using leverage and then load them up with the debt to service, which has destroyed many a good viable business. I'm a capitalist, but some of the practices of private equity outfits don't do capitalism any favours whatsoever.

 

[tom73]

Generally agree with that, albeit it's as much about getting staff engaged rather than the actual £ p/h. However, it's very difficult to get an engaged workforce otherwise everyone would be doing it.

Employee cooperatives manage it. Moving to a bottom up managerment mindset is another key part.