Are you wondering why you aren't making the money you should be?  Did you know the "typical" bike shop doesn't make money on the sale of new bicycles?

Stop and think about what I have just said.  The typical (based on a median) bike shop in the U.S. didn't make a profit on the sale of new bicycles last year - and in fact hasn't for the last 12-years!

New bicycle sales represented 48.8 percent of the typical bike shops total revenue in 2005 - the single largest revenue category.  Taking a loss on just under half of total sales revenue goes a long way toward explaining why you aren't making the money you should be!

How do I know this?

The National Bicycle Dealers Association (NBDA) has been conducting Cost of Doing Business surveys for the better part of two decades.  I simply collected the last seven NBDA Cost of Doing Business survey reports, and analyzed them.  I highly recommend that you order your own copy of the latest Cost of Doing Business survey report because:

• This unique research program for U.S. bicycle shops represents the most-up-to-date comparative financial performance information available anywhere.

• The Cost of Doing Business studies are an invaluable resource designed as an easy-to-understand tool for bicycle shop owners and managers to evaluate their own business operating results so that they can identify strengths and weaknesses and more importantly take advantage of opportunities and improve profitability. To order your copy visit http://www.nbda.com/.

You also need to know that:

• The Cost of Doing Business (CODB) survey reports cover key performance measures in three areas: profitability, productivity and financial management.

• Most of the financial performance indicators included in the CODB reports are on the basis of medians rather than averages or means. Unlike the mean, the median is not distorted by a small number of unusually high or low values that are reported by the panel of retailers and included in the sample.

• The median represents the mid-point of the figures for a particular measure, with one-half of the responding bicycle shop firms reporting figures above, and one-half below.

To read the rest of this story visit the Bike Profits web site.

 May the wind be always at your back!  Jay