Specialized marketing department says ‘no’ to 29 inches
November 28th, 2005 by Tim GrahlAccording to a sales rep out of Specialized… there has been a big push recently by the sales guys to have Specialized jump into the 29er market.
Problem is, the marketing department over there doesn’t think there’s a big enough market.
Update: It’s been brought to my attention that I was not very clear here. The sales rep mentioned above is who communicated that the marketing department at Specialialized isn’t currently interested in 29ers. I did not hear that directly from the marketing guys over there.
What is RSS?
Get our articles in your inbox:
As one who is in product marketing (in my real job), I can tell you that there is often a love/hate relationship between marketing and sales. Most sales people tell product managers what features or products are needed based on what the last prospect they talked to needed. It’s the job of marketing to ascertain if there is a trend, and if so how sustainable it is, or the whims of an individual sales person trying to land a deal. In this case, if Specialized does not think there is a large enough market to sell an individual 29er bike profitably then they need to think differently about the market. They need to think strategically about the value of a 29er in the overall Specialized lineup. There is no question that there is a growing group of 29er enthusiasts that sing the praises of the big wheel regularly. The DC area where I live is a singlespeed (and largely 29er) hotbed. If you peruse the local blog links in my blogroll you will see that most of these riders are 29er afficianodos.
Adding a 29er to the Specialized line will further position the company on the leading edge of cycling with an offering for all tastes and styles.
I wrote an extensive email from this website. Cool email tool!
I told them that marketing goes further than looking at today’s market. Also a factor is that with Fisher on almost a monopoly, and not all 29″ lovers ready to buy from a Fisher dealer, or even owning one, a Specialized offering will do much more than increase supply. when they offer one, and even make just 200 pieces to try it out, world demand for these bikes will definately rise by a much larger factor. I bet Specialized would not be able to answer to demand without changing a lot in their production planning.
I also reminded Sp about the 80’s. Who beat them to the MTB market? What did it do for them to join in? What makes this different? Difference this time is that the MTB’er are ALREADY out there. Simply an improved concept.
Explain to the loyal Sp buyers that they do make a tire which sells well, but not the bike to fit them, because there can’t be any demand, obviously.
I told them not making a 29″er is like saying no to money. Their current customers will be tempted into buying an extra bike out of curiosity, and they profit from all the non-Fisher fans that want to try it anyway.
They can do their part by not joining in now, but the 29″ craze won’t go away. If they join, they will make lots of extra sales.
So what is Specialized all about? Rating demand for products among their clientele? Or product design and development. For Gary Fisher, it was enough that he honestly believed in the product’s validity, and he fought for it. He didn’t have to ask his customers and marketing department whether it would sell the first batch. He was all about improving cycling by offering something that didn’t exist yet. Surly now does it with the Pugsley. It’s called innovation, and it’s about having BALLS. Fisher took on the whole market by himself, and still he won, the 29″ers are selling, and selling faster than they can make them.
ANY marketing graduate should have alarm bells going off in his brain. We’ve got a hype on our hands here, and every moment we wait to jump on it, we effectively lose market share and money. And if they’d test it better, they’d find out (if they don’t know already) that they’re not offering the best possible bikes for all cycling disciplines at the moment.
when their main pro rider Meirhaeghe demanded a 29″ tire and bike for the Athens Olympics, this was not sufficient for the marketing and research folks to move to the tip of their seats?
Imagine if Meirhaeghe had not taken the candy (EPO), and found the 29″ Fast Trak to be better than the 26″ ones he already loved. What if he found he was putting time on Brentjens during racecourse pre-riding. what if he noticed he needed not dismount on that nasty steep summit. What if he noticed he could cruise where others had to pedal to keep going.
An Olympic Champion on a 29″ Specialized that’s not in production, that’d have been SUCH a mess for Specialized (credibility towards customer) and the rest of the market (world-wide race to design, develop and produce 29″ bikes, AFTER the 2005 line-ups had already been confirmed and presented to the public).
People inside the bike business seem to live and invest by different standard than the rest of the world economy. If one toy manufacturer can’t make enough yo-yo’s with a led light in it, does the competition sit and wait? The are in BUSINESS, and listen to supply and demand in a different manner. Because they have to make a living. Cycling seems to be all about emotion, and finding far-fetched proofs to found those emotions/prejudices.
From a business standpoint, most of the mainstream MTB business is a joke, really. Emotion rules science. It it a performance sport or a political debate?
Even if I weren’t a rider, I know where I’d stick my money in a market where “only” Fisher makes a box-stock complete stock bike, and can’t sell them fast enough, while “everyone” seems to think they’re a bad idea. In a market where the custom builders hardly seem to make 26″ers anymore, and focus on filling the voids that Fisher leaves. Surly making a couple hundred tank-like steel frame with impracticle dropouts, sell them in a week, and then start new production which takes another 6 months to hit warehouse.
Glad I’m no Specialized stock holder. Not because I happen to dig big wheels, but they seem to rather sit back and not innovate than to jump on a new market where discounts are not necessary, profits are high, and a marketshare is up for taking in a market that will one day replace today’s.
And Cloxxki gets the big 29 inch trophy for the longest comment.
Cue applause.
Not sure if you get a copy of the mails sent from the mail tool? That one may have been longer still. I never managed to say everything in just a few words. Not even in my own language.
When the market is thier for 29ers. SPECIALIZED will look like everyone else. Not everyone looking like SPECIALIZED.
Who cares about Specialized…if they don’t want to build a 29er then it is their loss. The selection we have now is diverse in both bike types (HT, FS, SS) and affordability. Quite frankly I think Specialized knows they blew it by not jumping in sooner.
Like the marketing guy above said, if this was from a sales guy take it with a grain of salt.
Just this FEBRUARY I asked a specialized sales guy if they would make a carbon Mt. Bike. He said categorically NEVER. The demand wasn’t there. Guess how many carbon models specialized has this year? 3
Yeah I agree with that and I know there’s usually some strained relationships b/w sales and marketing.
Which is why I tried to make it clear where I got my info from. It’s all rumors right now and I’m just putting in front of ya’ll everything relevant I come across.
I think there will be a huge value in becoming #2 in the 29er market because I think someone like Specialized or Giant could establish themselves as #1 in the market. I think it’s TREK who is losing out here, they have all this R&D as well as parts developement already into 29ers. They should have an OCLV 29er by now with some of those prototype carbon rims from Bontrager and we’re talking a serious NORBA level 29er.
Specialized I think will eventually jump in by 2007. They need something new to work with. Their bikes are the best production bikes out there and their accessories have always been worthy of real riders. Instead of being second thought re-labeled Tiawanese junk that some players go with. I see this as also being good for Specialize’s infamous tire line which would get some fresh press for anything 29er they do while greatly increasing the number of quality tires available.
We’ll see though. Marketing guys typically aren’t as in touch as Sales guys when it comes to developement. My advice to Specialized, build up and ride some 29ers for a week. Then see if it’s a fad.
-Jon
The last Specialized employee that threw a leg ove a 29″er got a life long ban from competitive cycling by the UCI (Meirhaeghe pre-Athens EPO case). They are probably thankful for that after the fact, seeing the trouble it may have saved them. But I can also see it leaving a bad taste in their mouth. A product they don’t want (29″ bike/tire), but one of the few that receives orders without any marketing (!) effort. They’ll sell quite a few Fast Trak 29″ tires this season. Them be good tires for people to ride bikes.