How to open a commercial sports club for bicycle enthusiasts. What does it take to open a bicycle store in your city? Current ideas for making money

Alexander Ivanov - about how Shulz folding bikes are gaining their place in the sun

Students at the University of Aerospace Instrumentation would never have thought that the nickname Schultz, which they gave to Alexander Ivanov, many years later would become the name of a brand of unique folding bicycles of their talented classmate’s own design. Having worked as an industrial climber, programmer and advertiser, Alexander decided that his life’s work was to produce comfortable and compact city bicycles..

37 years old, entrepreneur from St. Petersburg, founder and director of the folding bicycle company Shulz. Finished State University aerospace instrumentation (faculty of information systems in economics). Now Shulz is a line of 10 models of folding bicycles, two own stores in Moscow and St. Petersburg with rental and repair shops, as well as about 50 partner stores in Russia and abroad.

The long road to cycling

Alexander Ivanov always made money by doing what was interesting to him. As a student, he was interested in mountaineering and worked part-time as an industrial climber. After graduating from university with a degree in information systems in economics, he worked for some time in his specialty - setting up 1C systems. When I got tired of this, I took up advertising and opened my own advertising agency, Skat.

“We worked with the Veda company, developed packaging for Waltz Boston vodka, came up with a corporate identity, slogans, and signs for clients. It seemed to me that all the advertising was terrible, that no one understood anything about it,” says Alexander.

After that, he got a job as an advertising director at the KIT company, which sells sporting goods and household appliances. Alexander suggested to the store management that they open a bike rental service. “There were almost no bike rentals in the city. The investments were minimal - I took the bicycles under the obligation to return the money for them in three months, that is, at the end of summer, I rented the premises from the company itself. Everything was for fun, the business was completely miscalculated. I just did what I liked."

The money for the bikes was returned after four months. The experience was gained, Alexander went free swimming again - and opened a sports store “Skatprokat” on Goncharnaya Street with his partners.

“The store had to be closed - we went bankrupt, two of my friends went out of business. I went looking for a job and got a job at the Machiavelli Luxury Group, a chain of multi-brand boutiques specializing in expensive Italian clothing brands. I had to feed my family, I needed money. I don’t feel like I only work for myself. If it works, I do it, if it doesn’t work, I move on. For Machiavelli, the team and they created a website Boutique.ru, selling luxury goods. At the same time, I myself walked with a tourist backpack and trekking boots, which greatly irritated the owner. I said then: who even buys all these Brioni, Santoni? But they bought them - and it’s great! And I was in charge of it.”

When the project was successfully promoted, Alexander quit: “I went to make bicycles.”

Shulz era

“There are very few good folding bicycles in Russia. So that - hop - folded, and you can conveniently store the bike with it in the subway, on the train, or on the balcony. I wanted to make a model that people would like and that would sell.”

Although at first Alexander had the option of becoming a representative in Russia of one of the brands of folding bicycles. But our hero turned out to be too demanding: “I am always not satisfied with everything in a ready-made solution. I told them: change my wings here, and change my chains here. And they answer: we can’t. I said: “Okay, then I’ll make my own brand.” A bicycle is like a Lego constructor - you can put something together from different cubes, but some people end up with candy, others you know what.”

Alexander drew sketches and went to an exhibition in China: “I speak English quite fluently. I found a partner and ordered the first batch - 300 bicycles. It was 2008." The initial investment amounted to 1.5 million rubles. They were repelled within a year. “Yes, entering the business is quite expensive,” agrees Alexander.

Now Alexander Ivanov’s company manages to sell about 5,000 bicycles per season. About 1000 more are sold abroad. Production is located in Tianjin, China. The goods are ordered in November, and then unassembled are delivered by sea to Russia and other countries - France, Germany, Singapore. To find European partners, in 2015, Alexander Ivanov went to the Eurobike exhibition in Germany, participation in which cost 1.7 million rubles.

The brand was named succinctly and sonorously – Shulz ( in Russian it is pronounced "Schultz"). “Shulz is my nickname at the institute. I thought: why not? Since I was learning English, I wrote “Sh” and not the German “Sch”. Everyone says - well, this is wrong, this is not German. Yes, but we managed to register such a trademark, because there is nothing similar. In German it’s just a mistake, but in English this word doesn’t exist.” Registration of a trademark for a class of bicycles cost 40 thousand rubles.

The price range of Shulz bicycles is from 12,800 to 34,900 rubles

The brand's first store was located on Goncharnaya Street - this is the very center of St. Petersburg, next to the Moskovsky railway station. After some time, the store moved to another premises, but on the same street. And then a store opened in Moscow. The team increased from three people to 15.

Currently, the brand’s line includes 10 bicycle models of various colors and configurations. During the season, Shulz sells not only 5 thousand of its bicycles, but also about 1,500 Strida bicycles. “We are their official distributors,” says Alexander Ivanov. - Strida is a bicycle that, when folded, can be rolled next to you; it is more mobile and urban. And Shulz is a more popular model, folded it up, loaded it into the car, and went for a drive at the dacha.”

Business is difficult, but loved

The annual retail turnover of the Moscow and St. Petersburg stores of Alexander Ivanov is about 30 million rubles. “At first we had a dealer in Moscow, but by agreement with the previous owners, the store became our property, and we decided to try to sell it ourselves.”

The general economic crisis also affected the bicycle business: “Since 2014, people began to buy 30 percent less,” says the entrepreneur. – The production and sale of bicycles is a complex business. But beloved."

So beloved that Alexander Ivanov even refused to sell it for 2 million dollars - not so long ago he received such an offer.

“I don’t want to sell the business yet, I still like it myself, I’m not tired of it”

Alexander likes to do his job to such an extent that sometimes he himself delivers goods to clients, and also participates in mass “rides” organized by folding bicycle lovers. His two sons ride his bikes ( there is also a daughter, but she is still small), wife and father.

“There are always competitors, and there are more of them. You just need to roughly understand how much you can sell. For example, you bake buns, and you know that they buy 50 buns a day. If you baked 100 and sold 50, then 50 buns will be lost and you will lose money. It's the same with bicycles. Sometimes we can’t meet demand, but we try to figure it out.”

Every year, Schultz LLC takes out a loan to produce and purchase new bicycles. “First we buy a lot of bikes in November and then we sell them. If we manage to sell everything by the fall, we will be left debt-free. We simply make and sell bikes, just like we bake buns. Only buns are baked every day, and we “bake” bicycles once a year - a very seasonal business, not easy.”

In winter, when demand and sales fall, project employees work with pre-orders, develop new models, and carry out warranty repairs.

Birthday smelt

According to Alexander, the project team has a desire to reach a more mass buyer, but he is afraid of loss of quality. “We are unique in that we have very good quality bikes and we provide three years of free service. There is a team of mechanics in two cities who repair bikes. It's not enough to do a good product– you need to provide a guarantee.

I'd love to work with the big chains, but I'm not happy that they don't check the bikes after sale. We take each bike out of the box, check it, set it up, pack the box again and send it out. They definitely won't check. This does not suit us - we have a business with a human face. They need to ship more boxes and we need to sell more quality bikes.”

“Our client is not an athlete (although we also have advanced, sports models), these are people who just want to ride in the park or in the country, or take a bike on a trip, these are not necessarily hipsters, we have completely different customers. We recently made two new models - a more compact model, which is also suitable for teenagers, and a “velo-jeep” - a bicycle with wide wheels.”

Next year the company will turn 10 years old. “We will make some new special model. And let's think about it small gifts“For example, we will give cookies to each customer or put dried smelt in a box.”

* The calculations use average data for Russia

Cycling has been and remains a popular and favorite sport and active rest. Bicycles are actively used not only for going out into nature, but also for traveling around the city, avoiding traffic jams and congestion.

As a rule, there are sections with bicycle goods in large sports stores and hypermarkets, but in most cases children's and teenagers' products are presented there expensive models little-known manufacturers. Meanwhile, high-quality bicycles from leading manufacturers come in several types (road bikes, hardtails, dual suspension, etc.), have different purposes, and some of them can even be compared in cost to the prices of domestic cars. Despite this, such bicycles are in great demand among cycling enthusiasts who compare riding a branded and cheap bicycle with riding a racing car and "Zaporozhets".

The target audience, although quite narrow, is nevertheless ready and able to pay for a quality product with the possibility of warranty repairs and maintenance. Therefore, if your city still does not have a separate “bike showroom” with a bicycle workshop, you should think about opening one.

To do this, you need to choose a premises for the store.

In addition, you will need space for display cases with related products, equipment, protective equipment, spare parts and accessories.

You can’t do without warehouse space where goods, packaging, and warranty documentation will be stored. To rent such an area in the city center in a place with high throughput It’s quite expensive, so it’s better to rent a room in one of the “dormitory” areas.

If your assortment is wide enough and your prices are reasonable, long distance to the store will not scare off your potential customers. But to make access easier, it is advisable to arrange a bicycle path and parking for bicycles in front of the store, because your customers will need to leave theirs somewhere vehicle while they are shopping.

In addition to the purchasing manager, your staff will include an accountant, a lawyer (preferably), a cashier and at least two salespeople.

Related sources of income for a bicycle store

At the opening stage, consider whether you will now or in the future open a bicycle workshop at your store. Its rental and equipment will require additional costs: rent - from 15 thousand rubles/month, tools - from 50 thousand rubles, wages for bicycle mechanics (at the rate of one per shift) - from 40 thousand rubles. But compared to the total budget for opening a store, these expenses are not so large, and the payback period is much shorter. In addition, a bicycle service will attract additional customers to your store, and free first bicycle maintenance can be an additional bonus for your customers.

To promote your store, use all available options - outdoor advertising (especially in the area where the store is located), handouts (flyers, mini-catalogs, etc.), radio advertising and promotions.

Amateur and professional cyclists usually gather in clubs and often organize joint rides and friendly competitions. If there is such a community in your city, take part in its life, act as a sponsor providing prizes to the winners sports competitions and arrange them yourself. If there is no such community, organize and lead it.

As additional sources of income, you can offer bicycle rental or airbrushing services on bicycles.

Cost of opening a store

To purchase the first batch of goods you will need from 500 thousand rubles. and higher. For rent, renovation and arrangement of premises for a store, prepare from 200 thousand rubles. The staff salary will be from 60 thousand rubles/month.

The retail markup on bicycles, as a rule, is no less than 25-50%, from 50% on equipment, on accessories and consumables it can reach 200%.

The average retail price of a “budget” bicycle is 25-30 thousand rubles. The payback period for such a store is from 1-1.5 years.

1568 people are studying this business today.

In 30 days, this business was viewed 269,144 times.

Calculator for calculating the profitability of this business

A bicycle selling business can generate a stable income. Bicycles are bought by people who not only love cycling, but for some this sport is professional occupation or a way of life, which is why even the most expensive bicycles find their buyers. There are different types of bicycles: city, mountain, road, sports and others.

When organizing a bicycle store, you should think about opening a workshop at the same time. It requires additional equipment worth at least 50 thousand rubles, premises, the rent of which is 15 thousand rubles, and a mechanic with a salary of 30 thousand rubles. However, the payback period for the workshop is lower, and it will attract additional customers to the store.

The store will require a premises of at least 50 square meters. In addition to bicycles, you can sell spare parts for them, accessories, and equipment. You can also think about renting bicycles. A parking lot and a bicycle path should be created in front of the store for the convenience of customers. The premises can be rented in a residential area, so you will save on rent, and the client will even travel a few extra kilometers to a good store.

The following personnel will be required: at least two salespeople, a cashier, an accountant. Employees who will sell the product must understand the operating features of bicycles, their designs, and components. The purchase of goods should also be left in the hands of a professional; the product must be of high quality, since buyers often understand it no worse than sellers.

The cycling season is February-November, but it is better to purchase goods in the autumn, because by the beginning of the season, large shopping centers buy almost everything from suppliers, and small firms have to be content with the leftovers.

The store should have good advertising. Various leaflets, promotions and advertising on the Internet on thematic forums will tell potential customers about the store. In many cities there are cycling clubs, their members organize friendly competitions, your store can become a sponsor of such competitions and provide prizes for the winners. And if there is no such club in your city, feel free to organize it. Perhaps this kind of advertising will be the most promising.

So, the price of a bicycle is 25-30 thousand rubles, the markup is 25-50%, for related products - 50%. About 500 thousand rubles are needed to purchase goods, rent of premises and equipment - 200 thousand rubles, staff salaries - 60 thousand rubles.

The payback period for a business with good sales is from one to one and a half years.

IN last years In the CIS countries (and not only) interest in bicycles is growing. More and more people are choosing this type of transport. This is due to the low price of the bike itself, low maintenance costs and the complete absence of riding costs. The scope of its sports application is also wide - from short trips to cycling trips over huge distances, from bicycle racing and cross-country to bicycle trials and downhill. Everyone will find something of their own in a bicycle and will be able to adapt it to their needs.

You can make good money by assembling, selling and repairing bicycles. Despite the fact that many companies are already engaged in this type of activity, you can still have time to squeeze into this niche. The demand for bicycles and their maintenance is increasing every year and in the next few years we can expect a peak in their popularity. How can you make money from this?

Try assembling, renting and selling bicycles.

Business organization.
If money is short, then to begin with it is best to do the assembly to order. This will allow you to get your first profit at minimal cost. That is, first we look for a buyer, and then we assemble the bike.

The question arises: where to get the components and who will do the assembly? On initial stages, when the number of bicycles being assembled is small, it is best to buy parts at retail or in small wholesale quantities. Go through the markets, local companies that sell bicycle parts, and find a place where you can buy quality parts at low prices. It won't hurt to go to places where ready-made bicycles are sold. It is best to visit the offices of manufacturers and small companies engaged in small wholesale. Well, don’t forget to go to the market.

Let's say you found spare parts and finished bicycles. Now we need to find a collector. In principle, if you know the structure of a bicycle and have free time, with small volumes of orders you can do the assembly yourself. It takes from 2 to 5 hours to assemble one bicycle, depending on the type of bicycle and the number of spare parts.

If you cannot assemble the bikes yourself, then you need to hire one or more assemblers. It’s best to look for them among avid cyclists, since they’ve done a lot of repairing and upgrading their bikes. For the assembly of one bicycle they pay on average from 5 to 15 dollars.

Once you find a supplier and assembler, it's time to look for clients. If you don’t have money to rent premises and open your own store, then your faithful assistant will be the Internet. Create and promote an online store.

Particular attention should be paid to social networks and cycling forums. The main inhabitants of such forums are avid cyclists who can tell you something and buy a bike. But almost all young people, including outdoor enthusiasts, are on social networks. With the right approach and the availability of promotions, you can gather an audience of several thousand people and attract dozens of clients.

For example, the Kharkov group VeloKot rents and sells bicycles. In just 2 months, the group increased its audience from 3 to 11 thousand people, carried out a large-scale advertising campaign and received more than a dozen clients with just one smart promotion. Its essence is simple: the user needs to join the group and repost the message about the promotion. The main prize is a bicycle. The duration of the promotion is 2 months. At the end, the prize is drawn between users who have fulfilled these requirements. In addition, the group posts content that is interesting to cyclists, and not just sales posts, which allows you to better accumulate a target audience.

If you have enough funds to open a store, then the development strategy will be slightly different. First, find and rent a room in a crowded place, preferably close to a recreation park. Next, hire a couple of experienced cyclists who will work shifts in your store, rent out bicycles, and assemble and repair custom bikes. Then you should find good manufacturer or supplier and purchase bicycles for the store and for rental.

The situation with bicycle rentals is interesting. The work pattern of rental companies is as follows: a businessman buys brand new bicycles from wholesalers or manufacturers. After that they go on rent. The bikes are ridden for 2-8 weeks, after which they are successfully sold at a fairly high price as used ones in very good condition, and everything is repeated again. What are the advantages of this approach? Firstly, the profit from renting one bicycle can reach $70 per week. Secondly, the bikes end up being sold either at the same price at which they were purchased, or, as most often happens, with a small markup. Everyone benefits: satisfied citizens can enjoy riding a bike all day for $10, satisfied customers can buy a practically new bike at a price below the market price, a satisfied entrepreneur makes a profit from the first two.

Income and expenses.
On average, a bike costs $400-500. However, prices for it can vary from 100 to 5000 or more. The most popular ones are Mountain bikes 26” and urban models in the mid-price category. Road bikes and expensive bikes are popular mainly with experienced cyclists.
Renting a room near a recreation park can cost a couple of thousand USD. Creating an online store and its subsequent promotion will cost 1-2 thousand dollars, creating and maintaining groups in in social networks can cost 200-500 USD. each. It will cost at least $500-600 per month to pay each employee. Collectors can be paid less - 5-15 USD. for each assembled bike.

Now about profit.
From renting one bicycle for a day, the profit is $10. That is, from one bicycle per month of rent, in the best case scenario, you can get at least 300 USD. After the bike has been riding for the required few weeks, put it in order and sell it with a markup of 5-10% of the original cost. That is, if you bought a bike from the manufacturer for $500, when selling it, ask for $525-550 for it. On new bike the markup will be 20%. That is, a bike bought at the factory for 500 USD. you can sell for 600. Inspection and repair of a bicycle costs from 10 USD. and depends on the complexity of the breakdown.

By selling 20 medium bikes per month and renting 5 bikes per day, you will fully cover your costs. What if there is more? You can make good money from this.

• What equipment to choose for a bicycle rental business
• Which OKVED ID should I indicate when registering a bicycle rental?
• What documents are needed to open
• Which taxation system to choose for bicycle rental
• Do I need permission?
• Bicycle rental business technology

Bicycle rental refers to simple business with minimal start-up investment. The costs of opening a small bicycle rental point start at 250 thousand rubles. Typically, the main starting costs include the purchase of 10 - 15 bicycles and the purchase of spare parts for them. With proper business organization, start-up costs are recouped in one season.

Bicycle rental is a simple business with minimal start-up investment. The costs of opening a small bicycle rental point start at 250 thousand rubles. Typically, the main starting costs include the purchase of 10 - 15 bicycles and the purchase of spare parts for them. With proper business organization, start-up costs are recouped in one season.

Why is rental still relevant, because today you can buy a new bicycle for only 5,000 rubles?

The main reasons for the demand for rental:

Reason 1. A city dweller simply has nowhere to store a bicycle, you can’t put it in your room, the balcony is also occupied;

Reason 2. Bicycles are often rented by small amateur groups (couples) who ride only a few times a season and because of this there is no point in buying their own bike;

Reason 3. There is always a choice at the rental point various types bicycles, for example mountain, road, double suspension, etc., often not for 5-6 thousand rubles, but quite expensive models and everyone can ride any of them;

Reason 4. Rental services are often located in tourist, cultural and resort cities, where the majority of clients are visitors and vacationers who probably do not take a bicycle with them on a trip;

Reason 5. Cycling through green parks and picturesque corners in the company of friends is fun, interesting, sporty and healthy!

To open a bicycle rental point you need:

Let us highlight the main conditions for the successful organization of a bicycle rental point:

Compliance with these conditions will increase the profitability of the rental point several times.

A separate topic of conversation is the theft of rented bicycles. Of course, you will take an identification document (passport or driver's license) from the client as collateral, but there is a possibility of submitting counterfeit documents as collateral. Taking the full cost of a bicycle as collateral is not an option; rarely does anyone have a large amount of money with them. However, such situations will not occur often and are unlikely to have a serious impact on the profitability of the rental store.

Let's calculate the approximate profitability of a small rental point for 15 bicycles located in a park area of ​​a city with a population of about 300 thousand people.

The average rental price in the regions is 150 rubles per hour. Let about 20 people use the rental service on one weekday (on average 1-2 people per hour). On weekends, for obvious reasons, the number of customers doubles, that is, about 40 people per day. In total, it turns out that in a month (minus 5-6 rainy days) about 500 people will use the rental service. Revenue in this case will be about 96,000 rubles per month.

At the same time, the monthly expenses of the rental point include:

• Rent, from 5 thousand rubles;
• Salary for 2 employees, from 25 thousand rubles;
• Repair, depreciation - from 10 thousand rubles;
• Taxes and contributions to the Pension Fund - from 10 thousand rubles;
• Other expenses - from 5 thousand rubles.

Total net income per month will be 41,000 rubles. For 6 months of operation (from April to September), the total profit of the rental point will be 246,000 rubles.

Additional income for a rental point can be obtained through:

• Bicycle repair services;
• Trade in bicycles, spare parts and other sports equipment;
• Including additional equipment in the rental: roller skates, kites (for children), scooters, etc.

Additional services will increase revenue by 1.5 - 2 times.

You shouldn't expect extra income from renting bicycles. Rather, it is a proven seasonal business, with low start-up costs, and does not require special training and experience from the entrepreneur. At the same time, you can recoup the costs incurred in the first season of work. These facts make the bicycle rental business accessible to many beginning businessmen.