BikeZaar overhaul builds in affiliate and customer referral functionality
BikeZaar has relaunched its online marketplace with new options for independent bike retailers to join via an affiliate partnership, ultimately giving the platform a broader range of product choice.
The Brownlee brothers backed online marketplace has likewise built in a lead generation based Bike Finder and custom clothing partner functionality that will forward on customer details when a particular product is sought, meaning that the store owns the customer relationships and sales directly once paired.
This finder has the customer tell bikeZaar what they are looking for: brand/model (if known), or bike type, size, colour, & budget, and the network gets the opportunity to quote the customer directly if they have the right product to meet the customer’s demand. This, says the platform, generates strong leads without substantial marketing effort. A small flat monthly fee for lead generation does apply, however.
BikeZaar’s Victor Alway explained to CI.N: “We have had some great early success stories of bike shops turning Bike Finder leads into new business. It’s a brand-new way of approaching the bike sale that levels the playing field for IBDs competing with the big online shops with the best SEO and there’s a personal aspect of manually following up a lead that is more akin to what you experience having someone walk into your bike shop.
“We pre-qualify all leads before passing them on. There’s no contract, or tie-in, IBDs/brands can stop at any time,” he adds.
Shops interested in joining the network can enquire by email here.
In CyclingIndustry.News’ annual market report 41% of bike shops suggested that affiliate linking in the consumer pres was unhelpful to their business, largely as a result of a tendency to point links to online giants as opposed to independent stores, as bikeZaar is proposing. Bike shops have had their say on the matter here, while publishers have in the past defended their pointers saying IBDs are welcome to get involved.
