Santa Cruz CEO on the State of the Bike Industry - The Inside Line Podcast 30

excellent interview Spomer... great to hear the info from an industry exec.

A birdy told me a mid size Canadian company that i can't mention put their 2022 catalog up this week for dealers and was sold out in 4 days.

4 DAMN DAYS

That wouldn't surprise me..

I gotta say, Vitalmtb and Santa Cruz are killing it. This is what the world needs more of, open and honest conversations.

Great Video! It’s nice to see in to the bike industry more. I know last year when my business was shut down and my suppliers were shut down due to Covid we had to send trucks of orders away. We didn’t know how long CA wouldn’t allow us to be open for, and after a month of being shut down, and finally being allowed to open it was impossible to find product, and the built up demand couldn’t be matched. I think we were all lucky that bikes (especially MTB’s) were “essential”, but who could have guessed at the length of the shut down and the demand for bikes it would create.

My guess is that the people buying bikes are still working and didn't take a hit in the shutdowns. They are not spending on travel or eating out.

Also another question for the CEO would be, if you want us to support the mom & pop shops why did you send so many bikes to backcountry.com?

Also, how about better communication with those mom and pop shops? We found out about the new Nomad not by anything on the dealer site, or an email, or a phone call, but by seeing the first rides online.. Or a heads up that six special order high end bikes were getting canceled? Those were great calls to make..

Brian, maybe you can shoot me a PM on this one. Would like to understand what happened and how we can do better.

I never understood this dichotomy between mom-and-pop and not-a-mom-and-pop. I looked up Backcountry.com and found: "Backcountry.com was founded in 1996 by Jim Holland and John Bresee. The two started the online business ... from their garage in Park City, Utah."

When does a business go from mom-and-pop to not deserving of empathy? When they make a profit? When they have more than one store? Doesn't every mom & pop want to be more than a mom & pop? I doubt mom and pops choose to remain mom and pops, unless that means selling your soul to some nebulous corporate devil.

@diatribe69 When you typed that you were aware that Backcountry.com was sold to a soulless corporate devil several years ago right?

On May 7, 2007, it was announced that a controlling stake in Backcountry.com was sold to Liberty Media Corporation, which also controls QVC and other e-commerce companies. This transferred effective ownership of the company to billionaire John C. Malone.
Founded: 1996
Headquarters: West Valley City and Park City, Utah
Industry: Ecommerce, Outdoor Industry
Number of employees: 1200+

Number of people getting paid reduced wages to make sure a corporate CEO hits his profit margin to get his annual mega-million dollar bonus? Infinite.

You should've asked him if Santa Cruz is so far behind cause they cancelled most for their parts POs last April and scramble to reorder them in June?

Lots of companies were scrambling at that point... Nobody was sure which direction the market was going to go and in their case, if they were even going to be allowed to have employees in the building..

true, and that is their call and it was a bold move which screwed the bike shops carrying their brand in the long run. It was only a 2 week slow period for most the industry then went BOOM.

Nobody expected that boom... And now we are here...

Tullie, I did mention this at 7:20 in the video. we lowered our forecast in March and April, and that was based on what we were seeing from retailers cancelling orders and not wanting them. Our factory was closed in peak production season per order of the state of California! We had to send back trucks en route to the loading docks with nobody there to receive them. Send me your number so I can text for advice during the next pandemic

all our businesses faced that this past year, the ones who choose to run at status quo reaped the benefits and it sucks cause it's just business and some decisions work and some don't. If you want my number no problem, would love to work for you putting out the fires but my current employment won't allow it. I have been a loyal Santa Cruz customer for years probably bought 8-10 bikes and when the orders don't come in as promised even a month or so before the pandemic and another during the pandemic it's disappointing especially when I hear you've been sending more bikes out the loading dock than ever. We are still in this pandemic so let's start crankin.

Sounds like the bike I have will be it until around 2023. That’ll make finances a little easier lol

"I wouldn't put it past Garen for a second." LOL I was just thinking the same thing. Just 'cause he's so chill that is. And lost all of his pants in the fire.

Did you just let the world know you're Gordo?

Hasn't Spomer always been Gordo?

It's a secret. Right...no?

I don't know now? Maybe I'm on the outside of an inside joke?

I thought Gordo worked for Littermag?

That's right Sven. Had a bromance with some dude named Hoff? Ahoff ? Mehoff?
Wait...The Hoff !

you're all wrong because the real gordo doesn't use a capital G.

So deeper it goes... Just so you know, I've read all two of the Illuminati trilogy.

Wait... The first time that I met Joe he was in his monkey wrench on a Jackal frame days. O.K. Mums the word.

This is the second podcast during which I have spent most of the time wondering are SSpomer and Gordo 2 different dudes or the same person. Can we get a podcast where they interview each other?

The Hoff interviewing Gordo is the content we all need