George White

[RichieRotten]

I am a little old fashion when it comes to Bike Shops.

When I was a kid every High Street had a bike shop and now they are all going 
I still use a small workshop  - Peter Hammonds of Cirencester if you are interested {for the odd jobs I can not do} even though it is 20 miles out of my way because I like the service, I like the fact I can "pop" into the workshop and talk to the Mechanics and not a Service Manager.

I do not like the big outlets - the personal service disappears and it is no more fun than going to Tesco's

HOWEVER!

The demise of George White is not good news for any of us.
But this could be one of three reasons or a combination of them all.

1

It says to me that Biking is in a decline {hope I am wrong!} but we are getting older and I do not see many new faces when out and about on my bike.
Suzuki recently cut back on many of its dealers and I am not sure but overall I think bike sales are in decline. I believe January as been a good month but the trend is downward. But I can not find any Stats {can some one else enlighten me?}

2

May be it reflects the pressures on bike shops from two angles
A
The manufacturers setting targets and putting pressure on dealers and so dealers are forced to slash prices to move stock.
B
The customer {U and I} always looking for a deal and so cutting margins even further.

3

George White had a shìt business model of stack them high and sale them quick, they opened a lot of branches over recent years and overstretched themselves?

[Biff]

Its a shame that George White's have gone into receivership.

True they did sell bikes cheaper than most others, one of the salesmen told me when I bought my 2nd Busa from there that the week previous they sold 120 GSX-R1000 K8's IN A DAY at £7995 each. This was in 2008, when the list price was still over £9k.

Now if they can shift that amount of stock and still turn a profit there is something very wrong with the business

[tight 5]

dunno about George White , but my local dealer say they've had their best January bike sales they've ever had !

[RichieRotten]

Its a shame that George White's have gone into receivership.

True they did sell bikes cheaper than most others, one of the salesmen told me when I bought my 2nd Bursa from there that the week previous they sold 120 GSX-R1000 K8's IN A DAY at £7995 each. This was in 2008, when the list price was still over £9k.

Now if they can shift that amount of stock and still turn a profit there is something very wrong with the business

Turnover £26,000,000 lost £650,000 hence my comment that they may have had a shìt business model

dunno about George White , but my local dealer say they've had their best January bike sales they've ever had !

Your right from the figures I can find Jan. was good and last Jan. was really bad- but does anyone know what the Trend is ?
I think myself that the general trend is down.

[Alan@asperformance]

fairly sure they attempted to sell bikes near cost price relying on the commision from manufacturers and finance companies to make "profit"............
when bonuses were altered over time and sales dropped (recession anyone  ), there business didn't stack up

[RichieRotten]

fairly sure they attempted to sell bikes near cost price relying on the commision from manufacturers and finance companies to make "profit"............
when bonuses were altered over time and sales dropped (recession anyone  ), there business didn't stack up

More accuate figures:
The company plunged £663,784 into the red in 2010 on sales of £26million.

[Biff]

More accuate figures:
The company plunged £663,784 into the red in 2010 on sales of £26million.

And then you look at football teams, apparently Manchester United is one of the poorest in the whole league

[rotax81]

one fails another prospers 

i seem to remember last january being really icy, or was that the year before? 

[ello Dave]

And then you look at football teams, apparently Manchester United is one of the poorest in the whole league

Thats not exacly true BUT we are now saddled with massive debts brought on by uncle malc and his inbred family

Lets not go there as the thread concerns George White motorcycles 

[Biff]

Thats not exacly true BUT we are now saddled with massive debts brought on by uncle malc and his inbred family

Lets not go there as the thread concerns George White motorcycles 

I wasn't trying to change the topic of this thread, I was merely pointing out that there are football clubs with bigger debts/deficits and yet they can continue to survive.

TBH £600k isn't a massive loss for a company like GW's, surely it must be one of the biggest motorcycling concerns in the UK?

[shooey]

if we look at current economic, demographic of the customer base and the ongoing anti bike propaganda machine.

Would anyone be surprised that biking in the UK is in a downwards trend ??

Its a shame, but as said before, after our generation I reckon the next generation won't bother with road bikes and they will become a rarer sight 

[Kermittheflyingbog]

TBH £600k isn't a massive loss for a company like GW's, surely it must be one of the biggest motorcycling concerns in the UK?

I agree, the company I worked for from 1994-2009 lost £340m in 2004 and £40M in 2005 when they made me redundant at the end of 2008 the company actually made a profit of £300K this on a UK turnover of £780m so GW's loss on turnover doesn't look that bad on the face of it, however I think it may be from a few years of losses and maybe the Board of Directors creaming off any profits.
As for Jan sales I think on 2011 they were bound to be up and even 2010 as we had very snowy/icy Jan's for the last 2 years, I would be interested on a comparison to 2008 which was relatively mild and also at the start of the current recession 

[Hodge]

Perhaps they just overextended themselves with rapid expansion in a market that was on the downturn due to manufacturer overpricing.

[luke636r]

I strongly feel for the staff there, having lost their job isn't a joy for anyone. With regards to George White as a dealer, their demise can only benefit all the surrounding dealers that over the years have slowly become suffocated by their existence. At On Yer Bike this weekend alone I must have spoke to 10 different groups of bikers who had come to us for the first time. Hopefully this will continue and spread the sales accross the area and keep true bike shops going.
 

[RichieRotten]

I strongly feel for the staff there, having lost their job isn't a joy for anyone. With regards to George White as a dealer, their demise can only benefit all the surrounding dealers that over the years have slowly become suffocated by their existence. At On Yer Bike this weekend alone I must have spoke to 10 different groups of bikers who had come to us for the first time. Hopefully this will continue and spread the sales accross the area and keep true bike shops going.
 

As a customer I support that and I do try to support the smaller retailers cause as I said above I like the service they give.