Launched a decade ago, when online stores were in their infancy and the bike industry was being rocked by the likes of Chainreactioncycles.com, Obike was conceived to respond to this threat and support the LBS (Local Bike Shop) at a time when most bike shops were not geared to tackle online monsters like Chain Reaction. What is Obike now, and why does it matter to South Africa?
Paid partnership with Obike
Obike is an online bike shop. Well, mostly. Obike was the first ‘Click and Collect’ online sales channel in South Africa and possibly the world. It’s a website portal owned and run by Omnico (Pty) Ltd, South Africa’s largest bicycle industry distributor (see, that’s where the O comes from in the name). You can find a range of bikes and components and gear on Obike and you can purchase them. The difference to a regular online cycling store though is that Obike will send your product to your nearest bike shop and not to your house.
Why? Well, Omnico supplies over 250 bike shops in South Africa so enjoys an expansive, trusted retail network. Because an online store would essentially be a competitor to Omnico’s network of brick-and-mortar retailer partners, Omnico found a way to both promote and sell product to a wider audience and support the local bike shops.
“By sending your Obike purchase to your local bike shop, Obike ensures you can get the expertise and experience of the bike shop staff that you would never get buy simply purchasing from an online store,” explained Mark Nel, Omnico National Marketing Manager. “We’re putting a human relationship into the transaction, which is still important in this era of digitisation. It also confirms the credibility of Obike.
“Obike was originally started to help clear end-of-range stock for Omnico. Instead of having that stock unseen in a warehouse, Obike was a way to offer a shop window to our warehouse. But 10 years and one global pandemic later and Obike is proving to be quite popular. Stock shortages after Covid were a challenge, but now there is plenty of new stock arriving from all our brands and we are having to move the older stock through Obike,” added Nel.
The following brands are currently available on Obike: GT bicycles, Mongoose bicycles, Schwinn bicycles, Fabric components, Blackburn accessories and Stages GPS devices and bike. Omnico plans to start adding new brands in its broad stable to Obike, including Cannondale.
“We have always been very clear with Obike that the product we market to sell on the site is either end of range or low-demand and priced to clear. But what may be low demand for most, isn’t low demand for all. So, we will be putting more emphasis on Obike from 2023 onwards,” added Nel.
To see what’s currently on Obike, click here.
Paid partnership with Obike
