For most businesses, sales are born out of demand forecasting mistakes. You think you're going to sell 100 widgets but only end up moving 50, so you've got to cut price on the other 50 to make room for the next 100 widgets you're not going to sell. The problem with that model for the seller is that it creates a disincentive to buy early, since customers learn pretty quickly that their patience pays off with clearance pricing. Even worse, it punishes the very best customers who don't wait with higher prices than the masses. Sure they get their widget earlier and can start using it right away, but who doesn't ultimately feel a little cheated when they learn that someone else got the same exact thing for less money, just for waiting?
We are like other businesses in that we also suck at forecasting demand. But so far, we suck in the opposite direction, which I guess means that we blow at forecasting demand. Instead of stocking too many RFSC wheelsets, we stocked too few. Here we are headed into the meat of the road season and we're down to 2 sets of RFSC 38s remaining. We're putting in another order with our rim and hub suppliers next week.
Instead of punishing our customers who order early, our model rewards them. If you know you want a set of RFSC 38s this year, you can pre-order them until Wednesday 4/20 for $745, a discount of $140. The wheels will arrive mid-summer (we get an exact date from the suppliers once we place the order), and you'll actually be fast enough to deserve them by then because you'll spend the next couple months training instead of researching all day on the internets which carbon fiber wheels to buy.
If you can't wait, you can buy one of our remaining two sets here.
1 comment
You know, when I read things like this, I am really glad you guys offer wheelsets.