The various aspects of the marketplace and how it relates to The Spoke N’ Rider’s business have been discussed up to this point.  Now each of the shop’s specific competitors will be evaluated and compared with The Spoke N’ Rider.  The following table (Competition) will provide a synopsis of the competitive environment.

The Outdoor Sports Shop

The highly reputable Outdoor Sports Shop is The Spoke N’ Rider’s most challenging competitor.  The Outdoor Sport Shop is a well known chain in the Mid-West with a broad focus in sports-related products.  This chain offers a wide variety of outdoor sporting equipment ranging from bikes to camping gear to skis.  They have been in business longer and have a much higher profile than The Spoke N’ Rider.  While this retail chain has an excellent overall equipment offering and a solid reputation, The Spoke N’ Rider stands strong behind the concept that their focused bike shop offers the consumer, and especially the student market, valuable benefits.  The Spoke N’ Rider’s staff is required to be well-versed in every aspect of the cycling industry so that they can give each customer in-depth help with their specific biking requirements.  In contrast the staff of the Outdoor Sports Shop is required to have only a basic level of knowledge for each product area, since the store's product offering is so broad.  More importantly, whereas The Spoke N’ Rider endeavors to be part of the student “scene” via its location, atmosphere and activities, The Outdoor Sports Shop is a community-based chain that does not have campus atmosphere or appeal.  Even though most retailers in this area plan to prosper from the forecasted increase in student population, The Spoke N’ Rider believes their plan to specifically target the freshman population is a unique approach.  If The Outdoor Sports Shop does target this market along with The Spoke N’ Rider, a contingency plan has been developed (see the Description of Risks and Contingency Plans sections).

The Mountain Cycler

The Mountain Cycler is an established vendor who has been in business for 30 years.  While this vendor shares the same overall business structure, The Spoke N’ Rider offers a much more advanced line of bicycles.  The Mountain Cycler has failed to keep up technological advances in the biking industry.  They do have bicycle lines that range from low to high end bikes, but many are obsolete designs.  The owners of this shop are older and not as knowledgeable about the latest and greatest trends in the cycling world.  This shop tends to attract more of the older local market than the younger student market.  The one great advantage this shop has is their location, which is 3 blocks from campus.  The advantage “location, location, location” would apply for this competitor if they focused more toward the younger generation.  However, The Spoke N’ Rider has much higher name recognition among the student population and is generally regarded as the place to go for biking gear, even though it is further from campus than The Mountain Cycler.  If this shop does decide to update their product offering to more effectively target the student market, The Spoke N’ Rider has developed a contingency plan (see Description of Risks and Contingency Plans section).

MountainMart

The least threatening of the biking competitors is MountainMart.  They employ a large commodity approach and discount price structure for their entire product line.  While they definitely possess the price advantage, they do not offer either the high performance bike lines or the service that the Spoke N’ Rider and its key competitors offer.  Furthermore, MountainMart is located 15 miles away from Smart University and thus is not at all convenient for students (especially those without cars who represent the primary target market). This retail store does not represent a serious threat to The Spoke N’ Rider in the targeted markets at this time.