Basler Zeitung paints a doomsday scenario for the Basel bicycle retailer
Mischa Hauswirth, editor at the Basler Zeitung, lists the factors that are making business difficult for the Basel-based bicycle retailer: the low euro, shopping tourism to nearby Germany, a sluggish economy and falling margins. These points are well known, at least since August 2011, when the Swiss franc almost reached parity with the euro. With martial words such as "death throes", Hauswirth conjures up a scenario: soon numerous Basel bike dealers will have to close their stores. Peter Sommer, President of 2rad-Schweiz, also has his say, describing the economic environment in Basel as extremely difficult.
Ruedi Wenger in focus
In the BaZ report, Ruedi Wenger from the specialist bicycle store Wenger 2-Rad Shop finds clear words. Despite optimizations on the expenditure side, including his own wage reduction, he is barely in the black. Wenger has had to cope with a 40 percent drop in turnover over the past 18 months. The 64-year-old Wenger is also thinking about closing his business. He not only sees his company under threat, but also believes that the entire industry is on the brink of collapse.
Freddy Schnell from Schnell Velos and René Brino from Brino Velo are also confronted with sluggish business. According to BaZ, they both see shopping tourism as the main reason for this. The price gap with Germany is too great and even with massive discounts, bicycle sales and profits can hardly be achieved. The consequences of this are redundancies and the elimination of training places for apprentices.
Hauswirth also addresses the issue of bicycle theft in his report and writes about the role of politics and the police. Basel bike dealers, who are satisfied with the course of business, do not have a say.Various comments
Bike business customers have their say in the comments. There is a discussion about satisfaction with the local specialist retailer. Individual commentators write about the potential of specialist stores to adapt to today's market conditions. In addition, other factors such as online stores, which are stealing sales from local retailers, emerge in the comments. There are also commentators who disagree with the doomsday scenario described.
To the article:
bazonline.ch/basel/stadt/Velohaendler-kaempfen-ums-Ueberleben/story/20010992
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.