Dirk Kurek, Managing Director of Cresta- and Ibex-manufacturer Komenda AG, puts it in a nutshell in his workshop: "Eight years ago, we only ran mechanic training courses at Infotech and showed how to service a hub gear, for example. Today, I take my hat off to the specialist dealers who attend seminars that go beyond the craft and cover business aspects, for example."

This non-exhaustive list of seminars immediately speaks volumes: "What customers really want", "Trends as a source of inspiration for sustainable sales success", "Employee motivation tips", "Online retail - danger or opportunity?", "Concept or concept store" are further training courses far beyond pure screwdriver skills. Why that should be a good thing

New business environment
A five-year-old concept for a specialist bike store that has not yet been relaunched is rattling like a rusty chain in 2014, as the economic environment for specialist retailers has changed permanently and rapidly. The web as an information and sales channel has become the norm across a wide range of buyers, large-scale stores are making inroads and price sensitivity has increased enormously since the euro crisis. In addition, bicycles have developed into high-tech devices that are virtually pumped full of hydraulics and electronics.

These and other factors that influence today's business environment will be presented to Infotech visitors in compact form. And, of course, bike store employees can also take part in the technical workshops that will continue to take place to get fit for working on the latest bike parts. These events, which were mainly dedicated to promotional purposes and consisted purely of product presentations, were not very well received by the public.Smooth running
The event itself is extremely mature: the organization by Velosuisse Event GmbH is tried and tested and professional, and the procedures are very familiar to the vast majority of visitors. This year, a record number of seminar-hosting companies took part: a total of 72 workshops were held at the AAL in Lucerne on January 8 and 9, 2014. This large selection largely prevented overcrowded course rooms. A megaphone siren may have caused some confusion in the main building, but it ensured that the transition to the next seminar was usually very punctual.

Glanzpunkt Arena
The challenges facing the bike industry were perfectly crystallized at the panel discussion Arena. Motorcycle dealer Wolfgang Hess used his experience from his related but apparently different industry to show where bike dealers need to change in order to avoid disappearing from the scene.

The discussion about workshop hourly rates and the call during the Arena to significantly increase this amount have made it clear that the Swiss bicycle industry urgently needs a more sustainable and dominant structure within which opinions can be exchanged and decisions made. When discussing the image of the bicycle mechanic profession, it becomes clear that public relations work should be approached more professionally and that the bicycle lobby in this country is almost non-existent.

Infotech 2014 - a few facts
Participating retailers / counted admissions: 586 (2013: 599, 2012: 611)
Participants on the part of seminar providers/speakers: around 300 (2013: 270, 2012: 200)
Number of seminars: 72 (2013: 56, 2012: 48)
(Information provided by Bernhard Loosli, Velosuisse Event GmbH)

www.velosuisse-event.ch