Tasha Wilson of Bowman Cycles
What does it take to build a successful retail outlet? We ask a successful retailer to share her secrets…
Bowman Cycles has captured a niche market by offering a specialist service and technical knowledge. It’s a concept store with a coffee bar where customers can discuss their purchases and a website where they can read up on technical aspects. Situated in the heart of Cape Town CBD, the owners proudly call it “a shop run by bikers for bikers” and this strategy has paid off.
Bowman Bicycles had been servicing the local biking community for 16 years, when Tasha Wilson bought into the company in 2005. Her husband, Shan, is well respected in the cycling community, and she was looking for a new direction and a bike shop seemed a natural move.
Bowman Cycles is situated in a fairly quiet road in the Cape Town CBD and was positioned as a destination store by the previous owners. “They realised the need for easy parking as the shop has a large workshop where it services customers’ bikes, which means that customers need to be able to drop off and collect their bikes with ease,” Wilson explains.
Wilson sold property to finance her shares in Bowmans Cycles. Although she had no previous retail experience, the shop had a large existing customer base. “We are known as a specialist mountain bike store with great technical knowledge. My business partner Shane Janse van Vuuren is a technical guru, and with my husband’s reputation in the racing scene it is a great combination.”
The business relies on word-of-mouth advertising supported by online communication.
“We also sponsor a Bowman Cycles Team. It’s important to have staff members that are respected in the industry and we encourage our staff to race so that they are known and recognised when customers come into the shop.”
Staff training is an important element in the Bowman Cycles success story.
“It is extremely difficult to find good mechanics and sales staff. Our customers come to get technical help and in order for our staff to be sufficiently knowledgeable we have staff training sessions every Thursday morning for two hours.”
Cash is king
Other challenges include juggling a family, competitive athlete husband and a demanding business. “It has been an interesting change and sharp learning curve for me. Controlling cash flow is always a challenge.”
Wilson’s previous company ran Corporate Team Development programmes where she got paid upfront and never had a cash flow problem. She has found retail the opposite as you need to buy everything upfront and then try and sell it. She says staff in this environment must be very confident in their ability to sell as you can’t send back stock that was bought because of a bad decision.
“The biggest thrill of having my own business is being able to say I own Bowman Cycles and that I can be proud of my own achievements.”
She advises would-be retailers to research the market before jumping in. Assess what customers are looking for, who and where the competition is.
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