Bike Sales Question

lisenbyjacob
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6/13/2019 4:02pm
I've been up to my balls in a marketing class that I took as an elective (I'm an idiot) and it's got me thinking about lots of stuff from a marketing perspective. Out of the two, which of these gets more bike sales... the overall results from all the bike shootouts from the media? OR the color of the bike that wins the championships?
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hubbardmx50
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6/13/2019 4:27pm
The RMZ450 won plenty of championships in the last ten years and it never translated to bike sales. I’d say shootout results and which bike everyone hears is good trump Championship results.
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lostboy819
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6/13/2019 4:27pm
Bike shootouts by a long shot
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DPR250R
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6/13/2019 4:28pm Edited Date/Time 6/13/2019 4:31pm
"Win on Sunday... Sell on Monday"... If the manufacturers didn't believe that they wouldn't spend the money to go racing.

In order to see if it is true a manufacturer would have to drop out and we would have to analyze the impact on sales.
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The Shop

lostboy819
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RC won and so did Kroc on Suzuki but the sales never went up. Sad because they were great bikes
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lostboy819
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DPR250R wrote:
"Win on Sunday... Sell on Monday"... If the manufacturers didn't believe that they wouldn't spend the money to go racing. In order to see if it...
"Win on Sunday... Sell on Monday"... If the manufacturers didn't believe that they wouldn't spend the money to go racing.

In order to see if it is true a manufacturer would have to drop out and we would have to analyze the impact on sales.
That worked for stock car racing in the 60s and 70s and MX in the 70s and 80s but not true anymore unfortunately.
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DPR250R
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6/13/2019 4:32pm
lostboy819 wrote:
That worked for stock car racing in the 60s and 70s and MX in the 70s and 80s but not true anymore unfortunately.
Could be right for sure.
DPR250R
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6/13/2019 4:38pm
lostboy819 wrote:
That worked for stock car racing in the 60s and 70s and MX in the 70s and 80s but not true anymore unfortunately.
Sry for the double quote but... what about KTM?

Did the perception of the brand change after they started winning? (in the US) Curious what their marketing department thinks.
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hubbardmx50
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6/13/2019 4:39pm
lostboy819 wrote:
RC won and so did Kroc on Suzuki but the sales never went up. Sad because they were great bikes
Yup, so did Reed and Dungey In 2009 and 2010
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rjg
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6/13/2019 4:45pm
Shoot outs, reviews. Championship is the icing on top if the rest is going for it.
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6/13/2019 7:02pm
Does anyone have any actual numbers on bike sales? Or just guessing? What about mid 2000s when everything was yellow? I can think of years where every manufacturer dominated, in just the last 20 years
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JG463
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6/13/2019 9:36pm
I've been up to my balls in a marketing class that I took as an elective (I'm an idiot) and it's got me thinking about lots...
I've been up to my balls in a marketing class that I took as an elective (I'm an idiot) and it's got me thinking about lots of stuff from a marketing perspective. Out of the two, which of these gets more bike sales... the overall results from all the bike shootouts from the media? OR the color of the bike that wins the championships?
Geofencing, retargeting ads, other forms of digital media, events, and lastly but most importantly; true engagement of the customer by employees, while in the store.
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JG463
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Does anyone have any actual numbers on bike sales? Or just guessing? What about mid 2000s when everything was yellow? I can think of years where...
Does anyone have any actual numbers on bike sales? Or just guessing? What about mid 2000s when everything was yellow? I can think of years where every manufacturer dominated, in just the last 20 years
A million new motorcycles (all genres, new) sold in 2006 and roughly 400k sold last year (new) while used stayed relatively the same.
usafwx
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6/13/2019 9:43pm
Bike shoot outs for sure. I remember all the shit I would get for riding Yamaha in 2010-2013, still carburated, blah blah blah, grabed the first 2014 YZ250F and still got the that bike is stupid and silly comments, a shoot out and year later everyone was on blue.
Just looking at the local track you can always tell people buy based on whatever bike is on the top of the shoot outs, lately its been a sea of orange and blue at the track, years ago it was a sea of green when the KX was the bike to have.
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avidchimp
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6/13/2019 9:51pm
DPR250R wrote:
"Win on Sunday... Sell on Monday"... If the manufacturers didn't believe that they wouldn't spend the money to go racing. In order to see if it...
"Win on Sunday... Sell on Monday"... If the manufacturers didn't believe that they wouldn't spend the money to go racing.

In order to see if it is true a manufacturer would have to drop out and we would have to analyze the impact on sales.
lostboy819 wrote:
That worked for stock car racing in the 60s and 70s and MX in the 70s and 80s but not true anymore unfortunately.
The reason it worked in the past is because there were very few outlets to get information. When you got Cycle News all you read was race results/recaps and hoped your dude won.

Until MXA came around and started saying "go up one tooth" it really was "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday."
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Question
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6/14/2019 1:22am

4 P : place, product, promotion, price. I think each criteria represent 25% of the buying process quite fairly.

Place : not everybody has a good dealer of brand X nearby, so stay loyal to a good relationship (i.e. I think there are much more Honda dealers than Suzuki, Gas Gas, Sherco or TM, which are nice bikes)

Product : shout out, and often test of a friend's bike. But I think design/personal liking plays a bigger role in the buying process, which is probably why trashed bikes with new graphics sell as fast as clean ones with stock graphics.

Promotion : winning helps for sure. the overall presence upfront help, and having all the riders of brand X at the back of the pack doesn't help.

Price : depending on the price, people may be interested or not by this or this product.
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sandtrack315
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6/14/2019 2:14am
I would say mostly shootouts, but having the bike on the top of the box does not hurt. I also think that, around the edges, riders that are great at social media and just making the bike look cool, like Roczen or AC, help.
steveada
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6/14/2019 4:38am
I think shootouts and reviews are most important for the first sale. However, one thing I didn't see mentioned was just brand loyalty. How many guys do you know that just keep buying red, or blue, or green, or orange regardless of what reviews say or racing results are? This can be due to perceived quality of the brand, customer service, or just familiarity with the characteristics of a particular brand of bike. When someone is in the market for their 2nd, 3rd etc bike, I think these things are the most important.
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ktmdan
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6/14/2019 5:48am
If Suzuki completely dropped out of pro racing and put a couple million into contingency for local racing you would see a sea of yellow...
sandtrack315
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6/14/2019 5:58am
steveada wrote:
I think shootouts and reviews are most important for the first sale. However, one thing I didn't see mentioned was just brand loyalty. How many guys...
I think shootouts and reviews are most important for the first sale. However, one thing I didn't see mentioned was just brand loyalty. How many guys do you know that just keep buying red, or blue, or green, or orange regardless of what reviews say or racing results are? This can be due to perceived quality of the brand, customer service, or just familiarity with the characteristics of a particular brand of bike. When someone is in the market for their 2nd, 3rd etc bike, I think these things are the most important.
Good point. I default to Yamaha, but I have owned Honda, Suzuki, and Kawasaki. Particularly if you get a new bike every year, most of the parts (like an exhaust, air filters, et cetera) still work and it's an easy transition.
Turbojez
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6/14/2019 5:59am
Whichever brand is most widely respected by Vital Brain Trust sells like hot cakes.
APLMAN99
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6/14/2019 12:31pm
lostboy819 wrote:
That worked for stock car racing in the 60s and 70s and MX in the 70s and 80s but not true anymore unfortunately.
DPR250R wrote:
Sry for the double quote but... what about KTM? Did the perception of the brand change after they started winning? (in the US) Curious what their...
Sry for the double quote but... what about KTM?

Did the perception of the brand change after they started winning? (in the US) Curious what their marketing department thinks.
The perception of KTM changed when they started hanging out with MXA testers and making their bikes suit their riding style better. Smart move on KTMs part, too.
lostboy819
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6/14/2019 12:41pm
lostboy819 wrote:
That worked for stock car racing in the 60s and 70s and MX in the 70s and 80s but not true anymore unfortunately.
DPR250R wrote:
Sry for the double quote but... what about KTM? Did the perception of the brand change after they started winning? (in the US) Curious what their...
Sry for the double quote but... what about KTM?

Did the perception of the brand change after they started winning? (in the US) Curious what their marketing department thinks.
You make a good point there because I thought Dungey would never win a race or championship when he went to KTM but when he did it changed my opinion on KTMs. But then I rode a KTM for a summer and my opinion was back to where it was before.Pinch
c0ncEpT
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6/14/2019 1:23pm Edited Date/Time 6/14/2019 1:24pm
Shootouts. I actually bought a 2016 YZ250F based on it winning most shootouts since it was introduced in 2014.

Turned out to be my favorite I've owned to date.
VetMX.com
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6/14/2019 3:07pm
I've been up to my balls in a marketing class that I took as an elective (I'm an idiot) and it's got me thinking about lots...
I've been up to my balls in a marketing class that I took as an elective (I'm an idiot) and it's got me thinking about lots of stuff from a marketing perspective. Out of the two, which of these gets more bike sales... the overall results from all the bike shootouts from the media? OR the color of the bike that wins the championships?
That marketing class will be your best investment ever if you go into business. You will start to see things in a different way and no business makes it w/ out marketing. Bite the bullet and keep taking them and Psychology is also a good one if you go into business for yourself. Especially Ab Psych.
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byke
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6/14/2019 3:43pm
^^^Along those lines, what we think influences our decisions isn't always what actually influences our decisions. We lie to ourselves a lot for various reasons. Still, it'd be fun to read if people posted their top three or five or whatever influencers and assigned it a weighted percentage.
lostboy819
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6/14/2019 3:57pm
I remember when Hannah was winning everything on a 1977 YZ 250 said to be stock except for footpegs or handle bars and then they raffled the bike off at the end of the season,I was already a Yamaha guy by then but I truly believed because of Hannah winning on the "stock " YZ that I also was on the best bike hands down.
lisenbyjacob
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6/16/2019 5:50pm
I've been up to my balls in a marketing class that I took as an elective (I'm an idiot) and it's got me thinking about lots...
I've been up to my balls in a marketing class that I took as an elective (I'm an idiot) and it's got me thinking about lots of stuff from a marketing perspective. Out of the two, which of these gets more bike sales... the overall results from all the bike shootouts from the media? OR the color of the bike that wins the championships?
JG463 wrote:
Geofencing, retargeting ads, other forms of digital media, events, and lastly but most importantly; true engagement of the customer by employees, while in the store.
Off topic, but I noticed you're from Fond Du Lac. My wife and her family are from there and she wants to move back eventually, just thought it was cool to see someone from that area. Nice little spot!
TexasVet
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6/16/2019 6:29pm
Your question should be: " Why did you choose bike x ? "

Many people choose Honda or Yamaha(insert brand) whatever because they are brand loyalist. Regardless of what

anyone says or wins on. Not to mention that whatever bike wins is really remotely similar to a production bike(assuming

a factory rider wins)(likely)-even with production rules. Perhaps it's as simple as the dealer being nearby.

Of the two choices(if that's all), I'd say magazine shootouts would be more of an influence. Simply because average

riders have very little in common with a factory rider.
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