It’s the content, stupid.
Take a look at Lickton Cycle’s website. I ran into these guys by accident but I live and work just a couple of miles from their shop. I bought a new bike and needed a special sensor to attach to my fancy bladed spokes***, and Google brought up their page.
So, if you’ve already looked at their site, you might notice that it’s not — how shall I say — visually compelling. But, if you’re a bike geek, it’s got A LOT going on. Good prices (the part I needed was $6.95, $10.95 at a shop in SoCal) on great products, mostly, but also a clear dedication to their audience. You can get a ton of detail on obscure parts and tools, and you can get that detail but text description, visual description or a manufacturer’s listing.
The strategy of this, I’m guessing here, is to take advantage of “The Long Tail” effect–the fact that sales of all the low volume items can easily exceed all of the top sellers. The guy at the counter–who had clearly spent more than his fair share of time in the saddle–said that 80% of their business was now national and international.
Not bad for a 75 year old store front bike shop.
*** I didn’t really notice that they were bladed when I bought the bike. I’m more of a computer geek who likes to ride than a hardcore bike geek. Having said that, I’m enough of a bike geek that I think this is funny.