Dealers Disappearing....

stollydriver said:

Triumph are dictating to dealerships to become more of a boutique store. They are pushing in the UK for sole agent Triumph only including rider wear etc. Maybe the same over there.

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I think the jargon is ‘CREATE A CONSISTENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ‘...

Tal said:

Triumph have a "look" they want and the shop has to comply...you need a bit of coin to set that up.

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Not just Triumph either. My mate had to spend a small fortune on paint when he took over Guzzi maintenance officially (it was the only way forward if he was to do warranty work) - must have done something right as they are always full now and close to going under last year.

Thedogsbollocks said:

I think the jargon is ‘CREATE A CONSISTENT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE ‘...

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Also I think to create ONE STOP SHOPPING. I know a guy in the UK who has a bike gear shop - he has moved closer to a big bike dealer as something symbiotic. I know the bike dealer too (I used to buy from his dad! ) - I suppose I'll have to visit the little tyke now.

Lost 2 by me since 2013 one 45 the other 60 miles from me. Now the closest one is in Philadelphia 80 miles from me! More hipsters in Philly I guess!

I think the main problem is, their advertising. Most people I meet always say, wow how old is your bike? Never seen anything like it! Oh it’s a triumph!
Oh are they still in business?

Jag said:

Lost 2 by me since 2013 one 45 the other 60 miles from me. Now the closest one is in Philadelphia 80 miles from me! More hipsters in Philly I guess!

I think the main problem is, their advertising. Most people I meet always say, wow how old is your bike? Never seen anything like it! Oh it’s a triumph!

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Jag said:

Oh are they still in business?

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I hear that all the time.

We used to have four in our area but the one in south Tacoma and one in Gorst, about 8 miles from me, both closed. Now it's Seattle Triumph, a ferry boat ride and about 10 miles up old Hw1 99 or one way on the other side of Seattle. It was one of the reasons I very much hesitated about buying my Rocket. Thankfully services are every 10k miles and I hope to do the first myself.

Gregger said:

It seems some Triumph dealerships are being forced to shed other motorcycle lines and sell Triumph only while others are able to keep multiple lines along with the Triumph brand. I wonder why??? Does Triumph have a double standard???

Pulled into St Pete Powersports in Florida and they informed me, they had dropped the Triumph line for that reason. They felt it was better to drop the one Triumph line than several others. They hadn't pulled the Triumph sign down yet. Then drove to Tampa Triumph which only sells Triumph. They seemed to be doing well with quite a pile of accessories and bikes in stock along with several in-house modified Thruxtons (turbo equipped), Bobbers and a Speedmaster that was gorgeous. Only had one new Rocket which they said wasn't a big seller. They seemed to be the only dealer in the whole Tampa, St. Petes area.

Another Triumph dealership in Staynor Ontario, was being forced to move to Barrie Ontario even though they felt things were going well for them. They lost their Triumph line but took on the Moto Guzzi one????

Not sure what Triumph is doing in the marketing category. They may have an excellent design and development team, but marketing...... sucks!

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Yes that’s exactly the reason...no sharing showrooms everything has to be brand. Funny story , I went up to Ocala to a big dealership there last Saturday . This dealership is large with two big showrooms. One big showroom is full of ATV , dirt bikes , Kawasaki , Honda , helmets & accessories etc. Another big building/ showroom is dedicated to Indian and Triumph only. I was looking simply for a ram mount so went into the accessories dept in the first building. Asked by an associate if he could help me I said yes and Told him what I was looking for. He then asked “what make’s your bike” , Triumph I replied. With that he asked me to follow him and he led me out of the building , across the lot and into the Indian/ Triumph showroom. We then walked all the way to the back of this showroom and waited 5 mins for a parts guy to appear at the parts desk we had arrived at. When eventually the parts guy appears , the guy helping me asked this parts guy “ Is it ok if we sell this customer something from our showroom as he has a Triumph”?. The parts guy then says “what is it He wants”? ( I’m stood right there!). The associate who took me to him replied “a phone mount”. The parts guy then says “yeah you go ahead you can serve him , we don’t sell them”. I then said “hold on...We’ve just walked over here to get this guys permission for you to sell me something from your showroom , is that right”? He said yes. I think I simply said “ you out of your minds”?
and I left.


Last point , being a retailer all my life, a big miss is Triumph’s accessories, clothes etc. I know they try but it’s not great.
Albeit far smaller , have a look at the Notion boots , clothing etc. Of course as we know Harley’s main profit stream comes from their apparel. There is an enormous market for Triumph to get real focus on their apparel etc.
just my humble opinion...TRIUMPH IF YOURE READING...IM AVAILABLE TO HELP...( RAN NEXT JUST UP THE ROAD IN THE G.DAVIS ERA LOL)

The Harley dealership 25 miles north of me actually just added Triumph to their showroom. Compared to the square footage taken up buy the Hogs it's probably a quarter or less of the store. And very little merchandise. I was walking around looking at the bikes and one of the sales people said that some model was perfect for me, "114ci is what a big guy like you needs." Which of course with a grin I replied "Aww, that's adorable. My bike's 140ci." They also wanted to charge me $375 for a rear tire!!!!!

The Detroit dealership's about 60 miles from my house. Apparently they had to expand, not sure if Triumph made them but it's really nice. and their mechanics there are trustworthy. I'll just make the trip.

The Indian/Triumph dealer just laid off three people. This is not a good sign.

We all complain about the lack of dealers but we are the first to say do everything yourself and only use the dealer when we need some special tools/equipment, how many have seen a t-shirt , jacket.gloves, pants etc that you liked but instead of getting the dealer to order them or even buy directly from the dealer stock you will run home and save a few bucks by going online and ordering the item so when the time comes when you need a dealer and you can not find one please do not piss and moan