Originally Posted by
Duragrouch
Bike shops don't buy stuff directly from the manufacturer, as far as I know. They buy from distributers, who may not work for the manufacturers, instead being one-stop-shopping for dealers. Let me know if this is wrong. But if so, who knows where the distributer gets their parts? I would imagine perhaps that REI, due to their size, can buy direct from the manufacturers(?) I think computerized authentication will solve this, for everyone.
Now ya got me looking at my KMC packaging, gonna scroll up to compare... checks out good on multiple fronts.
We do a bit of both. I certainly do a bulk of ordering through distributors as it is easy and I can get a wide variety but in some cases some companies don't have a distributor or don't sell that particular product through a distributor or I can get better margins or have a lower order quantity. Generally bikes are through the manufacturers but a lot of other stuff is generally more served through distributors but not in all cases for either one.
FBinNY was spot on.