--- title: "Assortment for bike shops: the capital sits in the bikes, the margin hangs on the accessories | Spreat" description: "Assortment and tied-up capital in bike shops: why bikes tie up the capital while accessories and apparel carry the margin - and how to widen the accessory wall without buying stock." url: "https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/assortment-for-bike-shops" language: "en" --- [Back](https://spreat.com/en/stories?tag=industry) - Retail & insights # Assortment for bike shops: the capital sits in the bikes, the margin hangs on the accessories A bike ties up four figures and stands still all winter. The accessories beside it decide the month - and they are the part you do not have to buy. 23 June 2026 Translated from German [Read the original version](https://spreat.com/stories/industry/sortiment-fahrradladen) ![Two areas of a bike shop: bikes with capital tied up, accessories without](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/sortiment-fahrradladen/cover-en-800.webp) A bike shop has a capital problem on two floors. Below stand the bikes: each ties up a four-figure sum, often for months, and in winter half the shop stands still. Above sit the accessories - locks, helmets, apparel, care products, bags - which carry the margin and are still the first thing cut when liquidity gets tight. ## Why the accessories are what suffers Because they are the only line you can cut at short notice. The bikes are ordered, often seasons in advance; the workshop runs regardless. What is left is the accessory wall - and that is exactly where a repair does or does not turn into an additional sale. Then there is the season. From October to February the space is there, the rent is there, and the turnover is not. Anyone wanting to try something new in that window pays for it out of the same account the spring order comes from. ## What changes when the accessories are not yours If the goods stay the brand's until they sell, an additional accessory brand costs nothing up front. You earn a commission when something passes the till - and what does not move in spring goes back, instead of going out at a discount a year later. For winter that means something concrete: the dead season becomes the test season. A regional bag brand, a care range, apparel from a small label - three attempts then cost space and attention, not capital. ## Three limits we know about - **The bike itself is not a good case.** Advice, assembly, set-up and the responsibility after the sale hang together. A bike that is not yours makes that chain more complicated, not simpler. - **The workshop is the core business, not the floor.** Where the shop is mostly workshop and the sales area is a corridor, there is little to gain. It needs a wall or a corner that genuinely sells. - **You need a till that plays along.** Settlement runs through the sale itself. Anyone still working with a notepad and a handshake starts there. What the capital tied up in bikes costs you is worked out in [tied-up capital in retail](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/tied-up-capital-retail); what a misjudged accessory buy really costs is in [what a bad buy really costs](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/what-a-bad-buy-costs). It is not meant to. A bike needs assembly, set-up and clear responsibility after the sale. The model targets accessories, apparel, care products and bags. The season is the reason it adds up. Accessories that do not move in winter cost you nothing if you never bought them - and in spring they are already there. A wall or a corner. The effort per brand stays the same however little hangs there - which is why it pays from a coherent area, not from three items. Not necessarily. It is about what you do not carry today because you do not want to pre-finance it - not about replacing what already works. Work out your accessory wall. Commission per product, per month and per year - with your numbers. [To the store calculator](https://spreat.com/en/stores/pricing) Written by [Mattis Klöpperon LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattis-kloepper/) Co-founder and managing director Share this article ## More stories - [![Weeks instead of months into physical retail, and what a brand's risk really costs](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/schnellster-weg-in-den-einzelhandel/cover-en-800.webp) - Retail & insights - Product ## The fastest route into physical retail - and what it really costs a brand With Spreat, the brand carries the stock risk. That is true. But how big it is can be put in euros - and set against the routes where the retailer takes on the risk and gets paid for it. Read the story](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/fastest-route-into-retail) - [![Four steps instead of buying stock: how much work the brands' goods take in a store](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/aufwand-fremde-ware-im-store/cover-en-800.webp) - Retail & insights - Product ## How much work the brands' goods take in a store Space, staff time, return shipping: the brands' goods do not come for free. Here is what a store really does for them - and which work falls away in return. Read the story](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/work-brand-goods-in-store) - [![Eight questions from Reddit and forums on consignment, commission and stock without buying it](https://spreat.com/media/images/stories/reddit-fragen-kommission-marktplatz-store/cover-en-800.webp) - Retail & insights ## The marketplace in the store: what retailers and brands ask on Reddit and in forums Eight questions about consignment, commission and stock without buying it, as they appear on Reddit, in German seller forums and on gutefrage - with the community's answers and what Spreat made of them. Read the story](https://spreat.com/en/stories/industry/reddit-questions-consignment-in-store-marketplace) ## And how about you? Store or brand - the way in is a different one. Tell us which side you are coming from. [I have a store](https://spreat.com/en/stores) [I have a brand](https://spreat.com/en/brands)