How can ‘FixerBiker’ deal with

increased demand?

“FixerBiker”
Providing plausible scenarios
for the future of a small bike
repair company

TEAM 2
Biljana Pendovska
Mladenka Vuchkova
Jordan Tasev
Teodora Atanasova
Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................2
Solution.............................................................................................................................. 2
Scenarios:.......................................................................................................................2
1) Expand..................................................................................................................... 2
2) Outsource................................................................................................................3
Solution........................................................................................................................... 4
Challenges to be addressed.........................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 5
Business Model Canvas......................................................................................................6
Introduction
‘FixerBiker’ is a small bike repair shop located in Debar Maalo in Skopje. It has 10 employees including
the owner, one accountant, one employee in charge of HR and legal issues, one employee in charge of
marketing and PR and 6 employees who do the core business – they repair the bikes. ‘FixerBiker’ was
established in 2015 with only 3 employees and in 5 years it has grown to a very successful small
business. Over the years ‘FixerBiker’ has achieved to position itself well on the market and become the
‘go-to’ bike repair shop in the city due to the quality of the core business and the good marketing
strategy. All manual workers have relevant educational and experiential qualifications, the service the
company provides its customers is always impeccable in terms of delivery time (how fast the bikes are
repaired) and strong customer relationships, which has made customers put great trust in the company
and return to ‘FixerBiker’ every time they have issues with their bikes. Moreover, the marketing strategy
is well positioned: despite having great value proposition, the company benefits from both word-of-
mouth marketing which attracts the older generations and digital marketing appealing to a younger
customer base.
The success of ‘FixerBiker’ grew and it coincided with the global health and environmental trends which
resulted in a gradual increase of people who ride bikes in the city and consequently, of people who need
bike repair services. More and more people use bikes 1) on the weekdays for their daily commute and 2)
on weekends for recreation. However, this brought a new challenge for ‘FixerBiker’ – how to manage
the increased demand for their services?

Solution
Scenarios:
‘FixerBiker’ now faces a situation in which demand has surpassed supply capability, meaning it is
struggling to meet the request for services. In order not to lose the trust of the customers it already has
and to attract and retain new customers, ‘FixerBiker’ has to act fast. We suggest three possible
scenarios:

1) Expand
One of the most obvious choices for the company is for it to expand its facilities to deal with the
increase in demand. If they choose this option, ‘FixerBiker’ should invest in opening another shop in the
following year, in an appropriate location, within the vicinity of the city center. This would suggest the
following activities: finding and buying or renting the new space, conditioning it into a workshop and
hiring more employees. We would suggest hiring 5 more employees at first, 4 of which would do the
manual work and 1 of which would do the administrative work in the new shop. The marketing strategy
should remain the same – same value proposition and same channels of communication.
- Advantages: ‘FixerBiker’ increases its capacity and meets demand on its own. The key advantage is
quality control: through an expansion every process in the pipeline remains under FixerBiker’s control. 
- Disadvantages: A heavy, costly and time-consuming investment in terms of creating a new workshop
(acquiring a location and providing optimal conditions) as well as hiring and training new employees.

2) Mobile Bike Repair

 Buying vehicles that will be used for mobile bike repair services
 Hiring 4-5 employees (bicycle mechanics)
 A marketing strategy for promotion of the new services

Advantages: Does not require a heavy investment of building a new workshop yet it offers expansion. It
is a flexible and convenient solution for customers.

Disadvantages: There still needs to be an investment in buying the vehicles and hiring additional
employees (which is costly). Moreover, it does not offer the network expansion that could be created in
other ways.

3) Outsource
Additional to its core business, ‘FixerBiker’ could work as a broker by creating joint ventures with other
shops within the vicinity of the city. Whenever ‘FixerBiker’ admits it can’t perform the requested service
due to lack of availability of resources, they can redirect the job to a partner (collecting a referral
fee/commission).  We suggest these partnerships to be concluded during the following 6 months. In this
scenario the channels for communication change. This arrangement could operate through a website
which could be easily adapted into a mobile App. Users/clients on one end could get quotes on common
repairs, they can schedule appointments and verify availability and locations. On the supply side, the
shop and its new partners can constantly upload their availability in terms of itinerary services. Through
these partnerships and a simple technological element, the company can increase its revenue without
incurring heavy and time-consuming investments. All this while making the customer experience more
transparent and efficient, generating bonds and partnerships with other companies that are currently
the competition, and promptly meeting demand.
- Advantages: the company could eventually become entirely a service provider and create an oligopoly.
This would set huge barriers entry since the network, the brand awareness and the potential
achievement of scale economies would be hard to match.
- Disadvantages: Maintaining quality control could be difficult to accomplish. Since the potential shop
allies would serve more as an approved representative than a franchise, coercing certain policies and
procedures would be impossible. Additionally, without a tight agreement and loyal partners these
alternate locations could drop ‘FixerBiker’ once they build a steady clientele.

Solution
After analyzing the proposed alternatives Outsourcing seems the most effective. Why? Firstly, the
necessary investment is much smaller. A website needs to be designed and contracts and procedures
have to be drafted to guarantee quality of service, time frames, cost structures and protection against
third party liabilities and contract rescission. By adopting this alternative, the business can be easily
scalable and even one day “franchisable”, therefore evolving an additional business unit in the form of
royalties. Meaning, this solution would not only resolve their short time issues, but it could also become
the foundation for an expansion that could make the company global. 

Challenges to be addressed
In order to guarantee the success of this venture there are clear challenges that need to be addressed.
First, the design of the webpage/app. It has to be user-friendly and must contain real time information
about appointment and service availability at all times. To guarantee at least one manager at every
location/partner needs to be trained. Their feedback should be rewarded in the form of new customers
flooding their locations, so there is an inherent incentive, thus, it must be monitored. 
The second major challenge is quality of service. The most important variable unquestionably is the
reliability that ‘FixeBiker’ conveys on the top of mind of the consumer. This can be broken down into
three main variables: the price of the duty or job, the time of execution, and the overall quality. These
three need not only be satisfactory and above certain standards, but they have to be homogenous all
across the board at every location. Clear manuals and policies have to be drafted explaining: the spare
parts that have to be used, the specific timeframe for every type of repair and the price. Furthermore, a
rotation system might be suitable, where both laborers and managers do rotation programs to the main
shop so they can be physically trained and advised.
Finally, the last major challenge to be tackled in order to guarantee the endurance of the model is
assuring collection of revenue. Technology is the best ally in this scenario. Registers can be linked to the
app showing real time collection. Established guidelines such as “No receipt equals 100%
reimbursement” and discount on prepaid jobs over the apps will prevent leakage. 
Eventually the culmination of a successful venture will rely on wrapping all these loose ends and binding
them together for a successful culmination.

Conclusion

The small bike repair shop ‘FixerBiker’ is facing an increased demand for its services due to the improved
health and environmental collective consciousness. People have been increasingly using bikes both for
daily commute and recreation, which in turn has increased the need for bike repairs. After assessing the
advantages and disadvantages of three plausible scenarios, we have come up with a business model to
an outsourcing solution which we believe would be the best course of action for the company to take
both on the short- and long-run. Namely, we suggest ‘FixerBiker’ to partner with other bike repair
companies that would share the burden of the work. Both ‘FixerBiker’ and its partners would benefit in
terms of profit, growing customers and expanding their networks. Although this solution offers some
challenges, the long-term advantages it could bring (increased market share, eventual economy of scale
etc.) make it worth taking a shot.
Business Model Canvas
 Establishing partnerships -Getting customers – word-of- Primary:
Firms who ‘FixerBiker’ Create value – create a
Keeping and growing mouth and digital marketing
will outsource the work quality service Daily commuters who
customers -Keeping customers –
to when their capacities experienced and quality use bikes to get around
delivering quality service; use
cannot meet demand Digital marketing staff, flexible service, the city during their
of web-site and/or mobile app
dependable service everyday activities
-Growing customers –
Maintaining high quality
Deliver value – partnering firms
service Bike enthusiasts –
personalized quality people who use bikes
service for recreation
Capture value –the Secondary:
Highly qualified and profit made off of the Web-site and a mobile app
trained staff delivered services, the Partnering firms to
relationships it will Direct communication in the which the work will be
Workshop facilities and workshops outsourced
nurture with its
equipment
customers and the
Word-of-mouth and Digital
Web-site and app network it will create
marketing
Partnering firms

Salaries for employees Main revenue stream: proceeds from the core business of repairing
Maintenance of workshop facilities and equipment bikes
Digital marketing
Additional revenue stream: commissions from when a different shop
Web-site and mobile app development
repairs the bikes
Web-site and mobile app maintenance