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Harley's Latest Effort (Debacle?) At Attracting Younger Riders

If you have to depend on clothing sales to make a motorcycle company viable something is not quite right.
 
PGlaves said:
If you have to depend on clothing sales to make a motorcycle company viable something is not quite right.
Click to expand...

I don't mind that they make more off the logo than the bike- some..SOME of their gear is OK (too much China sh*t though- AMERICAN company- chinese goods...) but Aerosmith???!!!??? oy vey. one step forward (Pan American) two back (do me like a lady)
 
I seem to remember reading that the branded clothing and abundance of accessories was a big help in keeping Harley alive during the 1930s depression.
 
1074 said:
I seem to remember reading that the branded clothing and abundance of accessories was a big help in keeping Harley alive during the 1930s depression.
Click to expand...

wow- I didn't know their heavy clothing sales went back that far...interesting. (or is that clothing heavy sales? )
 
1074 said:
I seem to remember reading that the branded clothing and abundance of accessories was a big help in keeping Harley alive during the 1930s depression.
Click to expand...

With respect, I highly doubt that. But I'm sure that Gen Xers and Millennials are lining up to buy Harleys since news of an alignment with one of their grandparents' favoured bands was announced.
 
There are (were) two Harley dealers in Alaska; Fairbanks & Anchorage. There are t-shirt outlets in Juneau, Glitter Gulch just outside Denali NP and in Skagway. The Fairbanks store owned two of the stores. The service manager and later finance officer at the Fairbanks store was a friend of mine. He told me that t-shirt sales accounted for more than half the dealership’s profit. The t-shirt stores were open less than four months a year, but what Harley aficionado (not necessarily a HD owner) could pass up a t-shirt that says “Harley-Davidson Skagway”, for a mere $30, hell, might as well buy some as gifts too. Take a look at the amount of floor space devoted to t-shirts and clothing in general at a HD dealership. In my experience the amount of floor space allotted is quite large.
 
akbeemer said:
There are (were) two Harley dealers in Alaska; Fairbanks & Anchorage. There are t-shirt outlets in Juneau, Glitter Gulch just outside Denali NP and in Skagway. The Fairbanks store owned two of the stores. The service manager and later finance officer at the Fairbanks store was a friend of mine. He told me that t-shirt sales accounted for more than half the dealership’s profit. The t-shirt stores were open less than four months a year, but what Harley aficionado (not necessarily a HD owner) could pass up a t-shirt that says “Harley-Davidson Skagway”, for a mere $30, hell, might as well buy some as gifts too. Take a look at the amount of floor space devoted to t-shirts and clothing in general at a HD dealership. In my experience the amount of floor space allotted is quite large.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. But not in the '30s.
 
A small digression here. The HD dealer in Anchorage has a nice free camping area adjacent to the dealership with free shower and restroom. I purchased a few HD branded items to support the business. Although, I’ll probably never own a HD, I’ve always liked the product. Aerosmith, not so much.
 
Is Aerosmith still a top band, or are they a group on the downhill side of their life cycle? I could never stomach Steven Tyler.
 
Wow, Aerosmith was just ramping up their first big album back when I worked in an H-D dealership. I’m surprised they reached back that far, but their marketing research might show there aren’t a lot of hip-hop fans well-heeled enough to float a new big twin. How many boomers are still buying tees?? :dunno

Best,
DeVern
 
PGlaves said:
If you have to depend on clothing sales to make a motorcycle company viable something is not quite right.
Click to expand...

If Harley stopped selling clothing and trinkets it would barely make a blip on their financial report. Merchandise something like 4 or 5% of sales. It probably is good advertising. Name one other company that it's customers to pay for and wear advertising like HD.
 
Wow. I'm in my sixties, and Steven Tyler is more than ten years older than me. So by extension, I guess Aerosmith gear should make me feel young.
 
akbeemer said:
There are (were) two Harley dealers in Alaska; Fairbanks & Anchorage. There are t-shirt outlets in Juneau, Glitter Gulch just outside Denali NP and in Skagway. The Fairbanks store owned two of the stores. The service manager and later finance officer at the Fairbanks store was a friend of mine. He told me that t-shirt sales accounted for more than half the dealership’s profit.
Click to expand...

Alaska is a strange place. Riders of all touring brands want to ride there, and nothing better than buying a t-shirt from Alaska. On the other hand, I wonder what their motorcycle sales were? My guess is fairly small. People don't flock to Alaska to buy motorcycles, (it is not like just popping to the dealer in the next state!), and there isn't a huge amount of decent roads to ride. Hawaii is another state with similar circumstance. You could ride ever mile of every major road in Oahu in a day, then where do you ride after that? Same roads tomorrow? I talked to a resident of Oahu and he told me that typical rider in the state doesn't put on many miles as there isn't anywhere to go.

As for hooking up with Aerosmith? It is lost on me too! But then I never did get crazy about spending money on HD labeled clothing. I have three HD labeled jackets. Two were given to me, the third I bought, just because I liked it. T-shirts? I have a few, most were gifts, I will admit I have bought a few, everyone from the discount rack.
 
PoorUB said:
If Harley stopped selling clothing and trinkets it would barely make a blip on their financial report. Merchandise something like 4 or 5% of sales. It probably is good advertising. Name one other company that it's customers to pay for and wear advertising like HD.
Click to expand...

I do not doubt that, but do doubt it is true of dealerships. The vendors who sell the clothing to the dealerships are probably licensed by HD, and pay a modest licensing fee while the cost of the garments goes from the dealership to the clothing vendor. I seriously doubt the stuff goes through HD's books.

Which still begs the question whether the dealerships can survive without the clothing, or whether HD can survive without the dealerships. Kevin's Alaska example may not be a complete outlier. But I did not do well in accounting in college beyond the mandatory two semesters of basics.
 
I suppose now if you go into a dealership and ask a salesman to see a specific bike he'll turn and say, "Walk this way."
 
Saw this on a Revzilla article- out of date but ...:

Harley-Davidson makes more money selling T-shirts than motorcycles
I don't know where this one started, but I've seen it repeated as a "fact" on various internet forums and heard it said by people who should know better. I guess it persists because it has a certain "truthiness" to it.

The fact is that Harley-Davidson still gets more than 80 percent of its revenue the old-fashioned way: by selling motorcycles. In 2013, the company made just under $59 million licensing its trademarks for T-shirts, key chains, dog collars and the like. That's not chump change, but it's a drop compared to the company's $5.9 billion in total revenues.
 
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