Bikebook’s Workshop platform provides mechanics with the tools they need to cut down on administrative hours and iron out any invoicing and payment issues. Its latest integration with SumUp’s payment technology is the final piece to the puzzle; providing a seamless solution that eliminates hurdles in the payment process.
Priced out
The partnership allows bike mechanics to accept secure payments, manage transactions seamlessly, and improve cash flow. “This powerful combination provides bike shops with a complete solution to run their business more efficiently and professionally, helping them increase revenue by up to 20% and save as much as 8 hours on administrative tasks each week,” says explains Jake Fieldsend, co-founder of Bikebook.
“What we found was that most independent mechanics signing up were completely priced out of other specialist software that bigger bike shops use. This meant they missed out on the tools that help businesses grow and run more smoothly. We wanted to change that.”
What is Workshop?
Workshop is a management tool designed specifically for bicycle businesses. The idea is to replace outdated manual systems of paper agendas and excel spreadsheets with a streamlined digital workflow that is tailored to the needs of independent mechanics and multi-branch retailers. It’s an all-in-one tool that includes CRM, booking services, automatic inventory updates, point-of-sale, and even messaging capabilities. The latest version also includes an integrated payment system from SumUp.
What is SumUp?
SumUp is a global fintech company that provides simple, affordable payment solutions for SMBs on a pay-as-you-go basis. The system comes with card readers, POS systems, online payment tools, and a free business account with Mastercard. Payouts arrive the next day and there are no monthly fees. It has an easy-to-use interface, which also makes accepting payments and managing sales accessible for small businesses, freelancers, and mobile merchants.
“For bike repair businesses, revenue only comes from servicing bikes, so the time lost on payment and admin could actually be spent on fixing bikes,” warns Fieldsend.
How does it work?
“The Workshop software seamlessly slots into any existing tech stack so that installation is easy and stress free,” says Fieldsend. “Once set up, it can automate customer communications including, for example, appointment reminders and tune-up suggestions, and streamline internal resource allocation as well as make invoicing and service reporting easy. Mechanics can quickly allocate resources, manage parts with their distributors, and even obtain customer approval for maintenance costs all in one place within the portal.”
We wanted to take the burden off of the shoulders of the shop”
A streamlined payment system
“The automatically syncing payment option is low risk and without any hidden fees,” says Fieldsend. “In fact, SumUp works on a pay-as-you-go basis, so you can cancel at any time, and just pay the transaction fees for the purchases made.”
“We used to generate invoices or if the mechanic was taking payment, they had to type it into the reader manually. But when we spoke to SumUp, we realised that it would eliminate human error as payments would be tracked and reconciled automatically. Users can now just press a button and it comes up on their payment reader, tracks it into their payment system, and saves them heaps of time.”
A team of support
“We wanted to take the burden off of the shoulders of the shop, which is why we help with everything from getting information added to the system, to setting up services, and training the whole team so that moving to a new system doesn’t cause any upheaval to an already heavy workload,” Fieldsend concludes. “Together, with our fast-growing list of partners, such as Hygge Bikes and Skarper, who use shops within our workshop network as their approved service providers, we hope to forward as many jobs as we can to our customers.”
This article is sponsored by Bikebook.
