Your next bike could be a custom build

As bike spec becomes increasingly standardized among the bike industry I want to look into what would be seen as standard in the future. I'm not really looking at what bikes we'll be seeing in the future but how bikes will be sold. Cycle trends are constantly changing and shifting where as point of sales is a little more easy to predict. The way I see things shaping from my experience is bikes will no longer be sold as off the shelf  but as customisable packages for the consumer. What do I mean by this?

Imagine walking into a store and instead of being met with a sea of complete bikes you're welcomed with frames instead. Are you following me so far? The basic concept is a customer would pick the frame, then the components from groupset, wheels and finishing kit. All the components available through the store would be on display as they normally would. There would still be complete bikes available for test rides should the customer wish to try before purchasing and also for bike fit purposes. As for bike fitting, information is so freely shared that bike fittings are no longer just for the elite but for mass market (YouTube) so I see bike fitting being either included or added on for a small surcharge. Once frame and components are chosen the customer can choose to have the bike built in-store provided correct frame and all components are in stock. Or the store can special order the bike from their distributor both ways I see as practical. Either way the finished product will have to be built by a qualified mechanic before being handed over to the customer. 

The reason I believe this is future, from my experience customers always want certain bits on one bike and other bits from another. For example, a customer likes the frame from a expensive model but  with the groupset from a model a tier down. Also for those who are willing to spend thousands to upgrade their bike, they'll want a bike more unique/personal to them. Custom builds more or less remove that problem.  There's already a handful of online retailers that offer this kind of service with there own brand frames such as Ribble and Planet X. Not to mention the likes of Trek's Project One program among a few of brands that offer a personalisation program. And of course there's the high end bespoke brands and stores that will custom build a bike to your measurements but that's reserved for those with a lot of capital to spend.

Going back to my concept, I don't see this happening soon. There's a lot of extra cost currently involved with purchasing components and holding stock from the retailers point of view. But from a consumers point of view. Why buy a bike that you have compromise on. When you could buy the perfect bike straight away?