Parent company of Wiggle / Chainreactioncycles in big financial trouble

[Aeo]

I couldn't find a thread about it on here, posting to warn anyone ordering to be a little bit cautious.

Online cycling, running and swimming retailer Wiggle has reportedly entered voluntary administration in the wake of the funding crisis that has engulfed parent company, Germany-based Signa Sports United (SSU), after the company that controls it announced earlier this week that it would no longer be providing €150 million in funding to the business over the next two years.

Addnature.com
Ballside.de
Bikester.com
Bruegelmann.de
Campz.de
Chainreactioncycles.com
Cycles-for-heroes.com
Fahrrad.de
Ortler-rad.at
Padel-point.de
Probikeshop.com
Redcycling.de
Serious-Cycles.com
Tennis-Point.de
Tennispro.eu
Tennisexpress.com
Vermont-bikes.de
Votec.de
Wiggle.com

https://bikebiz.com/signa-sports-united ... hallenges/
https://road.cc/content/news/wiggle-rep ... ion-304591
https://road.cc/content/news/black-frid ... ope-304611

A few of their German shops like fahrrad.de, campz.de, bruegelmann.de are warning that returns are not possible at the moment.

Would be a shame for brands like Prime, dhb, Nukeproof and so on. Not totally surprising that this bust cycle is taking out some rather established businesses.

Today an amazing group of people has been forced to swallow a bitter pill.

Despite exceeding our top and bottom line FY23 goals handily, SIGNA Sports United North America’s bike division has been forced to cease all operations with less than a few days’ notice. This was triggered Monday by a sudden reneging of a binding 150 million Euro equity commitment to SIGNA Sports United N.V.

To say this comes as a shock is an understatement. I haven’t even begun to be able to process this yet.

Culturally and professionally, we created something entirely unique, built on a common passion to earn rider trust. We had the top talent in America in their respective disciplines, and an entirely novel approach to building a commercial enterprise in our vertical rooted in strong values. We made our culture a focus. We empowered and supported each other. We had each other’s backs, our rider’s backs and we moved with speed and conviction. Vitus and Nukeproof were merely steppingstones on the larger path we were building, and the immediate success of those two brands in this challenging environment speaks volumes about this team. And, to think it's all been done in just over a year!

I could not be more humbled and honored to work alongside and learn from each of you every day. I am better for it. Thank you for being awesome.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/nukeproof ... tures.html

[fatpinarellorider]

This does not look good.

[ultimobici]

Am I dreaming??? Karma is a bitch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TobinHatesYou]

Indicative of nothing, but one of my only poor buying experiences was through Wiggle when the Michelin Power Cup had just been released. Wiggle was one of the first shops to list the TLR version in stock, so I placed an order. I was sent regular clinchers instead and afterward they altered the product listing that of the clincher version. The original URL for the TLR version became a redirect to that page as well. When I contacted Wiggle for a return, the service rep insisted I had made the mistake, not them, despite both my Wiggle and PayPal invoices referring to the TLR version. It was even listed as the TLR version in their automated product returns process.

[warthog101]

Bought a heap of stuff through Wiggle and crc over the years. Has been a great way to avoid the Australia tax where we pay stupidly high prices compared to the rest of the world.
Always been reliable and fair to buy from. Sorry to hear this

[MichaelB]

Bought a heap of stuff through Wiggle and crc over the years. Has been a great way to avoid the Australia tax where we pay stupidly high prices compared to the rest of the world.
Always been reliable and fair to buy from. Sorry to hear this

Same here.

Luckily, had an order completed and delivered a week before the news came out ! Phew.

Be interesting to see what the impact is. Bugger for the employees and impacted suppliers

[pushpush]

Damn. I've ordered some good stuff at great prices from them. I hope they reorganize successfully.

[fatpinarellorider]

Bought a heap of stuff through Wiggle and crc over the years. Has been a great way to avoid the Australia tax where we pay stupidly high prices compared to the rest of the world.
Always been reliable and fair to buy from. Sorry to hear this

Me too.
Golden age of us buying bike bits overseas is over I'm afraid.
Ebay adds the requisite GST, so do many other vendors now.
Plus there even appears to be a shimano/sram boycott to OZ with some places now.

Ever since covid I get a lot from bikebug/pushys now. But not everything!

[raisinberry777]

In fairness, the local industry in Aus has become more competitive over the last 5 years or so. Ccache are a pretty good new player as well - competitive prices and a decent range.

[FIJIGabe]

I'm going to venture a guess that their profitability took a significant hit after January 2019, when they stopped being able to sell Shimano parts to the US. The pandemic boosted their sales, I'm sure, but now that the bust is in full swing, they just don't have big ticket sales items to lure US buyers, especially since they don't sell SRAM (and by extension, ZIPP or anything under their umbrella). It sucks to lose a vendor, but they just haven't been a factor for me in a while.

[TobinHatesYou]

I'm going to venture a guess that their profitability took a significant hit after January 2019, when they stopped being able to sell Shimano parts to the US. The pandemic boosted their sales, I'm sure, but now that the bust is in full swing, they just don't have big ticket sales items to lure US buyers, especially since they don't sell SRAM (and by extension, ZIPP or anything under their umbrella). It sucks to lose a vendor, but they just haven't been a factor for me in a while.

US overseas sales really do not amount to a whole lot, especially something as specific as groupsets. Places like Merlin are still selling Shimano groups to the US also.

This is mostly a combination of unchecked overexpansion, Brexit and the ongoing supply chain mess resulting from the pandemic.

[ultimobici]

I'm going to venture a guess that their profitability took a significant hit after January 2019, when they stopped being able to sell Shimano parts to the US. The pandemic boosted their sales, I'm sure, but now that the bust is in full swing, they just don't have big ticket sales items to lure US buyers, especially since they don't sell SRAM (and by extension, ZIPP or anything under their umbrella). It sucks to lose a vendor, but they just haven't been a factor for me in a while.

US overseas sales really do not amount to a whole lot, especially something as specific as groupsets. Places like Merlin are still selling Shimano groups to the US also.

This is mostly a combination of unchecked overexpansion, Brexit and the ongoing supply chain mess resulting from the pandemic.

The reason Merlin can still ship to the USA is that they do not buy through legitimate channels. As a result there’s no supply to switch off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[maquisard]

Merlin seems to specialise in grey-channel goods. That is selling at retail goods that were initially intended for OEM builds.

For example, you'll more than likely get your new groupset in a plastic bag free of normal shimano retail packaging.

It is my understanding that this grey channel distribution used to be extremely common in the UK but big brands like Shimano now control distribution much more tightly.

[kode54]

Mines were shipped in plastic bags when 12-speed Shimano was hard to get.

[TribesMan]

I will miss their DHB clothes brand... its great value for money.