Parent company of Wiggle / Chainreactioncycles in big financial trouble

[bikeboy1tr]

Merlin at one time had free shipping and they would send Shimano/Sram over to Canada were others would not. I tried to order some Sram over but they no longer do that either.
I purchased some of the DHB bibs from CRC as well and they were nice stuff for sure. Seems like ProBikeKit is offering very little to send overseas too. Its all becoming slim pickings anymore which sucks cause many things in Canada is way overpriced.

[RDY]

Don't remember seeing anybody post this, but it was confirmed a few days ago that liquidators had been appointed.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/the-en ... appointed/

This seems to confirm that the £10M offer, if it goes through, was just for IP.

Should be a warning to the rest of the industry to get their shit together quickly, re: both current solvency and sustainable growth - i.e. not milking dentists and pricing most people out of the market.

[maquisard]

Trek will be next

[Nickldn]

Should be a warning to the rest of the industry to get their shit together quickly, re: both current solvency and sustainable growth - i.e. not milking dentists and pricing most people out of the market.

Trouble is for the past few years only dentists could afford the best which the industry had to offer and shops/manufacturers got used to the fat aka. Rip off margins.

Now comes the reckoning.

[chorus88]

Trek will be next

Maybe BMC?

[maquisard]

Red Bull would probably save BMC, or at lesat buy the IP.

Trek is in a similar state to Cervelo prior to it being acquired by Pons.

[warthog101]

Merlin at one time had free shipping and they would send Shimano/Sram over to Canada were others would not. I tried to order some Sram over but they no longer do that either.
I purchased some of the DHB bibs from CRC as well and they were nice stuff for sure. Seems like ProBikeKit is offering very little to send overseas too. Its all becoming slim pickings anymore which sucks cause many things in Canada is way overpriced.

Ditto here in Australia if that makes it easier to bear. Monopolistic importers/agents. Poor availability and high prices. We have a term for it here, "the Australia tax".

[RDY]

Red Bull would probably save BMC, or at lesat buy the IP.

Trek is in a similar state to Cervelo prior to it being acquired by Pons.

Can't imagine RB would be interested. Their partnerships with BMC are paid for by BMC and likely cost them a lot of money. It's not something RB are hugely invested in.

[ultimobici]

Should be a warning to the rest of the industry to get their shit together quickly, re: both current solvency and sustainable growth - i.e. not milking dentists and pricing most people out of the market.

Trouble is for the past few years only dentists could afford the best which the industry had to offer and shops/manufacturers got used to the fat aka. Rip off margins.

Now comes the reckoning.

Rip off margins? The reason the likes of Wiggle/CRC, Probikekit & Shinybikes went under is that they cut margins to unsustainable levels.

If you’re pissed off about margins, don’t look too closely at how much clothing brands make. It’s much much higher that of the bike industry.

No one needs Dura Ace, Red or Record/Super Record. If you think it’s overpriced, maybe you need to find a better paying job. 105 is plenty good enough for anyone to use, even to race on. The idea that you’ll not be competitive on a 105 equipped bike is laughable.




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[Nickldn]

Should be a warning to the rest of the industry to get their shit together quickly, re: both current solvency and sustainable growth - i.e. not milking dentists and pricing most people out of the market.

Trouble is for the past few years only dentists could afford the best which the industry had to offer and shops/manufacturers got used to the fat aka. Rip off margins.

Now comes the reckoning.

Rip off margins? The reason the likes of Wiggle/CRC, Probikekit & Shinybikes went under is that they cut margins to unsustainable levels.

If you’re pissed off about margins, don’t look too closely at how much clothing brands make. It’s much much higher that of the bike industry.

No one needs Dura Ace, Red or Record/Super Record. If you think it’s overpriced, maybe you need to find a better paying job. 105 is plenty good enough for anyone to use, even to race on. The idea that you’ll not be competitive on a 105 equipped bike is laughable.




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That's a very angry post dude, you need to calm down. I was not personally attacking you, why are you attacking me?

Who said I was just talking about retailers' margins? The whole industry from design to distribution is guilty of whacking up margins post covid. Now that sales have crashed on low and mid range kit there are warehouses full of stock and it's sadly the retailers that are feeling the strain. Although I bet manufacturers have warehouses full of stock as well.

Sad times, but the industry will need to look again at the price points it can sell at in sustainable volumes.

[ultimobici]

Should be a warning to the rest of the industry to get their shit together quickly, re: both current solvency and sustainable growth - i.e. not milking dentists and pricing most people out of the market.

Trouble is for the past few years only dentists could afford the best which the industry had to offer and shops/manufacturers got used to the fat aka. Rip off margins.

Now comes the reckoning.

Rip off margins? The reason the likes of Wiggle/CRC, Probikekit & Shinybikes went under is that they cut margins to unsustainable levels.

If you’re pissed off about margins, don’t look too closely at how much clothing brands make. It’s much much higher that of the bike industry.

No one needs Dura Ace, Red or Record/Super Record. If you think it’s overpriced, maybe you need to find a better paying job. 105 is plenty good enough for anyone to use, even to race on. The idea that you’ll not be competitive on a 105 equipped bike is laughable.




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That's a very angry post dude, you need to calm down. I was not personally attacking you, why are you attacking me?

Who said I was just talking about retailers' margins? The whole industry from design to distribution is guilty of whacking up margins post covid. Now that sales have crashed on low and mid range kit there are warehouses full of stock and it's sadly the retailers that are feeling the strain. Although I bet manufacturers have warehouses full of stock as well.

Sad times, but the industry will need to look again at the price points it can sell at in sustainable volumes.

Angry? Nope. Just find this idea that poor little cyclists are being ripped off hilarious. It’s more often than not spouted by people who, if challenged on how much they charge for their services, would be monumentally offended.

All of these mail order & internet sellers heavily discount product to the point where it is unsustainable for normal shops to stock the brands. It’s nothing to do with Covid. This phenomenon goes way, way back. In the 90s it was Deeside & Ribble, then the internet came in to being and we saw the rise of Wiggle & Co. A few flew too close to the sun and failed and now the biggest has crashed as well. Why? Because there is a limit to how cheap you can sell stuff without making a loss. When Wiggle are selling Continental GP4000S tyres for less than an OEM can buy them, something has to give. When CRC are selling Shimano cheaper than a shop can buy it, same deal.

So I’m not angry. Far from it. I’m enjoying them reap what they sowed. Makes a change from hearing about yet another good shop closing.


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[Nickldn]

Trouble is for the past few years only dentists could afford the best which the industry had to offer and shops/manufacturers got used to the fat aka. Rip off margins.

Now comes the reckoning.

Rip off margins? The reason the likes of Wiggle/CRC, Probikekit & Shinybikes went under is that they cut margins to unsustainable levels.

If you’re pissed off about margins, don’t look too closely at how much clothing brands make. It’s much much higher that of the bike industry.

No one needs Dura Ace, Red or Record/Super Record. If you think it’s overpriced, maybe you need to find a better paying job. 105 is plenty good enough for anyone to use, even to race on. The idea that you’ll not be competitive on a 105 equipped bike is laughable.




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That's a very angry post dude, you need to calm down. I was not personally attacking you, why are you attacking me?

Who said I was just talking about retailers' margins? The whole industry from design to distribution is guilty of whacking up margins post covid. Now that sales have crashed on low and mid range kit there are warehouses full of stock and it's sadly the retailers that are feeling the strain. Although I bet manufacturers have warehouses full of stock as well.

Sad times, but the industry will need to look again at the price points it can sell at in sustainable volumes.

Angry? Nope. Just find this idea that poor little cyclists are being ripped off hilarious. It’s more often than not spouted by people who, if challenged on how much they charge for their services, would be monumentally offended.

It's clear you are angry. You are also correct, poor little cyclists won't be ripped off, they will just stop engaging, en masse. When that happens the industry loses sales and customers

Sad you are blaming customers for that.

[Nickldn]

An example of what I'm talking about is Garmin and their most recent cycling computer refresh.

According to an email I got from a retailer today the MRSP of the newer 540 is £399.99 and for the older 530 is £259.99.

That's an increase of £140, or over 53%. That's quite frankly staggering for what is probably expected to be the highest selling Garmin cycling computer model. On top of this, it seems the 540 isn't really much of an upgrade to the 530.

If a retailer has ordered a load of Garmin 540s they are likely sitting on the warehouse shelf and not earning them profit. It makes a retail business hard to run.

It looks to me there has been a similar story with price rises in many areas of the industry. Is it really all due to higher costs, or just plain old price gouging?

[BikeTyson]

Rip off margins? The reason the likes of Wiggle/CRC, Probikekit & Shinybikes went under is that they cut margins to unsustainable levels.

If you’re pissed off about margins, don’t look too closely at how much clothing brands make. It’s much much higher that of the bike industry.

No one needs Dura Ace, Red or Record/Super Record. If you think it’s overpriced, maybe you need to find a better paying job. 105 is plenty good enough for anyone to use, even to race on. The idea that you’ll not be competitive on a 105 equipped bike is laughable.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's a very angry post dude, you need to calm down. I was not personally attacking you, why are you attacking me?

Who said I was just talking about retailers' margins? The whole industry from design to distribution is guilty of whacking up margins post covid. Now that sales have crashed on low and mid range kit there are warehouses full of stock and it's sadly the retailers that are feeling the strain. Although I bet manufacturers have warehouses full of stock as well.

Sad times, but the industry will need to look again at the price points it can sell at in sustainable volumes.

Angry? Nope. Just find this idea that poor little cyclists are being ripped off hilarious. It’s more often than not spouted by people who, if challenged on how much they charge for their services, would be monumentally offended.

It's clear you are angry. You are also correct, poor little cyclists won't be ripped off, they will just stop engaging, en masse. When that happens the industry loses sales and customers

Sad you are blaming customers for that.

Agree with you. The price increases are out of hand. To the point I refuse to pay full price for anything cycling related. And I'm not alone. I'm not sure why the other guy seems to be offended by people being mad about being price gouged. Maybe he owns a bike shop and can't sell his stock because he refuses to do sales. But something has to give if they want to sell off their inventory.

[ultimobici]

That's a very angry post dude, you need to calm down. I was not personally attacking you, why are you attacking me?

Who said I was just talking about retailers' margins? The whole industry from design to distribution is guilty of whacking up margins post covid. Now that sales have crashed on low and mid range kit there are warehouses full of stock and it's sadly the retailers that are feeling the strain. Although I bet manufacturers have warehouses full of stock as well.

Sad times, but the industry will need to look again at the price points it can sell at in sustainable volumes.

Angry? Nope. Just find this idea that poor little cyclists are being ripped off hilarious. It’s more often than not spouted by people who, if challenged on how much they charge for their services, would be monumentally offended.

It's clear you are angry. You are also correct, poor little cyclists won't be ripped off, they will just stop engaging, en masse. When that happens the industry loses sales and customers

Sad you are blaming customers for that.

Agree with you. The price increases are out of hand. To the point I refuse to pay full price for anything cycling related. And I'm not alone. I'm not sure why the other guy seems to be offended by people being mad about being price gouged. Maybe he owns a bike shop and can't sell his stock because he refuses to do sales. But something has to give if they want to sell off their inventory.

You’re right. I am in the industry but I don’t own a shop and never have done. I have seen the way Wiggle and their ilk have traded over the years skew the market to the point where it’s not worth sticking many brands because you end up knocking them out at cost or below because the average consumer has gotten used to massively discounted prices being the new RRP. It’s human nature to want the best deal but independent shops stocking quality brands found themselves being online retailers’ showrooms. Customers would come in and get all the information and hands on time in store and then not even ask how much it would be in store. Worse still was being price checked in real time and told to your face that you’re ripping them off. It’s not just in the cycle industry that this is happening. The losers in the short term are the businesses. In the long term it’s the consumer. The high street is already turning into coffee shop, vape shop & charity shop hell. Soon that’s all there will be.


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