US retailers complaining about CRC and Wiggle

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US retailers complaining about CRC and Wiggle

47 posts & 33 voices | Started 6 months ago by wwaswas | Latest reply from jhw

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wwaswas - Member

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/chain-reaction-wiggle-guilty-of-exploitation-says-us-store/012250

some fascinating facts about CRC;

In its latest company financials, Chain Reaction Cycles - operated by the Watson family - reported that: "The proportion of turnover generated outside the EU [in 2010] was 37 percent." This was a ten percent increase on 2009

Chain Reaction Cycles is the Northern Ireland Post Office's biggest customer.

What's strikes me as most odd is that, in the country where I always thought that capitalism ran most rampant, they have price fixing and are complaining about the operation of a free market in other parts of the world.

Posted 6 months ago #
hora - Member

**** tough. So you think people should spend their hard earned $$$$'s and work even harder to buy the same product from you? Poorshow. 1/10.

Posted 6 months ago #
Bazz - Member

Yanks like everything on their own terms shocker!

Posted 6 months ago #
Stoner - Member

someone should point competitivecyclist in the direction of the price gouging and restrictive regional sales structures we get done over with here in the UK. Im particularly looking at you Jungle/Stif/Santa Cruz.

theres a load of stuff JensonUSA arent allowed to sell to us int he UK for a decent price. Instead we have to buy from someone 4 markup's down the supply chain.

Posted 6 months ago #
jivehoneyjive - Member

I'd save money and buy from Jenson USA if it wasn't for shipping and customs~ compete or get eat, thems the rules.

Posted 6 months ago #
JonR - Member

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act

"No price fixing unless we benefit!"

Posted 6 months ago #
hora - Member

True stoner.

...but then you get Orange UK retailing at the same/similar price to Santa Cruz etc etc without the many mouths to feed....

So someones getting a fat old chunk of the profit and the UK customer thinks 'hey I'm buying British'. Right.

Posted 6 months ago #
Stoner - Member

daft analogy that Mark.

Premium pricing is not the issue, its global price parity.

Posted 6 months ago #
Jamie - Member

With SRAM, Chris King, Thomson etc all being US companies, I would have thought CRC being European wouldn't have f' all to do with anything.

Posted 6 months ago #
theflatboy - Member

Lucky Americans, they can get stuff from CRC and anything from Jenson. Unlike us!

Posted 6 months ago #
vinnyeh - Member

Bricksandmortar but now mostly online retailer complaining about another Bricksandmortar but now online retailer's strategy...

Posted 6 months ago #
Sancho - Member

quite funny really, CRC are still cheaper to the US, compared to Jenson etc shipping to the UK as "gift" and avoiding UK duty, tax etc.

Posted 6 months ago #
brant - Member

...but then you get Orange UK retailing at the same/similar price to Santa Cruz etc etc without the many mouths to feed....

MADE IN HALIFAX

God bless 'em.

Posted 6 months ago #
crispedwheel - Member

brant - Member

...but then you get Orange UK retailing at the same/similar price to Santa Cruz etc etc without the many mouths to feed....

MADE IN HALIFAX

God bless 'em.

Err, what?

Posted 6 months ago #
crashtestmonkey - Member

I was buying cheap OE stuff in the USA from supergo, cambriabike etc 15 years ago, before CRC and wiggle had much presence.

Competitivecyclist is deliberately whining about overseas (WTF does "owned by the Watson family" mean, are they some mafiosi clan?!) so as not to alienate all the US houses. I still buy stuff from jensonUSA that's been cheaper than any european source (easton carbon kit was insanely cheap), and everyone on here is jumping onto Rosebikes and other continental suppliers that can undercut CRC expecially on Shimano gear.

Reminds me of BP suddenly standing for British Petroleum after the gulf disaster, despite the fact it hasn't done since 1999 (when it merged with a US company).

Posted 6 months ago #
hora - Member

I've just realised who Competitivecyclist are/were. Years ago when I bought things from the US I used to click on their site and realised they were a top price 'for posh customers' retailer (or thats how they came across at the time).

Posted 6 months ago #
jimc101 - Member

15 years ago when you looked in MBA, there were lots of shops (mainly in CA) selling everything cheap; there was also a lot more made in USA product then. Now everything has been farmed out China and Taiwan, the US stores don't seem to have been able to keep up with the low prices. But there is still a lot you can get in the US cheaper than in the UK, Crank Bros for example.

CRC has just taken over from them in getting 'blowout' stock, i.e. the last years product to clear at low prices, if you want real cheap, CRC isn't it, you need to be looking at the German stores, they make Wiggle and CRC look very poor on range and value or money

Posted 6 months ago #
richmtb - Member

So US cycling industry is effectively being price fixed (suppliers and manufactures can pull a shops dealership rights if they discount)

US customers therefore buy from european retailers who don't operate using this unfair business practice so are therefore free to offer discounts.

And this is CRC or Wiggles fault how exactly?

Posted 6 months ago #
cannondaleking - Member

they seem like a spoiled brat that want's everything there way possibly NIMBY's bloody american's not happy unless there in control of the world and its free market this is the look on his face right now i say tuff titty.

Posted 6 months ago #
crashtestmonkey - Member

not sure that made in the US is the issue, but you may be right about CRC "beating" them to OE overstock. I lived and worked in the US in the mid 90's and spent a lot of time buying and selling bikes and bits to build up dream rides cheaply. Supergo (now defunct after being bought out by Performance Bicycle, a national chain) led the world in snapping up OE over-stock from (largely CA based but not build) manufacturers, I remember buying $600 RRP forks for $199, old XT or XTR (8spd when 9spd had just come out) for less than 1/3 of RRP etc.

As Hora says CC has always been a high-end full-rrp type retailer hence the article continually mentioning IBDs (independent bicycle dealers) as suffering at the hand of CRC/Wiggle, not all the US-based discount mail order specialists.

The US has always been a perverse mix of capitalism and protective/socialist financial policies. Pay caps in some sports, spending caps controlled by claiming rules in motorsports, and a long history of protectionist taxes and penalties to protect local industry (worked in steel/aluminium sectors) against foreign competition.

Posted 6 months ago #
Stoner - Member

But there is still a lot you can get in the US cheaper than in the UK, Crank Bros for example.

Not losing sleep

Posted 6 months ago #
D0NK - Member

Most US stuff seems to be silly priced* by the time it gets over here, who's doing the price fixing when the products are coming our way?

*or at least RRPed

Posted 6 months ago #
wrecker - Member

Pricing parity would put a blur TRc at ~£1800. That would be nice.
Instead, it's £2699.
If the US followed its own rules, maybe the rest of the world would care.
As it is, CC can go forth and multiply.

Posted 6 months ago #
geordiemick00 - Member

Pricing parity would put a blur TRc at ~£1800. That would be nice.
Instead, it's £2699.

As is Niner's pricing, and every other american brand...

I don't recall CRC crying to the USA when a lot of people were buying from over there when the exchange rate was $2-£1

Americans, don't we just ~~tolerate~~ love them...

Posted 6 months ago #
hora - Member

Is the blogger/shop struggling hence the complaining?

If their sales are dipping surely they need to change strategy rather than blaming other retailers for milking/making money where once they presumably did? Albeit with differing srategies.

Posted 6 months ago #
The Pinkster - Member

Re. the different prices between US & UK, I think that some of that is down to UK pricing including import duty & VAT where as IIRC US quoted prices do not include any purchase taxes as these vary from State to State.

still doesn't explain the whole difference though.

Posted 6 months ago #
ssjeff - Member

Unlucky...... USA get over it

I beilieve it was there short selling of mortgages that f'd the world economy in the first place

So losing out on a few bike bits shouldn't be news !

Posted 6 months ago #
brooess - Member

Is the blogger/shop struggling hence the complaining?

If their sales are dipping surely they need to change strategy rather than blaming other retailers for milking/making money where once they presumably did? Albeit with differing srategies.

This is their strategy - PR. making the competition look bad to the trade in the hope they'll get support from others.
Not likely to be effective IMO

Posted 6 months ago #
scaredypants - Member

They need to stop whining as others suggest

Jenson et al flog US brands waaay cheaper than you can get here - and often stuff like hope too

Have you seen how much car you get over there for almost no money. Plus
computers, phones, cameras (christ, even itunes songs are cheaper aren't they ?)

Posted 6 months ago #
handyman - Member

I work in a bike shop in the usa and i can buy some stuff from crc cheaper, including shipping

Posted 6 months ago #
scaredypants - Member

yeah, shimano in particular seems quite steep over there (but then sram presumably is dirt cheap by comparison ?)

The other issue is shipping costs - most US sites charge you a bloody bomb to post stuff so only really worth it if you buy a lot of stuff. I bet/assume CRC is pretty cheap.

Posted 6 months ago #
deserter - Member

since moving to Canada I buy almost everything off crc as its easier and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying locally

full bikes are a lot cheaper over here though

Posted 6 months ago #
handyman - Member

yeah shipping is costly over here, but its a damm big place and takes nearly a day for a truck to drive from CA to NJ or it has to fly and thats costly too

Posted 6 months ago #
BoardinBob - Member

Do the us get hit with import tax on stuff ordered from overseas?

Posted 6 months ago #
perthmtb - Member

CRC & Wiggle are real popular over here in Oz too - bill direct in AU$, Oz specific promotions, and even tie-ups with local bike shops to assemble the bike and free first service.

However, I've noticed a worrying trend where some of the big component manufacturers are putting pressure on them not to sell their kit into Oz, presumably to protect their local distributors. Started with Mavic, and now I can't buy anything Topeak thru CRC either...

Posted 6 months ago #