http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/east-hampshire/portsmouth_man_jailed_after_selling_80_000_of_stolen_goods_on_ebay_1_2927812

(sorry, dont know how to put link in correctly!)

Well, he didn’t wiggle out that one!

Badum-tishh!

the fact that he didn’t have anything to show for it is staggering, not even a top end bike?!

£83,892 – just £450 more than the cost price – but the retail value to Wiggle would have been £152,693

So Wiggle’s gross margins are 83%. Handy to know 🙂

He made a total of £83,892 – just £450 more than the cost price – but the retail value to Wiggle would have been £152,693.

That’s an 80% profit margin. No wonder they keep sending me those 15% off everything emails.

Edit; I was still doing the sums while Stoner was posting. 😳

So Wiggle’s gross margins are 83%.

Pretty standard for a retailer, isn’t it?

Yes but surely staff costs, rent, utilities etc still need to come out for that. Granted it is not going to be anywhere near that 80%!

Pretty standard for a retailer,

No such thing as a “standard” really. Supermarket margins can be sub 10%, but their turnover is massive. Online vs Bricks and mortar retailers will also have different margins.

No idea what an LBS’s margin is though. Which would be a handy comparison.

Yes but surely staff costs, rent, utilities etc still need to come out for that. Granted it is not going to be anywhere near that 80%!

Which is why it’s called a gross margin. 🙄

yipes..

wonder if he stole a little packet of haribo too each time he took something?

The Southern Yeti – Member

So Wiggle’s gross margins are 83%.

Pretty standard for a retailer, isn’t it?

Distributors expect LBS to work off around 30% for complete bikes and that’s before the customer asks for a discount..

Well… I suppose you’d really have to make comparrisons with retailers with a similar stock turn and therefore ignore supermarkets.

the interesting comparison is as above, with an LBS (to see what price local service) or say CRC (a larger online retailer)

Yep. Its a bit unfair to expect your local LBS to match the wiggles of this world when making your new purchase..

If you want them to survive you have to accept a bit of a compromise on the price

Sodajim has it spot on.

Margins for bricks and mortar shops aren’t that awesome. Some things are, like tubes for example, especially when bought in bulk.

Yeah, I’d also like to know how money is made on bike bits veres other leisure/ luxury items…

Shimano shifters v’s Shimano fishing reels.

Or bike bits v’s golf clubs.

Roderick James, defending, said his client had little to show for his crimes and added: ‘It’s a mystery to him where the money went. There was no extravagant lifestyle, he’s not a gambler.’

eBay fees?

does anyone remember the story recently about the polish blokes who stole 8k worth of Garmins or something?

Yes, because the poles are really stealing the most from businesses im sure.

surely wiggle wouldve noticed that they were paying for stock that wasnt arriving?!

I’d imagine VAT is part of that 80% too.

I think I know him – local time trialer.

I expect more accurately its the difference on VAT that’s in the 80%

surely wiggle wouldve noticed that they were paying for stock that wasnt arriving?!

Unless it was the warehouse manager stealing it. 😉

eBay fees?

wonder if he stole a little packet of haribo too each time he took something?

That explains why I got so few!

local time trialer

Well, he’s had the trial and is doing time now.

IGMC!

You have to question their auditing practices – how was he getting the stuff out for a start ?? And not noticing for so long ??

CaptainFlashheart

Margins for bricks and mortar shops aren’t that awesome. Some things are, like tubes for example, especially when bought in bulk.

True smaller items like tubes have good margins. Their more affordable to stock up on but then you have to turn over loads more of them to make a crust..

Not many little LBS can afford to shell out £50k + though with each big bike brand they stock at the start of the season to get them on the decent margins and even then your not talking wiggle margings

The MARKUP is 83% but the MARGIN is only 46%.

Gross Margin as a percentage is calculated as:
(Sales Price – Cost Price) / Sales Price

Retail price – £153,693
Cost Price – £83,892 – £450 = £83442
46% GM

Assuming VAT is payable still at 20% after operating costs they could be making a single figure percentage net profit.

The MARKUP is 83% but the MARGIN is only 46%.

Gross Margin

I always get that wrong. Ill leave it to Mrs S CIMA bird in future. 😳

It’s a mystery to him where the money went

couple of cars, few PCs, sorted vision and of course those memories of family holidays are priceless!

83k don’t go very far nowadays it seems.

I always get that wrong

Easily done!

Just wanted to point out the real operating profit of these large turnover businesses can be pretty small, that’s why local shops find it hard to compete on price, so have to give added value service.

Only way to do it is cut costs – thius guy obviously had that part well covered!

Maybe he had a £1k a week coke habit

Shit I need a holiday. I didn’t even notice the error in terminology.

Anyone want a CIMA qualification… it’s not been used.

Too many accounts in the family already.

Stoner – have you had a look at PowerPivots in Excel 2010 yet?

nope. I dont use 2010 yet (although I have a copy). dont like it harrumph.
Im a luddite really.

I dont use pivots in 2003 either. I build my own analysis tables using sumif/countif and sumproducts and array formula. More powerful.

I only use pivots for really quick and dirty summary analysis because of their limitiations, sounds like PowerPivots will address this and be a proper step forward…

hels – Member
You have to question their auditing practices – how was he getting the stuff out for a start ?? And not noticing for so long ??

Especially given that the average product price at rrp was about £650 so they can’t have been small things he was nicking (unless it was all Di2 kit).

gravity slave beat me to it, also bear in mind that the £ 150k was retail price which probably included 20% VAT. That means the gross margin may be as low as 31%, by the time you’ve added in their other costs I’d expect the profit to be single digit percentages.

Anyway, back on topic…

Nevermind the audit practices of Wiggle… how the hell did he evade the ebay super sleuths on here??

Just out of interest,what would a warehouse manager for a huge concern like wiggle earn PA?

I don’t know what the basic is but looks like a good bonus scheme.

£40k p/a at 100% GM

Followed by 2 years with no overheads….