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Looking for a GX 12 speed chain , Wiggle have slashed their price from £30 to £ 29.99 ! 👍£23.99 from Certini that includes postage . 🤔
That’s actually the reason they do it.
I really don't think it is.
Once you go into/decide to go into administration then you stop selling stuff cheap. You wont be able to afford to replace it/get credit for a while, so you need to sell stuff at the best price you think you can get over whatever period it will be for.
Once a company enters administration it's the Administrators who decide what to do and their primary objective is to maximise returns for the creditors.
Normally they try and keep the business running whilst they look for an alternate buyer, if that doesn't seem viable they sell off everything for the most they can, to raise as much money for the creditors.
I was under the impression that it was all about cash flow in a crisis, not profit. They clearly have the item in stock and were selling at a profit at the old price I assume?
Well they weren't, they were losing £200k/day!
The parent company pulled the financial rug from under them that was supporting that, and here we are, prices go up to reflect what it actually costs to sell them.
I expect they were still had a markup on most of the stuff they were/are selling, but that may not have been enough to cover their staffing, tech, marketing costs on a lot of items they've been knocking out cheap.
Once a company enters administration it’s the Administrators who decide what to do and their primary objective is to maximise returns for the creditors.
The German system being used is slightly different it seems... the owners still have some control, at least at first.
I expect they were still had a markup on most of the stuff they were/are selling, but that may not have been enough to cover their staffing, tech, marketing costs on a lot of items they’ve been knocking out cheap.
Still selling it at less than "cost", just with your definition "cost" is articially low.
If I make a million widgets on a million pound machine, with £5 raw material cost, and sell them for £5.50, I'm still selling them at less than cost.
Just that CRC's raw materials are a finished product and it's machine is a website and warehouse / distribution center.
Well they weren’t, they were losing £200k/day!
But not on the item I was about to purchase. It's not like the original price was massively undercutting the competition, so instead of making some profit they've just handed the margin over to Biketart.
How do you know they were making some profit?
Still selling it at less than “cost”, just with your definition “cost” is articially low.
This, but also just plain old below cost. I bought some OE parts last week for £39.99 a pop, £33.25 ex Vat. Those have a price of $68.95 FOB from the factory. So once you paid to import them, 4% duty etc maybe $75 a go. £33.25 is 50% off OE price. Yes CRC probably paid less than I do for them, but not that much less.
If their Bilston warehouse is anything like the Argos RDC I worked at up the road, most stock will have been slung over the back fence by now!
The German system being used is slightly different it seems… the owners still have some control, at least at first.
That's the parent company, Wiggle / CRC is a UK registered company and if/when it enters administration Companies House will assign a UK Administrator to handle the process.
So has anyone ordered anything today and had a confirmation of order or dispatch notice? There's a few bits I wanted to order, I'm not bothered about sending stuff back or warranty so if I know they're still posting then I would make the purchase.
Ordered some things last night and arrived today.
I took a chance in a cheap 105 cassette.
Its down as processing....i paid at about 9am today
Ooh, now down as shipped....
@marko have you ever heard the phrase "you snooze you lose"? You snoozed, you lost, get over it. Would you still expect them to honour the sale if someone had bought the last one whilst it was sitting in your cart for a day or however long you planned to sit on it? There's plenty you can knock them for but that's just a load of entitled nonsense.
Neil is Mr superstar components, it's his company.
I welcome his insights into the cycling business world.
I don't think he's saying anything contentious
Debt is cheaper than equity and stakeholders happy with growth over cash generation leads to stuff like this when the cold wind blows.
The brand can sometimes be the only thing that survives so there's plenty of lifting and shifting and asset moving with suppliers and the tax man left with the problem
I presume you are still discussing the semantics of changing company name? Can you tell me why they do it if its not to make it different to the new Phoenix company?
1) There was no Phoenix company in the Evans administration.
2) You're creeping away from your original claim that "they changed the company name to make it harder to find…".
1) There was no Phoenix company in the Evans administration.
This +1
The term is only truly applicable where the successor entity is under substantially the same control as the insolvent entity.
There was an independent third party buyer in the Evans matter.
Can anyone spread any light on purchases made through PayPal and if there's any recourse similar to Cc's?
Need to send back a bike and obvs getting refunded by wiggle/CRC is slim, but if PayPal is on the hook then it's a no brainer....
I have some returns to make. I am waiting to see how things pan out with actual press releases first. Appreciate that might be frustrating, but I am not confident whats going to happen yet.Just my own view.
They payed £8million. That’s where the small amount of debts paid off came from. It’s all listed in the documents on companies house
More was paid out after the sale though. But anyway, I think we're in agreement about how these things go in general/principle.
I used to like going through the double page mag adverts with all the lists on and phoning up a bloke with a full norn iron accent
In hinsight, they were miles ahead of their time weren't they? Must be 20 years ago I first started buying bike parts - CRC always had what I needed, at the best price, and were doing free next day delivery even way back then.
Haven't used them for years now mind - the stock situation is crap, prices are crap (unless you want size XXXXXXXXXS), postage costs as much as anywhere else
Haven’t used them for years now mind – the stock situation is crap, prices are crap (unless you want size XXXXXXXXXS), postage costs as much as anywhere else
Guess it depends on what sort of stuff you buy. I am still buying lots of stuff from them as they tend to have what I want 80% of the time, it is the best price (with platinum discount) and it gets delivered within 2 or 3 days when picking the free postage options
I will miss it if it goes
Guess it depends on what sort of stuff you buy
My ten pence worth.
I usually know what I want so Ill Google it. Due to cookies etc crc/wiggle usually shows up with a good price so I'll click it. It's then either out of stock or it will have two prices. The cheaper price is either for a really bad colour or a silly size. The one I want, if it's in stock will be more expensive than the competition.
From time to time I'll see something I want. The other day I was trying to bring the basket up to £100 to use a code but couldn't find anything else I wanted.
I had a look last night to see if there was anything I wanted. Looked at shorts, they had 111 variations of shorts but again, when I clicked on ones I liked the cheaper price was either bright red or xxxxl. I gave up in the end. Just couldn't be bothered.
I hope they find some capital or a new buyer and they continue. I wish them well. Like most of us, I've used them a lot over the years but less so recently.
If they do go under it will be interesting to see how the market reacts and how it will change everything. I suspect prices will go up if they are not around anymore as the competition fill in the gaps.
I took a punt and ordered something yesterday afternoon, wiggle dispatch email at 11pm and courier tracking says it's due for delivery tomorrow. On the face of it everything seems to be working... I will report back if it goes pear shaped
People forget administration happens. Stanton did it and seemingly are doing ok now, Planet X did (I think) Evans did etc. Sometimes it is just the restructuring of debt that needs to happen.
Might end up as a different looking business but it'll carry on in some form. Hopefully with a better website and minimal impact on staff and suppliers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
Neil had a log in as "fruit" which he used to promote his brand without declaring it was his brand
Wtf is AstroTurfed?
When a company/organisation creates a load of seemingly innocent "supporters" (or customers or whatever) that pop up "unsolicited" to support whatever the company says.
So a company could post something under their own legitimate name to publicise themselves then change accounts and start posting favourable "reviews" or supportive comments about the company posing as "innocent buyers".
"Ooh yes, I bought from this company and they are amazing!"
Happens a lot on Twitter too. Bots mostly on there. In real life if it's one person, the posting style and phrasing normally outs them eventually.
I dont like to be critical, but I do find it quite bizzare that STW are not covering this. People dont want to be gateposted to ft.com etc. Its one of the biggest UK companies and brands so being dismisive and zero coverage seems a very odd editorial choice. If this isnt news worthy then what is?
The website really is terrible, wife is considering a new 650b gravel bike.
I filter by "in stock"
I filter by "small"
I filter by "S"
I filter by "extra small"
I filter by "XS"
I get about 25 results.
There's just 6 actual bikes that fit what I'm after & I need to scroll and scroll to see if any are 650 because that's not a filter.
Wtf is AstroTurfed?
crazy-legs
When a company/organisation creates a load of seemingly innocent “supporters” (or customers or whatever) that pop up “unsolicited” to support whatever the company says.
Wow, that is a great point @crazy-legs and very reliable. Actually a lot of my friends say that @crazy-legs makes lots of great points, and the prices and delivery are very good too. I think I am going to sign up for the @crazy-legs news letter, it has weekly discount codes. There's even a giveaway this week on the @crazy-legs newsletter! 🌟 🤩 ⭐
suspendedanimation
I dont like to be critical, but I do find it quite bizzare that STW are not covering this.
It's literally on the front page of the website.