what has happened to Wiggle ?

[ianrobo]

Not sure if this is the forum but I have noticed the past few weeks stock I used to take have come off stock.

The latest believe or not is GT-85.

Is this because they have some troubles, the impact of Brexit or deliberate after they took over Chain Reaction and are now a basic monopoly ... ?

Value is still the same (platinum member) and cheaper than others but this is bad news

[AndyK]

GT85 is not a cycling-specific item and the margins must be wafer-thin, so maybe they decided it wasn't worth the effort. It's frequently available at rock bottom prices in the likes of Aldi and Tesco. Wiggle, big though they may be in the cycling world, can't compete with that kind of buying power.

[ianrobo]

GT85 is not a cycling-specific item and the margins must be wafer-thin, so maybe they decided it wasn't worth the effort. It's frequently available at rock bottom prices in the likes of Aldi and Tesco. Wiggle, big though they may be in the cycling world, can't compete with that kind of buying power.

thats true but for example my favourite shorts are Sportful ones and looking to buy some new ones, so normally have a choice of 20 plus and now ? 12 ....

is it that trying to sell the DHB range ?

Noticed their lifeline range and esp tools shrunk (not selling enough ??)

[Brucey]

the GT85 brand is now owned by the same folk who own the WD40 brand, hence the fairly recent launch of lots of different products (in confusingly similar looking containers.... ). It is (I think) in the process of changing distributor in the UK. Doubtless the new owners/distributors will want to wring every last penny out of their new acquisition, so expect retail prices to be gouged upwards.

If this happens in the way I expect I shall buy something else...

BTW Wiggle/CRC probably take the view that they have a big enough chunk of the market that they don't need to offer so much choice any more. They are probably mistaken; the less choice they offer the more there is an opportunity for others.

cheers

[ianrobo]

thats my real worry about the choice as we should remeber Wiggle has yet to make a profit I believe ... so the idea (bit like uber) is funded by VC's lower prices, kill the competition then raise them and make huge profits and govts sit there and do nothing - see Asda/sainsbury proposal etc

thanks for the info about GT85 never knew that !

[Sweep]

Wiggle haven't been uber competitive for a long time.

And these days don't stock much of what I need anyway.

Much prefer to store up my orders to get free postage and then buy from Rose of Germany. Their courier service is excellent with telling you when to expect delivery. If you sign up to Rose emails now and again they offer vouchers for money off which can effectively cover the postage even if you don't hit the free postage level.

Thanks for the GT85 info Brucey - I tend to ignore the Aldi specials on it , not wanting to hoard, but maybe time to build up a supply.

[PH]

we should remeber Wiggle has yet to make a profit I believe ...

That doesn't sound right, what makes you think it?
Wiggle are taking over the world, they swallowed up one of the big German online stores a while back (Bike24?) They're beginning to make Halfords look like a LBS!

[pedalsheep]

And I didn't get any free Haribos with my last order!!

[AndyK]

we should remeber Wiggle has yet to make a profit I believe ...

That doesn't sound right, what makes you think it?
Wiggle are taking over the world, they swallowed up one of the big German online stores a while back (Bike24?) They're beginning to make Halfords look like a LBS!

Losses of of £2.7M in 2015, £3.2M in 2016 (blamed partly on CRC absorption costs). The weakened pound meant more sales to EU countries and the rest of the world but lower margins. It looks like they used to make a profit in the early days, before they were bought up by a private equity group.

[ianrobo]

we should remeber Wiggle has yet to make a profit I believe ...

That doesn't sound right, what makes you think it?
Wiggle are taking over the world, they swallowed up one of the big German online stores a while back (Bike24?) They're beginning to make Halfords look like a LBS!

Losses of of £2.7M in 2015, £3.2M in 2016 (blamed partly on CRC absorption costs). The weakened pound meant more sales to EU countries and the rest of the world but lower margins. It looks like they used to make a profit in the early days, before they were bought up by a private equity group.

and thats it PE gets involved and they they want a monopoly so that the future plans are to raise prices and then we have nowhere to go as they put others out of competition.

PE will fund losses to do this (see Uber etC) in the hop of huge profits down the line

[PH]

That doesn't sound right, what makes you think it?
Wiggle are taking over the world, they swallowed up one of the big German online stores a while back (Bike24?) They're beginning to make Halfords look like a LBS!

Losses of of £2.7M in 2015, £3.2M in 2016 (blamed partly on CRC absorption costs). The weakened pound meant more sales to EU countries and the rest of the world but lower margins. It looks like they used to make a profit in the early days, before they were bought up by a private equity group.

and thats it PE gets involved and they they want a monopoly so that the future plans are to raise prices and then we have nowhere to go as they put others out of competition.

PE will fund losses to do this (see Uber etC) in the hop of huge profits down the line

OK, but what you said was

we should remeber Wiggle has yet to make a profit I believe

And though that may be true in recent years, partly due to their acquisition spree, I don't think it reflects their twenty year history.
I'm no stranger to the effects of aggressive pricing and business takeovers with the intent of obliterating opposition - I used to work for Littlewoods before Primark thought the High St would be better without them...

[hondated]

And I didn't get any free Haribos with my last order!!

Then go to Angling Direct they still give you them

[David9694]

thats it PE gets involved and they they want a monopoly so that the future plans are to raise prices and then we have nowhere to go as they put others out of competition.

PE will fund losses to do this (see Uber etC) in the hop of huge profits down the line

LBS?

[flat tyre]

That doesn't sound right, what makes you think it?
Wiggle are taking over the world, they swallowed up one of the big German online stores a while back (Bike24?) They're beginning to make Halfords look like a LBS!

Losses of of £2.7M in 2015, £3.2M in 2016 (blamed partly on CRC absorption costs). The weakened pound meant more sales to EU countries and the rest of the world but lower margins. It looks like they used to make a profit in the early days, before they were bought up by a private equity group.

and thats it PE gets involved and they they want a monopoly so that the future plans are to raise prices and then we have nowhere to go as they put others out of competition.

PE will fund losses to do this (see Uber etC) in the hop of huge profits down the line

And of course they wouldn't want to pay any tax.

[ianrobo]

thats it PE gets involved and they they want a monopoly so that the future plans are to raise prices and then we have nowhere to go as they put others out of competition.

PE will fund losses to do this (see Uber etC) in the hop of huge profits down the line

LBS?

well thats part of whom they want to kill and I use them all the time because Wiggle are so much cheaper ....

is that hypocritical ?