..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
LittleGreyCat
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..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by LittleGreyCat »

I am on the Planet X mailing list and nearly every day there is some headline reduction, often around £600, being promoted.

Lots and lots of reduced items can indicate a problem shifting stock.
Or (see DFS) some businesses seem to be in permanent sale mode and you never expect to pay list price.

This is just idle curiosity prompted by the number of emails.
Jdsk
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by Jdsk »

LittleGreyCat wrote: 25 Mar 2023, 11:13am ... some businesses seem to be in permanent sale mode and you never expect to pay list price.
The current position in England on sale prices:
https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/pr ... laims.html

Jonathan
iandriver
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by iandriver »

Planet X specialise in shifting job lots of overstocked items from all sorts of companies, so yes, their permanent sale is quite normal (for them)
Supporter of the A10 corridor cycling campaign serving Royston to Cambridge http://a10corridorcycle.com. Never knew gardening secateurs were an essential part of the on bike tool kit until I took up campaigning.....
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PedallingSquares
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by PedallingSquares »

Planet-X have had the same business module for over 20 years.Buy massive amounts of stock and sell off cheap.They also bought up brand names that were in trouble,SAB/Titus//Viner/Holdsworth and used their names to stick on their frames to generate sales.One of their Viners and RT-58 were the exact same frame for instance, but the Viner still had 'Made in Italy' decals for a while until he was sussed out.This has sort of worked but they have closed down all their physical shops and now everything is online.Their warehouse is still in the same place in Rotherham as it was when it was a physical shop but they don't accept collection for bikes/parts anymore.Not a particularly nice bloke to work for either.
rogerzilla
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by rogerzilla »

They have virtually no decent stock now. Used to be my go-to place for tyres and Nitto stuff. The pandemic seemed to affect their supply chain.
tim-b
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by tim-b »

I use their Panaracer-made Rivendell Bikes/Planet-X tyres, which are truly excellent and value for money
Their next tyre delivery, they assure me, will be in April
If you know what you want and can wait for it to be offered at sale prices then you'll find extremely good value. It's unfortunate for me that they don't offer a Shimano option on bikes as they used to
I've had wheels, framesets, forks, etc without complaint. You have to watch clothing sizing though, some lines are more suited to racing whippets
They also have a 30-day Ride Guarantee, if you don't like a new bike, return it

I don't know the ins-and-outs, but the founder, Dave Loughran, made Planet-X an employee-owned trust in 2020 rather than selling to a management buyout
~~~~¯\(ツ)/¯~~~~
djnotts
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by djnotts »

The pace and depth of their "flash sales" does seem to be increasing. The business relies on high volume and rapid stock turnover and there are many signs that the bicycle market is significantly slowing and shrinking (see Moore & Large).
I don't know to what extent Planet-X and On One are now one and the same. Shame if On One were to fold, they have had some interesting, niche, models ever since Brant's original Inbred.
djnotts
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by djnotts »

Today's offering:
"Built with aerospace grade chromoly DN6 steel, the On-One Rujo is a custom tubed, fast, and agile gravel fun machine. With timeless looks and flawless engineering, it's built for a lifetime.

Was £1,599.99
NOW £1,279.99"

Seems an attractive offer to me, but sadly I no longer have any use for such a machine.
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PedallingSquares
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by PedallingSquares »

djnotts wrote: 26 Mar 2023, 8:17am I don't know to what extent Planet-X and On One are now one and the same. Shame if On One were to fold, they have had some interesting, niche, models ever since Brant's original Inbred.
They've always been one and the same.I doubt they'll fold as Dave always seems to scrape through.Things looked really bad for them after the fire etc at their Scottish branch about 7 or 8 years ago but Dave always seems to get through it.Similar was when they were wrongly selling 'Made in Italy' frames that were Chinese made.
Brant left the business many years ago as he obviously didn't like some of the, shall we say, odd practices.I was seriously tempted by one of their Ti/Etap Road builds but not being able to just pop down and have a look like I could previously put me off.
Nooka
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by Nooka »

“bicycle market is significantly slowing and shrinking”

I suspect that is not unique to cycling. Businesses across the board have used the current situation to really squeeze the pips on their customers. I am also a sailor and after marinas were rammed during covid I understand some have put up prices by up to 35% this year. Now, unsurprisingly, boat owners who had been told that there was a multi-year waiting list for berths are now receiving promotional inducements and/or offers from those same marinas. Same with holiday cottages based on a sample of one I know of - doubled the weekly peak rental from c.£1700 in 2020 to £3500 last summer - for a very small two and a bit bedroom cottage - unsurprisingly they had a lot of voids. Be interesting to see what happens to the inflation rate on “nice to have” items over the next year or two.
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Sweep
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by Sweep »

Nooka wrote: 29 Mar 2023, 1:40pm “bicycle market is significantly slowing and shrinking”

I suspect that is not unique to cycling. Businesses across the board have used the current situation to really squeeze the pips on their customers. I am also a sailor and after marinas were rammed during covid I understand some have put up prices by up to 35% this year. Now, unsurprisingly, boat owners who had been told that there was a multi-year waiting list for berths are now receiving promotional inducements and/or offers from those same marinas. Same with holiday cottages based on a sample of one I know of - doubled the weekly peak rental from c.£1700 in 2020 to £3500 last summer - for a very small two and a bit bedroom cottage - unsurprisingly they had a lot of voids. Be interesting to see what happens to the inflation rate on “nice to have” items over the next year or two.
confused by how this relates to planet x's effectively continuous rolling discounts.
their prices are for sure very good as long as you don't buy at one of the between-rolling-sale prices on whatever it is you have your eye on.
not aware that planetx are "squeezing the pips" of their customers.
Can reassure you that the padless bib longs and 3/4 length padded bibs I have bought off them fairly recently aren't squeezing my pips.
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Nooka
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by Nooka »

It was general musing on the specific point that i quoted which was itself musing on why Planet-X flash sales seem to be happening more frequently. I apologise if it contravened some thread drift protocol on here - I am learning.
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Sweep
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by Sweep »

Nooka wrote: 29 Mar 2023, 4:09pm It was general musing on the specific point that i quoted which was itself musing on why Planet-X flash sales seem to be happening more frequently. I apologise if it contravened some thread drift protocol on here - I am learning.
i was querying the point you were making.
in short, to repeat, I don't think planetX are squeezing their customers pips.
Their pricing yo-yos are to be sure bizarre, especially so at times, have long been, but most cyclists I think just roll with this.
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fastpedaller
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by fastpedaller »

They were having the frequent sales in 2014 when I bought my pompino frame - I'd been considering buying one but was prepared to get it in about 6 months, when all of a sudden there it was in the sale at £120 - so I bought it immediately and have never regretted it. :)
I guess it's similar to the marketing model which all the kitchen cabinet retailers use ..... "we have a 50% sale on so you need to get your kitchen from us". It's surprising how many are taken in by this, as it's always 50% off except 1 week a year (or some other criteria) and they just make a big thing of it, usually around easter time. I have to say it irritates me - don't most of us decide how much we think the item is worth, or are many influenced by 'how much are we saving' nonsense?
tim-b
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Re: ..if Planet X is struggling, or just has a permanent sale?

Post by tim-b »

It's 20% off everything just now. The bike that I've had my eye on isn't any cheaper than it was when it was specifically discounted last month :)
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