CTC Shop and Wiggle

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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Mick F
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by Mick F »

thirdcrank wrote:Or perhaps informing the membership what's happening isn't part of a communication officer's job description. (More to do with spinning perhaps.)
+1 :lol:

Keeping people informed is paramount in any organisation. At least it's sorted now, but it took too long.
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JohnW
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by JohnW »

thirdcrank wrote:
Pete Jack wrote:Is this all part of the shambles that ended up with them letting CJ go?


IIRC, part of the rationale for having no technical officer was that it freed up £££ to take on a communications officer (or two?)

In a "hit the ground running" environment, when everybody is "passionate" about cycling (or whatever they are currently employed to be passionate about) perhaps they need a while to get up to speed. :lol:

Or perhaps informing the membership what's happening isn't part of a communication officer's job description. (More to do with spinning perhaps.)


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mark a.
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by mark a. »

Oh, that's weird, and rather rubbish.

I've defaulted to using the CTC Shop for years, since I get a discount and CTC get a cut (didn't they?). It's a win-win.

And now they've just stopped, without telling anyone?

I've tried to be positive, but even I am beginning to think that the "new" CTC is a bit rubbish.
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by mjr »

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=92765 suggests the shop died at the start of the year so maybe people didn't use it that often.
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Paul Smith SRCC
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by Paul Smith SRCC »

It will be interesting to see what direction they decide to take with the replacement for Wiggle.

As I elaborate far more in 'This Thread' I personally 'managed' the CTC Shop on franchise basis from December 2001 to December 2004 (GB Cycles-BikePlus) before we were outbid by 'Evans'. When Evans no longer wanted to run the shop it passed to 'Wiggle', who both took the CTC shop in a different direction to how I was asked to run it.

When I took it over the original CTC shop items from Godalming were retained, all of them, we couldn't drop one; many of which were hard to find items which to the CTC organisations credit they had stocked in part as they were not easily available to CTC members. Often these niche products they had imported themselves as there was no UK distributor, additional items along these lines were also added during the three year term, again something I wouldn't have necessarily considered from a commercial point of view. Like wise we also advertised, at our cost, items that the organisation wanted the shop to offer. Not commercially attractive these items my have been; but it did provide a valuable service to the CTC members and something I both applauded and was proud to be associated with.

For sure it was a 'virtual' not an 'actual' store and I dare say the replacement will need to be as well unless they decide to run it themselves? Yes there is only so much that can be done with a virtual shop, but I think the way the CTC wanted me to run their shop did offer something closer to a virtual 'local bike shop' than Wiggle did; with a focus that provided a service, not simply making money. I was there to speak to customers on the phone, with access to the products to help with any queries; if I had a penny every time I had to measure from the 'crutch to ankle' on a pair of Tudor Tights! The modern mail order giants and by direct association the CTC Shop after me were and still are the 'Supermarkets' of Cycle retailing. They are it has to be said absolutely superb at what they do, but that is not the same as saying I think that is how the CTC should have their shop represented, it was something quite unique and rather special, now as far as I'm concerned it simply became just a money making revenue stream to the CTC, which was a shame.

As I said, will be interesting to see what the CTC do now, I hope they listen to the members and find out both what it is they want and need.
Last edited by Paul Smith SRCC on 17 Jan 2022, 7:19am, edited 3 times in total.
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Si
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by Si »

I wonder if it reflects a change in the membership - the specialist bits that BikePlus used to stock are, I would guess from looking at my MG's rides, not that sort after any more. Back in the BikePlus days I would guess that profit for the CTC was somewhat less than they would make with Evans et al., but the obscure lines were a real member benefit. Now the call for obscure bits is less and it's not so much of a member benefit.

However, personally, I would still prefer that the CTC shop was Bikeplus, run along the same lines as it was previously. They stocked bits that I wanted and free advice was thrown in. But then I'm not an average CTC member so catering for me is not catering for the masses.
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by thirdcrank »

You might be forgiven for thinking it was a change in the nature of organisation: a club shop might reasonably be expected to try to meet the needs of the membership, but a charity might look towards the needs of the charity itself ie raising the max £££ for its charitable objectives. Only a grumpy old git like me might suggest they now seem to be in an unfortunate position between two stools.

(Surely, nobody would suggest that encouraging would-be cyclists to buy eg copies of racing bikes would promote cycling among newcomers to the sport?)
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by gaz »

CTC outsourced "the shop" in 2001. As Paul Smith SRCC states above, the hard to find touring items continued to be stocked during his tenure. It was 2005 when CTC started dealing with the cycling supermarkets, presumably chasing more £s for the organisation.

I don't doubt the decision was a commercial one but it was made long before CTC became a charity.
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by pete75 »

Paul Smith SRCC wrote:For sure it was a 'virtual' not an 'actual' store and I dare say the replacement will need to be as well unless they decide to run it themselves? Yes there is only so much that can be done with a virtual shop, but I think the way the CTC wanted me to run their shop did offer something closer to a virtual 'local bike shop' than Wiggle did; with a focus that provided a service, not simply making money. I was there to speak to customers on the phone, with access to the products to help with any queries; if I had a penny every time I had to measure from the 'crutch to ankle' on a pair of Tudor Tights! The modern mail order giants and by direct association the CTC Shop after me were and still are the 'Supermarkets' of Cycle retailing. They are it has to be said absolutely superb at what they do, but that is not the same as saying I think that is how the CTC should have their shop represented, it was something quite unique and rather special, now as far as I'm concerned it simply became just a money making revenue stream to the CTC, which was a shame.



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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by jezer »

I use Wiggle directly, and I find them efficient and competitive. You automatically get discount according to the amount you have spent in the previous 365 days. I maintain several bikes, so as a frequent customer I'm on a good level of discount. I think it's more than we used to get through the CTC link.
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by thirdcrank »

gaz wrote: ... I don't doubt the decision was a commercial one but it was made long before CTC became a charity.


That's correct, but things were heading that way some time ago. And while members might have had some room to grumble then, they have little now. The trustees are legally bound to do what's right for the charity (my wording.)
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by mark a. »

For most bike stuff, Wiggle or CRC are sufficient, and cheap.

For all the little bits that are relevant for tourists and commuters, SJS or Spa seem to have everything.

So CTC should just do a deal with SJS or Spa and be done with it.
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by JohnW »

mark a. wrote:For most bike stuff, Wiggle or CRC are sufficient, and cheap.

For all the little bits that are relevant for tourists and commuters, SJS or Spa seem to have everything.

So CTC should just do a deal with SJS or Spa and be done with it.


.............yes, but if you were Spa or SJS, would you do a deal with CTC?
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by Paul Smith SRCC »

JohnW wrote:
mark a. wrote:For most bike stuff, Wiggle or CRC are sufficient, and cheap.

For all the little bits that are relevant for tourists and commuters, SJS or Spa seem to have everything.

So CTC should just do a deal with SJS or Spa and be done with it.


.............yes, but if you were Spa or SJS, would you do a deal with CTC?

That's valid as arguably neither Spa or SJS need to run the CTC Shop.

The attraction to GB Cycles-Bike+ was that at the time, with the CTC branded items and customer loyalty, that it would introduce them to a market share they hadn't really been catering for; which doesn't apply to Spa or SJS, so would they even want it? Running the CTC shop was at a cost, they didn't pay someone to run their store, all expenses were met by GB Cycles-Bike+, including advertising, stock, staff, IT Systems (we had to have a completely different system to GB Cycles-Bike+), website etc. In addition we paid 10% of turnover regardless of margin going to the CTC, I believe Evans offered the same with a guaranteed minimum turnover, although they didn't seem to have to meet the rest of the criteria interms of product range or investment in a separate 'till' system.

CTC branded items have either been outsourced to another party or diminished to the extent that in my personal opinion the attraction of taking over the store has also diminished. The CTC shop really needs some thought put into it, perhaps bring back the CTC Branded items, focus on niche products, after all if Evans didn't want it, Wiggle couldn't make it work, then that's probably not the 'model' to use. The GB Cycles-Bike+ model did work as far as many of the members were concerned, it worked for the CTC who unloaded the costs and risks of a retail operation and got an income; but did it work for GB Cycles-Bike+, well I would say just and that's where the CTC have a job on their hands, to get someone who will first actually want to run it and secondly make it a success.

Keeping it simple and running it in house again would be another possibility, but the CTC seem to be outsourcing everything so can't see that happening!
Last edited by Paul Smith SRCC on 26 Jul 2015, 1:02pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: CTC Shop and Wiggle

Post by thirdcrank »

Come the rebranding, retailers will be falling over themselves........................ :lol:

In the meantime, who caters for anybody who wants Frank Patterson prints? :?

Here's the answer:

http://www.thefrankpattersonsociety.co.uk/
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