Chain Reaction and Wiggle going into administration

***F1ZZY***

***F1ZZY***

***F1ZZY***

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Location
Wiltshire
Seems to be many reasons compounding their financial loss making, but recession, Brexit, acquisition and supply chain and stock issues seem to be forcing them into administration. I hope that they can survive this and the Nukeproof and Vitus brands survive too.

Chain Reaction Cycles & Wiggle Face Uncertainty

Might be some bargains coming up if you are brave to order (on credit card of course, just in case)
 
From my personal experience and from what a lot of other people have echoed, they have been the architects of their own downfall.

They have been maintaining two websites which had identical stock.

They launched new websites which were a massive step down in user experience and as a result, most people I know don't even bother checking CRC/Wiggle. I used to use them all the time but I haven't bought anything from them in a few years now I reckon. I know the website redesign isn't that old but I found that the sheer amount of stock made trawling offers hard work and the redesign just killed it completely.
 
Race to the bottom for these giants. Hundreds of million losses i heard. Many bike brands and distributors running at a loss and just trying to push out stock whatever it costs to pay their bills.
 
fez said:
From my personal experience and from what a lot of other people have echoed, they have been the architects of their own downfall.

They have been maintaining two websites which had identical stock.

They launched new websites which were a massive step down in user experience and as a result, most people I know don't even bother checking CRC/Wiggle. I used to use them all the time but I haven't bought anything from them in a few years now I reckon. I know the website redesign isn't that old but I found that the sheer amount of stock made trawling offers hard work and the redesign just killed it completely.
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I had the same frustrations with the website. The filtering was awful and a lot of product lines were out of stock. I also found the pricing to be more expensive. Pre-merger CRC was always a little cheaper than Wiggle but I reckon they started price gouging in the pandemic period and probably lost revenue. The amount they seemingly paid in integration costs was eyewatering for a what should have been relatively straightforward and this left them with a big hit financially which seemingly was not overcome by synergies. This is often what happens when PE gets involved.

I'm not buying as much cycling gear as I was a few years ago but if I need something now I go to Sigma Sports as a first stop. The price of cycling has not reduced from the pandemic profiteering period and this has seen a number of distributers fail and other businesses struggle to get to grips with the post Brexit realities of export/import. I expect that has impacted Wiggle although with CRC based in NI then maybe they got round it. I think a lot of the manufacturers have excess inventory to clear which won't be easy as cycling is not a growth sector compared to the post Olympic UK boom. Suspect Mike Ashley will be circling like the carrion eater he is.
 
You could feel this coming IMO, I know someone who works in the engineering dept. at Canyon and he says if it were not for the direct sales model he doesn't think they would be around anymore. The pandemic caused a huge amount of 'fake' positivity in the market which could never be sustained, and the ludicrous prices of e-bikes just can't be propped up much longer, and this is where the margins were being made.
 
I'm hoping there is some strong re-adjustment in the high end section of the bike market.

I've been looking at the Ribble Ultra SLR Ultegra, price increased from £5199 in the summer to £6499 now. Gravel Ti 12 speed has increased by £500.
 
Spent a lot of money over the years with CRC and Wiggle and would always recommend them, but in recent years they were a last resort.

Shame for those that may lose jobs and hopefully they can hang on enough and go back to the days when they were really decent.
 
i like to buy from my locals but sometimes prices are double what that are online. I ended up buying through amazon as were cheapest. Prices on bikes went crazy, i keep getting emails saying 6k off but then the bike was 13k to start with.
 
Loads of their stock have been selling on eBay of late. I picked up a Vitus bike for my daughter and a few little bits (Tyres, energy gels etc). Everything arrived OK, though not the quickest.

Not sure what is happening with their main websites though. I ordered a Vitus bike for my son, which was pretty much half-price. I made sure I paid on a credit card just in case. They took the cash straight away but the order has been sat in 'order processing' since Tuesday morning. I'll give it till Monday and then contact my bank.

It's a shame, I've used both Wiggle and Chain Reaction quite a bit over the years.
 
See their website has gone into a holding pattern now with everything closed up it seems. such a shame! Remember talking to my mate when at College so a long time ago and his uncle started Wiggle and was just selling it at that point for a mere £9m.
 
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