Open letter to Chain Reaction Cycles

[Grebel]

I wonder who makes the better margin - The local agents or the LBS?

 

That would be interesting...

[Eldron]

 

 

how many LBS owners do you see driving Porche's??

There is your answer...

 

How many bike shops are mutli million Rand companies that employ more than 100 people?

 

Economies of scale.

[nuge]

I haven't read all the posts on this one, but it appears that the author of the piece is openly admitting that his particular local cycling industry has been ripping off their customers and patrons for years.

 

Any bike shop that doesn't realise that this is the way the tide is turning and find a way to exploit it is going to become a dinosaur very rapidly. The author points out that there are things that CRC cannot do - there is your LBS's competitive advantage.

 

Also, if the author had a real issue with overseas importers detroying their carefully crafted industry, then he should lobby his local MP to push for a change to the way import duties are levied.

[Paul Ruinaard]

Hmm - like the record industry had a valid case against mp3's and the luddites had a valid case against the spinning machines etc etc.

 

Ho hum. Those that dont learn from history are destined to repeat it. Darwin wrote an interetsing book about the theory of change.

[North Shore]

I'm so sick of bike stores and owners complaining about CRC destroying the industry. Perhaps if our local guys didnt mark up things almost 300% from what CRC can offer I would happily support them, but when everytime I walk into a LBS I am absolutely robbed blind my loyalty wanes.

 

I'm sorry, I understand a bike shop has costs, mechanics and personal service etc, but we would all be so much happier to support local if they weren't colluding to price fix bikes (btw what happened to this case of collusion against fritz Pienaar and cyclelab?) and if their offerings were even vaguely competitive with LBS overseas, and not magnitudes larger they would gain my loyalty rather than repugnant disdain.

Edited November 16, 2012 by North Shore

[BogusOne]

That is some info I woould love to see - the general sentiment on this forum seems to be that the distributors are milking it while the LBS suffers.

 

I wonder how true that is...

 

 

Absolutely

 

http://2.asset.soup.io/asset/2692/6386_4558.gif

[ChUkKy]

Stop it.

 

I was allowed to stroke the top tube of one of these frames on the condition that my wife was present at the time.

 

Touching the top tube of that must have been like touching Katy Perrys breast

I will ... Notttt.... nottttt look again ar CRC

[Caerus]

Yep,

It's great to have good mechanics like this, they have embraced CRC. Which reminds me I must get my bikes serviced before I move to CT.

[Chris Willemse]

These complains sounds very familiar to me and reminds me how most of the wholesalers were against us at CWC when we started the online sales. Remember the caught case with Mavic , which we won in court. The " so called cartel " how certain of them tried to force certain wholesalers not to supply CWC ect ect. Not so long ago our account were closed by a certain wholesaler and distributor because we were selling Maxis tires at a very good price.

 

Thanks to CRC , ourselves and a few other online stores around the world certain wholesalers has drop their prices BUT still not enough. Thanks to your support we are still growing and learning plenty from CRC.

[Red Zone]

Its about an open market place, sometimes I buy from CRC, often CWC is as cheep or close enough (especially considering delivery fees & duties) and sometimes the LBS gets my buck because they are top guys and I want to support them, and often I just want is quickly and easily.

[North Shore]

These complains sounds very familiar to me and reminds me how most of the wholesalers were against us at CWC when we started the online sales. Remember the caught case with Mavic , which we won in court. The " so called cartel " how certain of them tried to force certain wholesalers not to supply CWC ect ect. Not so long ago our account were closed by a certain wholesaler and distributor because we were selling Maxis tires at a very good price.

 

Thanks to CRC , ourselves and a few other online stores around the world certain wholesalers has drop their prices BUT still not enough. Thanks to your support we are still growing and learning plenty from CRC.

Agree 100%, you guys put the other LBS's to shame as your online prices are the same as in store and even if more expensive (not always) than CRC I'm happy to support our local online stores.

[Cyclocross]

As was noted by an early response on page 1, Mr Holmes should be grumpy with the Aus government, not CRC (or Wiggle or ProBikeKit etc), and I think this for 2 reasons;

 

1. they don't charge sales tax (GST/VAT) on any retail import under AUD1000. At exchange rates hit this week, that's R12600 per order before any sales tax is added, plus making the free shipping threshold easily/cheaply achievable. Retailers and traditional importers are required to pay sales tax on all orders (probably due to order size always exceeding the AUD1000 threshold). It's affecting all retail in Aus, not just cycling especially since their minimum wage is pretty high for shop staff. Their govt ministers claim the small amounts of tax that would be collected if they changed this doesn't warrant the additional costs of collection (possibly they have not seen the volumes from CRC etc ).

 

2. they have let their exchange rate strengthen wildly as a result of China buying all their minerals to where it has been stronger than the US$ since 2010, making direct imports even more attractive to their citizens.

 

By all means, respect to Matty Holmes for trying to protect his own business (under the guise of the "scene"), but I recon he's barking up the wrong tree.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Cyclocross

[Ratty]

CRC is that same as places like Amazon.

 

I refuse to buy from Exclusive books, their prices are rediculous. Even Kalahari is expensive. So, I buy all my books from Amazon as well as a lot of other stuff (just a pity they don't export their PS3 games to SA).

 

I'm all for these online stores, saves me lots of money :-)

[Chro Mo]

Bikebug - an Aussie store - is very prominent in advertising their services on US sites.

 

Adapting to a free market such as the online model espoused by CCR/CWC/Wiggle/Bikebug et al, displays a forward thinking approach to business - a global view.

 

I, for one, think that CRC has been a positive influence in terms of:

 

a) fostering the development of a whole generation of home bike mechanics, capable of mastering the arcane skills associated with our chosen lifestyle

b ) causing local retailers to bring down their prices - I say this because i find myself buying more and more stuff from my two LBS's, as they are becoming more and more competitive. Maybe local retailers can bring pressure to bear on the the distributors?

 

I use CRC for those larger orders, where one can save a couple of grand - the prices are sometimes impossible to beat.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Chro Mo

[Kranky]

It's not like cycling is the only industry that has had to deal with the internet. Just ask the book stores. Adapt or die is the simple truth.

 

I'm still happy to pay a bit more when I need some advice or technical input but otherwise if I know exactly what I want, why should I pay someone extra for the luxury of walking into their store? Anyway, sometimes the stores are cheaper

[YUMEYA]

eggxagetarry!! How does the agents then justify their excessive margins??

 

You know the usual "pruchased stock on a weak rand" BS.