Don't try and order SRAM from overseas anymore...

[NicoBoshoff]

Myles, are you suggesting people are happy to pay through their arses for components because SRAM sponsors events?  Pretty sure if given the option consumers would say "Yeah, nah.  Just the bike stuff a bit cheaper please"

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Sorry - who was involved in price fixing. Coolheat, or Cape Cycle Systems?

[Iwan Kemp]

Iwan. So why does Shimano manage without resorting to anti-competitive behaviour?

 

...

 

Which brings me to the question - How come Shimano isn't acting like a bunch of giant sh*tlords?

 

How do you know they aren't?   What do you think happens to OE deals when you are up against the guys who have been the leader for years and years? Do you think Shimano saw SRAM, Race Face and all these other companies coming and did not throw their weight around to ensure they keep their market share? Do you think they don't pinch on the one side cause they've got road groupsets on the other side they can leverage?

 

Who was playing games then? But because those fights happen behind close doors we think they don't happen or is it okay for stuff like that to happen as long as they don't directly affect us?

 

Ask around, they're not the angels you think they are. It's business after all.

 

I don't think the issue being discussed here is SRAM pricing themselves out of the market. Its the fact that  SRAM can be bought for cheaper overseas and that supply chain has been cut off.

 

Maybe the other side of the coin is SRAM (along with CCS) is looking after the local economy by helping the shop around the corner from you staying open. Ever thought of how many people are employed by the local trade and if that had to go to CRC what would happen to the Mom and Pop stores? Cause in cycling, most stores are still privately owned and some have been in families for many years. Make it a free for all and we lose the LBS and we lose local back up. By which point you will be riding Shimano ( or Box  ) "cause there's no back-up for SRAM in SA". Just ask Magura. And Manitou and several others. IT DOESN'T WORK OUT IN THE LONG RUN.

 

AGAIN: not counter arguing, just trying to put another view on the table. One worth considering before we march to their gates and demand free housing. 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Myles, are you suggesting people are happy to pay through their arses for components because SRAM sponsors events?  Pretty sure if given the option consumers would say "Yeah, nah.  Just the bike stuff a bit cheaper please"

No. That's not what I'm saying. I'm personally not happy with how expensive bike kit is, generally speaking. But I will continue to purchase SRAM stuff because I LIKE it. It works for me. I prefer it to Shimano.

 

 

Sponsorship falls under marketing, IMO. Will I be swayed because Sam Hill runs X01 over XTR? No. But then I'm not a real mountainbiker cos I don't own any TLD kit. 

[banna]

Anyone wanna buy my XX1 groupo? .....for you I make special price, but only for you...  

[Showtime]

You can't have your cake and eat it.  Either it's purely marketing, which will, in budget forecasting terms,be dictated to by where the consumers migrate at various price points. Or it's some marketing and then frivolous BS which doesn't actually benefit the consumer.

 

In a fair market the consumer would give the brand a spanking for making their goods too expensive having spent too much money on niceties.  

 

And therein lies the rub.  SRAM isn't playing fair, and you know it.

 

If you want to reprogram the market to believe that R5 000 is the new normal for a cassette and R15 000 is normal for a groupset without brakes it is going to be a marketing drive of note and that is what SRAM have decided to become.

 

I certainly don't see that kind of value in their products. Might as well make a shirt saying my groupset thinks I'm a golfer. 

[shaper]

it is what it is... so like everything in life... find a way to overcome it.....

[Iwan Kemp]

...

 

Pretty sure if given the option consumers would say "Yeah, nah.  Just the bike stuff a bit cheaper please"

 

Here's the thing: on this I agree 100% with you. I'd rather buy a Golf for half the price than have then try and market / advertise / brand. Rather give me the saving. Me. Today. Now.

 

But that ship has sailed. We're being marketed to AND buy according to that whether we like to know or admit it or not.  Again, show me a successful co that does not do marketing. Whether that include branding, sponsorship, content or whatever. Where are they? If VW stopped advertising today they should be okay for another couple of years. Maybe even a generation as the buying public today knows them. After that? Will we then sing their praises for not conforming to the market and rather giving us savings or will some clever competitor have out-marketed them by then?

 

Why are stand alone shops closing in the shadow of more expensive malls? Convenience and because we're in it for us.

 

Unless of course everyone stops marketing at the same time.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Here's the thing: on this I agree 100% with you. I'd rather buy a Golf for half the price than have then try and market / advertise / brand. Rather give me the saving. Me. Today. Now.

 

But that ship has sailed. We're being marketed to AND buy according to that whether we like to know or admit it or not.  Again, show me a successful co that does not do marketing. Whether that include branding, sponsorship, content or whatever. Where are they? If VW stopped advertising today they should be okay for another couple of years. Maybe even a generation as the buying public today knows them. After that? Will we then sing their praises for not conforming to the market and rather giving us savings or will some clever competitor have out-marketed them by then?

 

Why are stand alone shops closing in the shadow of more expensive malls? Convenience and because we're in it for us.

 

Unless of course everyone stops marketing at the same time.

There is one company, but that's a HUGE outlier. They don't market their goods, their owners do. 

 

Tesla. 

 

[Iwan Kemp]

There is one company, but that's a HUGE outlier. They don't market their goods, their owners do. 

 

Tesla. 

 

 

Ah, yes. Correct. But now other factors come into play. One not suited for this thread.

[Iwan Kemp]

There is one company, but that's a HUGE outlier. They don't market their goods, their owners do. 

 

Tesla. 

 

 

Just remind me again how many Teslas did you see on your way to work this morning compared to white Toyota Corollas? 

[Amberdrake]

Also remember Tesla's first release was a high class sports car. I am sure they had a GALA, dinner etc to market it.

They also create extreme amounts of hype and news marketing.

 

I don't think SRAM local pricing is that bad TBH, NX VS SLX pricing very comparable. 

It might be cheaper from across the pond, but then so is the Shimano stuff?

[Spoke101]

One of the reasons that Stoke doesn't carry Shimano items. Mahooosive initial order requirement just to get on their list of stockists. They can't order anything from them until that happens, so they just don't carry Shimano. 

 

CCS doesn't have that requirement. 

 

EDIT: Just been told that CCS have a min order of R 50k. 

Last time I checked Shimano was about 40k but that was a year ago. The issue with Shimano is that your 40k gets you all the low end stuff: cartage BB's, 7/8 speed stuff, etc. Where's SRAM let you choose to a degree. 

[BigDL]

There is one company, but that's a HUGE outlier. They don't market their goods, their owners do.

 

Tesla.

 

Really, so all of their Mall sales stores around the world are owners marketing the products??.?..

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Eddy Gordo]

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SRAM-X0-XO-10S-Speed-Rear-Derailleurs-Carbon-Long-Middle-Short-Cage-MTB-DH-FR-AM/32674309623.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.317.1crVc6&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10056_10065_10055_10068_10054_10069_10059_418_10073_10017_10070_10060_10061_10052_10062_10053_10050_10051,searchweb201603_7&btsid=49747cb9-0471-4ba8-99ed-d817923ff90f

 

 

Just putting this here

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Really, so all of their Mall sales stores around the world are owners marketing the products??.?..

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Erm - that's one of their direct sales stores. Perhaps I should have phrased it better. They don't advertise. That facet of marketing.

 

However - people still like to touch and feel when they're paying upwards of $70k for a vehicle. They still need a place to do that. This isn't marketing, it's distribution. 

 

Suppose there is a crossover, but in traditional speak it's not marketing per se. The stores themselves display the wares. 

 

Actually, wait - no. That is marketing. They are putting the item to market. They're just not "advertising" the product via traditional print media. Or put better, tehre's no advertising budget or marketing budget. There's a budget for distribution centres, in which the product is displayed.

 

Semantics, yes, but important distinctions, IMO