'Bicycle prices fixed'

[Minion]

I have a question (which was raised in my LBS yesterday) concerning bike insurance. What value do you put on the form for the insurers?

Check with your insurance to be certain, but it's usually the local replacement price. I asked my insurance about this and they said that, to reduce fraud, their policy is to replace the actuals parts and only in very rare cases will they give a cash payout.

[rock]

To think that they got where they are today by not ripping the consumer a new one. They employ 300+ people and have a building the size of Cape Town Airport and still offer good prices. LBS and Suppliers need to catch a wake up!

 

Impressive - I took a drive to CRC back in 2002 when I was in the area on holiday........much smaller warehouse back then but still shelves and shelves of stock and a small office with a few computers, they really have been doing something right.

[ridr]

I have a good relationship with my LBS (and they're on the list!). I'll still go back there for servicing and small parts every now and then. They give me good service and they're a friendly bunch of guys. They know I get parts from wherever my money goes furthest and I'm very open about it. If they want my money, it must be beneficial for them and for me. I'm not unreasonable with them. If I have issues with something I bought somewhere else, I don't expect them to waste their time sorting it out for me.

[River Rat]

I think this is all good news for the future and remember the past cannot be changed. It is going to be tough for those that colluded but imagine how tough it has been for those retailers outside of this cartel who were being boycotted by the wholesalers. It is a sad fact some of those retailers that are faced with a 10% fine as well as open competition are not going to last but perhaps they shouldn't be in business in any case.

 

For me it is not so much about the quantum of the mark up as long as it a market related one (not something conjured up in dark and smokey room. A free market related mark up will be determined by the best in the industry not the laziest because to be able to offer lower mark ups takes hard graft.

 

Holy as for your sentiment for those that were caught unawares and attended the meeting under false pretences. If that is indeed true they did have civic duty to report those involved, the fact that they did not is what they are paying for. The old saying about "When good men do nothing" comes to mind.

 

As for the call for a boycott I do not believe that will achieve anything but what will help is simply being a good consumer by pricing around and allowing free market principles to take its course. I'm of the opinion that it will take about 2 -3 years for this to sort its self out and we will have a better industry at the end of it.

 

Just my 10% worth!

[Pappa Bear]

Those of you that want to boycot the shops...dont forget about the wholesalers. So no more of the following for all of you...

 

Thule carriers

Trek Bikes

Bontrager

GT

Schwinn

Cannondale

Fox

Easton

Bell

Giro

Ryder

Kenda

Blackburn

Sigma

Camelbak

Sram

Silverback

Shimano

FSA

Cervelo

Hope

Bianchi

Campag

Fulcrum

Selle Italia

Met

Hutchinson

ToPeak

Mark Beneke

Specialized

Crank Brothers

Rav X components

etc

 

 

Easy solution just buy from overseas...... I can recomend Chainreaction cycles over and over!

[AndreZA]

Imagine the second hand market. All shop prices drops by 20% and new items are cheaper then second hand ones.

[Minion]

The people calling for a boycott of everyone on the list are jumping the gun a bit.

 

The articles I've read in today's Business Day note that the dealers and distributors on the list are mainly the ones who attended 'That Meeting'. They appear to be on the list regardless of whether or not they agreed with what was said in the meeting.

 

The matter has been referred to the Tribunal i.e. the matter has not yet been judged and no verdict has been reached. The various companies have not (yet?) been found guilty.

 

At the very least keep the pitchforks and torches away until the final verdict has been reached.

[nikki]

I cant wait to watch SuperCycling tonight and see how the presenters deal with this topic. That's if they even discuss it!

It would be quite lekker if they could open the telephone lines tonight for us to phone in and ask them the difficulty questions.....

[Epic Bike Shop]

Just for the record ..the prices of bikes came down this year because the dollar dropped from 13:1 to 8:1 and importers base their prices on this and not on the price fixing...that had nothing to do with it.

Secondly the 10% margin is a standard fine which has been levied in the past on the bread industry and the car industry with the car industry taking an extra 10% from the directors salaries as well.

For the rest ....we still have the outcome of the Tribunal so lets not judge too early....some of the people on the list are not guilty.

There's also no point in boycotting the products that the wholesalers who are on the list bring in as these agencies change hands on an ongoing basis.

'nuff said!

[Minion]

Imagine the second hand market. All shop prices drops by 20% and new items are cheaper then second hand ones.

Except that the second hand market (at least on the Hub) is based on CRC prices. Witness the various crucifixions that occur when people try to sell based on local prices.

[fandacious]

Just for the record ..the prices of bikes came down this year because the dollar dropped from 13:1 to 8:1 and importers base their prices on this and not on the price fixing...that had nothing to do with it.

Secondly the 10% margin is a standard fine which has been levied in the past on the bread industry and the car industry with the car industry taking an extra 10% from the directors salaries as well.

For the rest ....we still have the outcome of the Tribunal so lets not judge too early....some of the people on the list are not guilty.

There's also no point in boycotting the products that the wholesalers who are on the list bring in as these agencies change hands on an ongoing basis.

'nuff said!

 

wtf are u smoking? when was the dollar 13:1

[gummibear]

Good prices and good service is what we all want.

 

There is no need for lbs to put in a R85k kitchen to make coffe but then when they screw up R5000 worth of my parts they tell me it was like that.A kitchen doesn't impress me.

Keep it basic and keep the cost down.

 

I was in Germany yesterday and had a look at a few new 2011 bikes.I can't wait to see the pricing in SA.

Shops here still offer 15% off for cash and like the one guy said,that's to keep customers from going to online shops like CRC.

[GLuvsMtb]

wtf are u smoking? when was the dollar 13:1

 

Around Sep/Oct 2002 it hit R 12:50 to the $ if memomry serves me.

 

The point is that a 20 to 30% improvement in the exchange rate has been passed on to the consumer. Wish the same happened in the motor vehicle industry, instead we pay 20% MORE for our cars (locally and internationally manufactured) than a year ago.

 

To all the conspiricy theorists out there: Lets see what the commision finds.

[Zeps]

For the rest ....we still have the outcome of the Tribunal so lets not judge too early....some of the people on the list are not guilty.

 

Man dude this is not the way of the hub! But as per my previous 2 posts I do agree with this statement ......

[Squier]

Ok, valid point. So i guess all the businessis that went bank the past year was beacause of mismangement? Certain trades are down because of recession, other trade are down because of competitors. If guys in the cycling industry pay more from their wholesalers than from CRC, im sorry, but thats not mismanagement. You can cut overheads to a point. Please tell me where to cut/manage any further. Ps. We did all have the same markup, and we as a shop did NOT agree with the higher markup structure. But to understand why guys wanted to push up the margin, you need to go to the root of the problem. And that root my friend is no layalty to SA trade. More SA buyers= More competitive pricing.

 

Again, More SA buyers = More competitive pricing? Doesn't make sense... This does not correlate with fundamental economic principles. The more buyers there are in the market the more you can up your prices. It's especially now when there are less buyers in the market that you have to focus on competitive pricing.

 

We can overcomplicate things, but, simply put, there are two ways to maximise profit. 1 - control your costs, and 2 - sell more bikes. How do you sell more bikes? You make sure you are priced right... Make your differentiating factor the one that is most important to everyone... Money! i.e. Price.

[Squier]

I cant wait to watch SuperCycling tonight and see how the presenters deal with this topic. That's if they even discuss it!

It would be quite lekker if they could open the telephone lines tonight for us to phone in and ask them the difficulty questions.....

 

I doubt they will discuss it... especially seeing that one of the presenters is on the list...