Wiggle / CR news

[Tarmacsurfer]

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/news/wiggle-c ... nistration

https://road.cc/content/news/black-frid ... ope-304611

Just a heads up

[Mr Moofo]

That’s a shame

[MingtheMerciless]

That’s a shame

Indeed. Had some great margins from them over the years (as well as buying loads of tat).

[weeksy]

Used them regularly for 20 years. Trying to grow bigger and bigger isn't always the right thing

[Mr Moofo]

Used them regularly for 20 years. Trying to grow bigger and bigger isn't always the right thing

Tends to have been my mainstay - the Wiggle / CRC tie up always seemed odd.

[Jody]

Very pleased my order arrived yesterday !!

[millemille]

Ordered a Brand X dropper post from Wiggle Saturday and it's just arrived.

[Hot_Air]

Trying to grow bigger and bigger isn't always the right thing

Also, their unbelievably bad website must have been a big factor in CRC and Wiggle’s demise.

CRC and Wiggle had decent websites before they merged. Post-merger, they managed to create the worst website I have ever tried to use — making life needlessly difficult for anyone attempting to buy stuff.

Sadly, their downfall will have ripples for the UK’s cycling industry. Many of their suppliers will have unpaid bills, not to mention Wiggle/CRC ceasing sponsorship.

[weeksy]

Trying to grow bigger and bigger isn't always the right thing

Also, their unbelievably bad website must have been a big factor in CRC and Wiggle’s demise.

Not convinced. It may have cost them some customers here and there, but not millions upon millions. Their downfall was the big B word, Brexit... Although caused by them due to migrating from Ireland to Birmingham. More expensive premises, losing their assistance from the Irish Gov as well as Royal Mail.... Then losing customers from EU... that'll be it for them.

[Jody]

Website is still up and running and they sent me a survey this morning on how they could improve??

[weeksy]

I think they're in what's classed as 'self-administration' whatever that means. But several of their parent/other companies have fully filed for being insolvent etc.. I don't know quite how businesses do these things... people are still currently buying and getting their goods from both CRC and Wiggle on other forums.

[mboy]

An actual administrator has been appointed now, and it is being offered for sale as a going concern (though who in their right mind would buy it as it is, I don't know)...

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggle ... istration/

[Hot_Air]

who in their right mind would buy it as it is

Mile Ashley’s Frasers Group — which owns Sports Direct and Evans — is one possible buyer according to Sky News:

https://news.sky.com/story/frasers-look ... e-12994213

[mboy]

Mile Ashley’s Frasers Group — which owns Sports Direct and Evans — is one possible buyer according to Sky News:

https://news.sky.com/story/frasers-look ... e-12994213

Ashley has just bought some failing brands off Signa...

But I don't think he will want to pay what Signa will believe CRC/Wiggle is worth... He paid £8m for Evans off the administrator after all, which bought him £40m worth of stock and no obligation to pay any of the debts! I guess if CRC/Wiggle's administrator believes the entire business is only worth 20% of the stock value then his interest might be piqued, but I suspect it'll drag on for much longer myself...

[mboy]

An interesting read from someone with a vested interest, if you can be bothered…

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/postmort ... paign=copy

Goes some way to explaining the mess the company is in, and that it’s not just bike industry specific problems that have caused its downfall.

[Tarmacsurfer]

I've had a few deals recently but don't think I'd risk it now

https://singletrackworld.com/2024/02/wi ... t=cmp-true

[weeksy]

I almost bought some expensive body armour last night, I'm glad I never!

Weird that they'll go pear shaped, I've spent many thousands with them

[Mr Moofo]

I almost bought some expensive body armour last night, I'm glad I never!

Weird that they'll go pear shaped, I've spent many thousands with them

A sad end indeed - spent a lot of money there and they have been very useful
Unlikely that it will be so under Ashley's ownership - Nukeproof will become a horribly devalued brand

[weeksy]

Which is a shame as they turned into a brilliantly affordable way into big travel bikes for loads with the Dissent, Mega and Giga

[mboy]

Sadly, this has happened exactly as I predicted… By trying to “win capitalism”, subsequent owners of CRC/Wiggle have relied on excessive turnover, continual growth and a perception of the brands’ value to essentially create a critical mass for the business… All it needed was for one of those ingredients to disappear, and the entire house of card would come tumbling down with a lack of profit and capital backing the business up.

CRC/Wiggle have, for the last few years at least, operated with circa £120m value of stock (at the prices they have paid for it, so probably double that at rrp given that they also act as importer/distrihbutor/manufacturer for a number of the brands they stock too)… Sources who I trust that have dealt with them for a long time suggest the business has been sat on huge amounts of old/redundant/defunct stock that they hadn’t been able to sell for a long time now, an increasing problem that they hadn’t managed to deal with effectively, tying up capital and resources. Which is why Mike Ashley had no interest in buying the stock even at knock down prices, unlike when he bought Evans.

So he played the waiting game, confident that anybody else who might show interest in buying it as a going concern, that once they had done their due diligence, they would walk away sheepishly… And he just waited til one minute to midnight, and bought the only bits of value to him (the brand names and intellectual property) for a rock bottom price!

Conservatively I guesstimate there’s probably £50-60m of stock left in their warehouse that they still can’t sell even at giveaway prices (all the stuff they could sell for decent prices went a long time ago), so it is effectively landfill!

Capitalism eh…