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19th November, launch of NET10 10% off
23rd November, "10% of Black Friday Bonus" with NET10
26th November, "Here Is An Extra 10% Off Cyber Monday!" with....NET10
WTF is Cyber monday?>!??
I expect that to make 30% off to compensate for all the spam!
Its like DFS are having a party in my inbox at the moment 😉
yeah I was just thinking the same. oh and I see another advertising banner from them, above this reply, just saying... yep you guessed it 10% off.
Cyber Monday is something many people know about. A more global version of Black Friday.
CRC is in international company, even if some of it's customers are not 😉
"youo b'aint be from round'ere be you?"
WTF is Cyber monday?>!??
Dunno. Sounds rude, though.
Do I need a USB attachment?
wanna cyber, hun?
You're complaing of getting discount?
I'm waiting for the 20% off gift vouchers.
I got a few hundred quids worth last year, used them wisely, great saving.
CRC 'sales' are becoming similar to On-One/Planet-X 'sales'.
All the recent 10% discounts are only when you spend over £100, which is a pretty poor offer really.
Big animals need fed .
They don't want you to forget about them ,and go wandering off to any Wooly Hatted Merlin in Winstanley over the festive shopping time. 🙂
I remember talking to a chap last year who has a pretty good understanding of the industry. He reckons "one of the big boy" will go belly up soon. That in turn made me wonder if it was a cash flow issue.
I'd say they are just fine.
Working in online sales myself, there are standard trade patterns tied in around people's paydays - the week before payday is always a slow one, even more so this point in the year, so incentives to drive site traffic and in turn sales are pretty normal.
I thought the use of "SALES" was governed by legislation. But given that so many firms have pretty much constant sales these days, I guess this is another thing being abused. Still rather have lower prices than higher ones, so as long as no-one is suckered into believing it is a genuine sale, then no harm done I suppose.
Desperate, when they own one one of the world's largest online bike shops, several brands and a few distribution companies? I don't think so.
Owning the brands, distribution and retail gives them better margins and more control.
I just hope it lasts until Friday... when I get paid.
I thought the use of "SALES" was governed by legislation.
Provided the product has been sold at the original price for 28 days and there is evidence of it being sold at the higher price, that's all fully legit. End of the day, a business exists for the primary purpose of making a profit, so price adjustments to meet market trends need to happen.
Anyway, as has been said, lower prices so all good!
[quote=andyrm ]I thought the use of "SALES" was governed by legislation.
Provided the product has been sold at the original price for 28 days and there is evidence of it being sold at the higher price, that's all fully legit. End of the day, a business exists for the primary purpose of making a profit, so price adjustments to meet market trends need to happen.
Anyway, as has been said, lower prices so all good!
It's not unknown for CRC to offer a "SALE" price on brands that they own and for parts & bikes that have never previously been on sale - ANYWHERE. That's simply unfair competition and probably illegal to boot.
They've also stopped taking orders for kit that is currently out of stock. I'd say that was a sign that they're trying to resolve a cashflow issue.
I'm thinking of asking for CRC vouchers for christmas from the missus, inlaws, etc and then holding out for the inevitable round of discount codes and special offers in Jan/feb...
I remember talking to a chap last year who has a pretty good understanding of the industry. He reckons "one of the big boy" will go belly up soon. That in turn made me wonder if it was a cash flow issue.
Can we start a sweepstake?
I'm going to go for Wiggle
They've also stopped taking orders for kit that is currently out of stock. I'd say that was a sign that they're trying to resolve a cashflow issue.
I wouldn't.
They are more likely sick of having to refund orders they can't fulfill.
It means nothing. It's just a way of reminding us all they are there in the lead up to Christmas; we will tell our families about the 10% off and they get us bike kit from CRC rather than socks and chocolate from the local shops... marketing 101.
Wiggle +1 though i have found them to be very efficient but a tad pricey even against CRC. Merlin also good service though limited choice and stock level.
I'd like to see a pricetracker for crc similar to camelcamecamel or propertybee, just to be able to see how their prices move in relation to their release of promotional codes and sales.
CRC have been shit for months now. Pi$$ poor service..items out of stock, no response to emails, any orders often taking a week or more for delivery and frankly not even that cheap anymore. In the past 12 months or so ive spent roughly £2k on clothing and parts, almost all of it from Wiggle, who i find give the best service and of course stock the superb DHB kit, and Merlin, who are often the cheapest and have super fast delivery. Ive ordered 2 bits of kit from CRC in this time, and had the above issues on both occasions. I was going to use them for a Garmin Edge 800 last week, but as the price went from £300 upto £400 overnight, in return for a 10% off voucher, i went elsewhere. CRC, it maybe that your time is up.
I used to know a girl from Ballyclare - Happy days 😀
Wiggle aren't desperate: On their home screen there's a code for £15 off £100+ spend. So I thought now was the time to get my Garmin edge 200,bringing it down to the same price as Amazon, but OH NO!!! It's not on the rather small list of types of items included in this offer, as on the T&C's!
Grrrrr... 👿
It's not unknown for CRC to offer a "SALE" price on brands that they own and for parts & bikes that have never previously been on sale - ANYWHERE. That's simply unfair competition and probably illegal to boot.
I would expect they will have the products in question on sale at their showroom. 28 days, instore, full RRP. That's fully legal and perfectly fine. While some may call it "unfair" because CRC's group of companies also include manufacturers and distributors, I'd say it is just good business practice on their part to increase market share in several parts of the chain and so maximise business performance.
[quote=andyrm ]It's not unknown for CRC to offer a "SALE" price on brands that they own and for parts & bikes that have never previously been on sale - ANYWHERE. That's simply unfair competition and probably illegal to boot.
I would expect they will have the products in question on sale at their showroom. 28 days, instore, full RRP.
I'm talking about stuff that's often not even reached the country yet.
You're complaing of getting discount?
No, I'd guess the OP is complaining about repeatedly being bombarded with adverts for what turns out to be the same, not particularly generous, offer. Did you read his post?
Their offers last year were better*, and the fact voucher codes and offers from CRC are getting thinner on the ground and of less value suggests they are doing just fine, as Messiah says just competing with Wiggle for brand awareness on the build up to Xmas.
*£50 off your next order over £100?! Munqe chick bought a lovely Kona road frame with carbon forks for just over £100, got the voucher, and then got fulcrum racing 7 wheels after the voucher for £90. Not holding my breath for similar offers this year, any recessionary effects been offset by the explosion in cycling from this summer I reckon.
I guess they have sales targets/income targets they need to meet each month and there has been chat on the news about it being a very slow pre xmas build up, so perhaps they are getting twitchy.
I used to know a girl from Ballyclare - Happy days
Me too, hope it wasn't the same one!
I don't touch CRC these days, unless they're the only ones with stock and I need something in a hurry. I've had enough of the BS headline prices when it turns out they only have that size suitable for a one-legged unicorn and that every other size is pretty much normal price. I do remember the good old days of the flood sales, shame they moved else I'm sure there would be some more actual bargains to be had for a change...
I would reckon if the offers are not as good, then business must be better than it was, as they are not bothered about grabbing new business.
I send out offers on a weekly basis, and the quality if the offer depends on how busy my diary is.
Empty diary, cracking discount offer in a bid to fill it up.
Almost fully booked, not that great an offer as I'm not too bothered.
But I send them out every week regardless as people get used to seeing them and that's how direct marketing is done best (so I'm told)
My biggest gripe with CRC is Royal Mail (and those stupid non post box sized boxes), specificaly their Wokingham office.
They've closed the parcel collection bit down to 10-12:30, so in effect it's closed on Weekdays before work and only half the usual hours at weekends in the run upto Christmas!
If I wanted to que for an hour to get stuff I'd not buy of the internet! Just a shame the LBS is massively overpriced, £36 for a pair (i.e. a bikes worth) of brake pads? Jog on! They do have a shop full of carbon bling frames though so I guess they know the local Berkshire/Surrey market.
I think Wiggle's website is much easier to navigate than CRC's, so I order most stuff from Wiggle. CRC has too much choice, and I lose interest before finding what I want.
😯They've closed the parcel collection bit down to 10-12:30
our local depot has extended its opening hours beyond office hours and saturday mornings. Can you get stuff delivered to work?
I would reckon if the offers are not as good, then business must be better than it was, as they are not bothered about grabbing new business.I send out offers on a weekly basis, and the quality if the offer depends on how busy my diary is.
Empty diary, cracking discount offer in a bid to fill it up.
Almost fully booked, not that great an offer as I'm not too bothered.
But I send them out every week regardless as people get used to seeing them and that's how direct marketing is done best (so I'm told)
^^This.
And yeah, you're totally right about regular contact. It's called "conditioning". Back in the day, you used to have to make an average of 8 contacts to close a sale (for "sale" that could mean order, booking or whatever, but fundamentally is a sale). Nowadays due to information overload, it's something like 60, so yeah, you need to keep the contact up, hence CRC sending regular things out, even if they aren't amazing. It keeps you warm to them and keeps you opening their email.
Additionally, they will be classifying and datamining all email campaigns - I'd expect they have some very clever sub categories etc. From the email campaign they can track who opens the email, where they click through to, how long they stay on site, what else they look at etc. All of which is massively valuable data to an online business to plan sales activity and make more profit.
our local depot has extended its opening hours beyond office hours and saturday mornings. Can you get stuff delivered to work?
Unfortunately not, but have started getting urgent stuff delivered to the missus' parents house.
It's stupid though, the que is often down the street and takes at least 45 min. The stupid thing is they now have to have someone marshaling the que as it runs allong the access road to their yard and out onto the high street. So that's another person that isn't at the front finding parcels.
And they book every parcel in/out in a logbook, why the electronic signature system can't log it I've no idea, but that must be another minute or so for them per person in the que looking for their name in the logbook!
Do people not know how to unsubscribe from CRC emails?
Not holding my breath for similar offers this year, any recessionary effects been offset by the explosion in cycling from this summer I reckon.
Plus last year CRC were still suffering the after affects of the Credit card details hack so were pretty keen to get trade back up
True, but the TDF was sponsored by Wiggle, and they must be losing custom to the german websites?
The items included in the offer are on the front page, [i]right under the offer[/i] on a decent sized red banner!headfirst - MemberOn their home screen there's a code for £15 off £100+ spend. So I thought now was the time to get my Garmin edge 200,bringing it down to the same price as Amazon, but OH NO!!! It's not on the rather small list of types of items included in this offer, as on the T&C's!
Grrrrr...
[b]> Clothing * Bags * Helmets * Shoes * Nutrition <[/b]
Some interesting speculative thoughts above, so I pulled the accounts.
Sales up From 2010 £100 million to £136 million 2011, so not really suffering from credit card details.
In terms of profit and cashflow, looks good 10 months ago, loans of £2.5million not insurmountable debt. 32% gross margin..and grew through the recession by the looks of it, so CRC on face looks pretty solid on paper.
Really interesting reading, didn't realise they owned a place in Taiwan and are linked with Hotlines.
They're not desperate, it's just a way of clearing lots of old stock. And I expect there are lots of people who buy something they might not normally get just because of the 10%
@ Rusty: details, details...
Anyway, I went back and got a good deal on some ortlieb panniers (105-15=90 quid for 2 pannier bags and a large saddle bag), so I'm happy now. 😀
I work with a girl from Ballyclare.
Not all it's cracked up to be.
They sure don't seem to have the same amounts of heavilly discounted old stock on frames and forks.
They're being wise and clearing stock. Something all bike retailers should be doing. While they're canny and have buying power, there are a lot of retailers selling stuff at a loss or trade price to keep afloat. Scary times. Shouldn't be too long before we all give it up and buy stuff from CRC because there will be fewer or no bike shops (we do already when we buy our Lapierres so we're funding it too I guess).
Got it in one there flyingfox 😉
Unless you work in a manufacturing environment I doubt Joe Public realise where we are heading 🙄
Won't be long before CRC etc will not be able to acquire surplus stock as they do atm due to an increase in raw material cost and a downturn in manufacturing and lowering of stock levels.
To combat the Chinese threat to the "west" wage costs to manufacturing etc( fixed costs) need to be driven down( something which has begun) . This is already impacting on the UK
I still think CRC have the largest range of stock and normally the best price . I spend a lot of money on bike parts , as I'm sure everyone else here does too, and their website is always my first choice . Wiggle I find very expensive compared normally but I do rate Merlin for certain items like brakes and the odd fork deal .
Hmmmm
Big animals need fed
Probably the most sensible thing said about CRC really. £136M turnover last year - with 32% gross margin, means £7M+ running cost each month (including buying the stock) - that's an enormous amount of sales to make to just break even - a few months of less than on plan sales could see major cash flow issues - especially if they're not cash rich, and having loans would suggest that the profit is funelled out of the business/invested in assets/property/etc.
In the current climate - no-one is too big to fail. Many 'good' businesses have...
Can't fault the lads from Ballyclare.
The bike I ordered on Sunday afternoon has been despatched and is being tracked as we speak.
Woo-hoo as they say 😀
In the current climate - no-one is too big to fail. Many 'good' businesses have...
Too true! My work were gearing up to make film to go into the PV panel market which has gone teats up due to all this austerity guff 🙄 Development of new films needs to be fast tracked but without income this is looking like pie in the sky atm. Could be looking for a job soon or maybe retired 🙄
Look how many on here have moved over to the dark side. Over the years I have 'lost' quite a few mates to the road for various reasons, one being cost of maintaining an mtb bike. Some of my current group are considering road bikes to help spread the cost but still get out on a bike when short of time.
How many on here having lost their mojo
Those who now use mainland European sites for parts and bikes
e-bay and other sales sources
The weather has bound to have had an effect on how much people are cycling and wearing out parts
Lots of job losses as well as down sizing/change of priorities
So many more alternatives than when I started 30 odd yrs ago 💡
Desperate? Hardly.. 10% when you spend £100 or more is no great offer!!??
especially if they're not cash rich,
Correct, only, £1.2m cash at bank.
Really interesting is EU sales £82million, ROW £53million.
Just had another email through.... Offer extended until Thursday.
Maybe one of their more err low profile backers want their investment back.
Look how many on here have moved over to the dark side. Over the years I have 'lost' quite a few mates to the road for various reasons, one being cost of maintaining an mtb bike. Some of my current group are considering road bikes to help spread the cost but still get out on a bike when short of time.
How many on here having lost their mojo
Thats why I singlespeed 🙂 Still got a nice bike that cost 4x as much for special occasions (i.e. weekends).
1x10 saves a bit too
They are still desparate to shift cardboard, if the the size the box containing a tennis ball sized object that arrived yesterday is anything to go by....
£136M turnover last year - with 32% gross margin, means £7M+ running cost each month (including buying the stock) - that's an enormous amount of sales to make to just break even
Not saying you're wrong but not following you here?
They are still desparate to shift cardboard, if the the size the box containing a tennis ball sized object that arrived yesterday is anything to go by....
If it's any consolation my new bike arrived this morning from CRC in a box not much smaller than a Fiesta
Cracking service though I only ordered it on Sunday afternoon nice work CRC & Parcel Force 8)
Do we think CRC are getting a bit desperate?
No more than say Amazon, Tredz bikes, Towsure, Tesco, Merlin, theatres or anyone else you may have registered your details wih or bought online from 💡
Where Tredz bikes got our e-mail addy from I have no idea 🙄
I can live with the continuing sales, not worried whether the item is in the sale or not. What bothers me is the price I pay!
It therefore really, really bugs me when I do a google search on an item needed/ wanted; to find CRC the cheapest.
I visit the website via the link only to find that the price was for an obscure length or diameter; a 130mm stem or a 28.6mm seatpost.
The stem that I want in 70mm or seatpost in 27.2mm is an extra third dearer than the obscure one on offer.
In fact this sharp practice ('sharp' - in my opinion) makes me so annoyed; on principle I have paid other online retailers a couple of quid more rather than buy it from CRC.
Come on CRC; END this annoying marketing strategy!!