[Closed] Rapha at Wiggle ?

Good thing!

Would only have been bad if the base layer and winter gloves I’ve just bought were on there cheaper...

Ok as I get my gold discount, plus free postage.

Don't worry, you will be able to get it in Asda soon enough

why will it be in Asda?

I guess they want to appear in the same search as the competition, wonder who will get the sale gear now as the outlet stores seem to do quite well. Can't see wiggle getting much margin on the end of line stuff though

rapha is owned by the heirs to Walmart.....who own ?

rapha is owned by the heirs to Walmart…..who own ?

Still the chances of seeing in Asda are close to seeing the Froome is doping lot changing their minds 😉

Don't bode well for Rapha. They trade on their exclusivity and the 'experience' of the purchase. Having the stuff sold by a box shift has to be an act of desperation.

Don’t bode well for Rapha. They trade on their exclusivity and the ‘experience’ of the purchase. Having the stuff sold by a box shift has to be an act of desperation.

To be fair, they’ve had loads on Sportspursuit, so I doubt that worries Mr Mottram.

Shame, as I love all the Rapha kit I own.

They trade on their exclusivity and the ‘experience’ of the purchase.

That and being good quality kit, maybe being sat next to some Castelli

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/castelli-nanoflex-pro-2-omloop-bib-shorts/

for the same price might help them too. As nice as the delivery is sometimes it's mostly just been a black bag with a funny logo and stuff wrapped inside, same as morvelo really. If they can go toe to toe on quality then it could pay off

They trade on their exclusivity and the ‘experience’ of the purchase.

Maybe in the past but these days loads of people have Rapha. My local club is full of it. It's just good kit, if expensive at RRP.

Don’t know if it’s good or bad ?

It's clothes for sale on the internet, so I'm not sure morality comes into it.

Probably good for Rapha's sales figures, relatively neutral for their brand identity, if that's what you mean?

Still the chances of seeing in Asda are close to seeing the Froome is doping lot changing their minds

Given their fairly grave financial position I'd be keeping an eye on TK Maxx for their stuff in the not too distant future!

Interesting interview with Mottram on CyclingTips at the moment, seems a real change in direction is coming for the company. Less "suffering and epic road" and more "camaraderie and gravel".

Well they’ve been plugging the RCC Club mentality for 3yrs now so good on them I say.

Brought a lot of people together across a wide location distribution network.

Nothing wrong with that IMO, encourages people on bikes.

But yeah, haters gonna hate whateva..

lucien
Don’t worry, you will be able to get it in Asda soon enough

Well you potentially might do, if Asda wasn't actually owned by Sainsbury's and Rapha was owned by Walmart when they're actually owned by RZC Investments which is operated by the grandsons of the founder of Walmart.

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from last year when LVMH were sniffing about,

http://leanluxe.com/raphas-12-year-financials-just-landed-in-our-inbox-heres-what-we-learned/

“It would appear that Rapha has probably been operating in such a way to make the company more attractive for a potential acquisition and or merger.

Didn't they recently announce job losses/redundancies at Rapha? Would I be a million miles wide of the mark in thinking that a lot of those were in packing/distribution?

An obvious move when investors have taken control. Look to rationalise and reduce costs in the business. Using Wiggle/CRC gives a potentially bigger customer catchment and they have a well established logistics set up at their disposal.

From what I've seen there's only a very small part of the Rapha portfolio available through Wiggle. Testing the waters I imagine.

Given their fairly grave financial position I’d be keeping an eye on TK Maxx for their stuff in the not too distant future!

Bikes and cycling gear at TKMaxx!  That would be awesome to the Maxxxxxxxxxxx!

I'm amused that Wiggle apparently pre-dates Rapha - who own the rich heritage of cycling - by five years, 1999 versus 2004 if you were wondering. I hope they don't dilute the Wiggle brand with their newfangled, upstart ways.

Would I be a million miles wide of the mark in thinking that a lot of those were in packing/distribution?

I think the new owners have shut down quite a few of the "clubhouses" ie shops. I think a lot of the redundancies have from from there.

I think the new owners have shut down quite a few of the “clubhouses” ie shops. I think a lot of the redundancies have from from there.

There was an interesting bit on one of the podcasts where they were talking about the clubhouse concept and gave an example of one where it was mostly being used as a glorified coffee shop by non-cycling locals who were happy to pay 200 dollars a year or whatever it was, in exchange for a 'free' daily coffee without having to queue.

I think it's actually quite a nice concept, the clubhouse thing that is, but I wonder about locations. The Manchester one is smack bang in the middle of town where no-one in their right mind would go for a bike ride. I guess that's fine during the week when folk are working in the city centre, maybe not so clever at weekends when they're more likely to be out of town and actually riding a bike.

I guess it would work better somewhere the urban and rural divide was less defined.

All the Rapha sale stuff just appeared on Wiggle