WiggleCRC “Refusing currency related price increases”, say suppliers

A number of bicycle industry suppliers, both large and small, have today confirmed to CyclingIndustry.News that WiggleCRC are refusing any currency related price increases.

A number of distributors who deal with the online giant have confirmed to CI.N that price hikes, primarily forced since Brexit, are being strongly fought. Very few importers of cycling goods have been able to absorb such increases, with rises ranging largely between 5% to 20%.

One source, who has asked to remain unnamed for fear of losing business said: “I have no idea how widespread this is, but I know that’s it’s not just isolated to one supplier.”

Another importer added: “I feel for the smaller supplier as nobody makes huge margins these days. What do you do when costs go up 20% in a year and an account generating 80% of your business tells you where to go with passing costs on. Somehow you’ll have to pay for that container on the water.”

A third spoke of their company’s experience: “They’re refusing rises that we’ve been forced to make in order to retain an already difficult to work with margin.”

A final said that he made the decision to stop dealing with the online giant earlier this year.

“Brands have to decide whether they need turnover or margin. So none of my brands are in there anymore.”

Just two of the ten distributors we have thus far spoken with said they had not yet encountered such a problem when supplying the online business. One of these did however stress that with pricing up for review again in December and likely increases to follow in January they were “concerned” by our question.

The online giant, which will remain as two separate entities despite the merger, earlier this month announced that as many as 300 jobs would likely go in the future as a result of warehouse consolidation to one central UK location.

Experiencing problems similar to these since Brexit? Let us know your story here.