Wiggle Registers £97 million Loss
The combined Wiggle + Chain Reaction Cycles organisation reported a significant decline in its financial performance last year highlighted by a £97 million loss, considerably higher than the previous year’s £14.5 million loss. The figures come from Companies House filings by owner Mapil Topco Limited.
The company blamed Covid, Brexit and wider economic conditions.
Sales and profits both tumbled as sales racked up a concerning 30 per cent decline (£360m in 2021 vs. £252.5m in 2022). Surprisingly perhaps 38% of Wiggle’s revenue is non-UK.
Despite partly blaming Brexit, Wiggle’s UK sales alone actually rose by 7% compared to 2019. The company also reports an increase in sales of 30% for own-branded goods (its gels are as cheap as chips!)
Perhaps some of Wiggle’s increased costs instead come from corporate rebranding, back-end systems changes and the £36m of professional costs associated with the Signa merger?
The overall cycling industry in the UK reflects a similarly challenging scenario, with a decline in new bike sales reaching a 20-year low in 2022.
via: road.cc
Reader-Powered Content
This content is not sponsored. It’s mostly me behind the labour of love which is this site and I appreciate everyone who follows, subscribes or Buys Me A Coffee ❤️ Alternatively please buy the reviewed product from my partners. Thank you! FTC: Affiliate Disclosure: Links pay commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
The company has been in chaos for several years—costs spiralling out of control. Silly money was spent on rebranding. They use the cheapest couriers and wonder why customers complain. They then buy you off with discounts and wonder why they make a loss. This year, they lost everyone’s order history and annoyed loyal customers by whipping out all the discount levels they had built up.
covid and brexit will have hurt them but they just aren’t as good on price as they used to be – you still get huge amounts of emails from them indicating massive deals and dubious discount codes but the reality is they are now most often not the best price option.
I do use them.
The biggest win for me is the free next day delivery (well, free if you pay £10 a year or whatever it is). it just gives me the certainly.
i live near the famous(ish) shop Sigma sports. i cant even get stuff from their shop on the same day as they deliver from a warehouse in grantham. might as well use wiggle and get it to my door
wiggle does have the gold/platinum thing which sometimes gives good prices
they do have some good sales but far too often its of brands I’m never going to be interested in
Someone didn’t do due diligence on how much Ray’s commission was going to cost them?????????. Seriously I’ve not used them in years, when I dabbled with triathlon they did do stuff nobody else did ,so you paid whatever the price was. Today as a runner only there are better options out there. I do agree the gels/hydration are a good deal but I still compare prices with the competitors offerings for high5 products. Neither product is superb but both will get me through 20-30k without issue, other brands would be chosen for marathon plus distances
i just checked my first 1000 clicks to wiggle this month. not a single conversion. that just isn’t possible
it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Ray’s conversions and hence commissions are mysteriously ‘broken’.
i just got some SiS gels delivered half an hour ago.
you could find them cheaper on amazon but not with prime , so when you added the delivery cost in they were more expensive.
i think there is also the ‘certainty’ factor. Wiggle does seem to have logistics sorted pretty well (ie you get what you buy) and they do seem to have generally ok stock of stuff i need. so i can save time by going first to wiggle then just checking if the price is not crazy elsewhere then buy it.
there is also the trust factor that i am not buying fake products eg i want the real continental or shimano stuff.
PS Please use the same ID !!!!
Wiggle had these DHB labeled windproof longsleeved jerseys, no fancy goretex membrane but windtex, not as breathable but still good enough for autum and winter and for a great price. They don’t have those on offer for years now but instead some premium DHB kit for 130 euros.
Who buys those jerseys or bibs when the can get tried and tested ones by known brands like Castelli, Sportful (yeah they are basically the same), Gore or Assos for the same price or even less?!?
Also I sometimes bought spare parts way back before Brexit and corona/supply issues. They had competitve prices compared to continetal shops like bike24, probikeshop, mantel or bike -components. But that ended too even before Brexit.
Maybe they should have stayed focused on their core market, bike, swim and run?
It used to be the go-to web store for me and my cycling friends in Sweden.
Since brexit, we don’t even check Wiggle any more.