Site protests against 'unacceptable' practises
Northern Ireland-based online bike retailer Chain Reaction Cycles has been targeted by a site begun by a group of Spanish bike dealers.
The site – antichainreaction.com – is highly critical of the retailer and in particular selling bike product at low prices. The site also condemns brands for supplying product to 'low-cost online shops', branding the practise 'unacceptable'.
The group running the site has also taken issue with the fact that CRC, and other online bike shops, are selling products outside their territory at low cost.
According to BikeEurope, Christian Tidow – owner of bike shop Promobicis near Alicante – is the driving force behind the campaign and site.
The site reads: "We all know the the big problem that shops and distributors have with online selling from shops which specialise in selling outside their own territory at low cost. This problem would disappear if the prices of the products were equal, so the customers wouldn’t have any interest in buying abroad what they have at home."
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It adds: "We just need two things from you [bike brand owners]:
- Full commitment that your products won’t be in this European low-cost online shop!
- Checking that your products are no longer in this low-cost online shop!"
Antichainreaction.com has already come in for heavy criticism in the comments thread of its own site. One poster pointed out: "Freedom of distribution, freedom of selling is a must within our global economy. Asking a brand to retrieve and cut their sales to an online store is a joke....You can cry in your corner, but wake up, we’re in 2011."
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3 comments
It is a point worth debate, where will the growth of low price online retailing leave the bricks and mortor shops. We are fast becoming viewing galleries. What are shops doing to combat low price online sales?
Andy Stephenson Feb 2nd 2011 at 4:10PM
0 0There is some excellent debate/comments in the posts.
J1mmer Smith Feb 2nd 2011 at 7:27PM
0 0Yeah a very interesting arguement here. I think that, Distributors need to even the playing field & prevent undercutting on new products. I stopped using 1 distributor of bicycles as they were selling retail on Amazon at less than my trade cost. You also have to be competitive, with say groupsets & have the incentive there to pricematch an on-line deal from your supplier, better 2 or 3 word of mouth sales "I got a great deal from..." than a standard mark up on one. Consumers are savvy, they will support IBD's but not pay thru the nose for it!
Ky Kay Feb 4th 2011 at 10:33AM
0 0