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news
Wiggle and Chain Reaction logosMike Ashley set to take over Wiggle Chain Reaction as administrators “close the shutters” amid mass redundancies, sources suggest
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group appears set to complete the takeover of Wiggle Chain Reaction, road.cc understands, amid claims from former employees that the beleaguered online retailer’s administrators have “closed the shutters”, as reports of another wave of mass redundancies appear to have affected almost everyone within the company.
In October, Wiggle CRC entered administration and was put up for sale in the wake of the financial crisis that engulfed its Berlin-based parent company Signa Sports United (SSU), resulting in 105 jobs being cut at Wiggle, Chain Reaction, and distributor Hotlines as the brand’s joint administrators prepared for the business for sale amid “interest from several parties”.
And now, as reports emerge that almost all of Wiggle CRC’s remaining staff have lost their jobs, Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group – which owns fellow online cycling retailers Evans Cycles and ProBikeKit – appears set to complete its purchase of the company, sources have told road.cc.
road.cc understands that Frasers Group’s purchase of Wiggle CRC is the likely catalyst for this latest wave of job cuts, with several employees appearing to confirm the news on LinkedIn, with one now former staff member writing that the “administrators have closed the shutters”.
“Unfortunately, my time is up, along with everyone else within the organisation,” one employee posted on the website, while another wrote: “After almost having made it to 10 years at Chain Reaction Cycles and then WiggleCRC, it’s now time to say goodbye… Very sad day saying goodbye to colleagues and the business as a whole.”
> Chain Reaction Cycles announces closing of flagship Belfast store
A spokesperson for Wiggle CRC’s administrators declined to comment when approached by road.cc, and it remains to be seen how Frasers Group’s purchase will affect the company’s status, including its future relationship with potential fellow subsidiary and online retailer Evans, and that of its in-house brands like Vitus and NukeProof.
Last May, former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group bought the stock and intellectual property assets of online retailer ProBikeKit (PBK), which had previously shut down its lifestyle division citing “lossmaking”.
The acquisition of PBK was also handled through Frasers’ Evans Cycles subsidiary, bought by retail entrepreneur Ashley in 2018.
After recording a pre-tax loss of over £97 million in 2022, alarm bells began to ring concerning the future of Wiggle Chain Reaction last autumn, after parent company Signa Sports United (SSU) reported “severe liquidity and profitability challenges” and delisted its shares.
As a result, SSU’s €150 million funding commitment from its own parent company, Signa Holding, was withdrawn, ushering in an increasingly gloomy outlook for Wiggle and the group’s other cycling businesses, which include Bikester, Probikeshop, and Farrhad.de.
Soon after, as SSU filed for insolvency, Wiggle’s seemingly inevitable plunge into administration was confirmed, as its joint administrators put the company up for sale and cut 105 jobs by the start of November.
Administrators reported “considerable interest” for the business from potential buyers, among them Ashley’s Frasers Group, and in December said they remained “optimistic” over the possibility of a sale amid “considerable trading profit”.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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61 comments
FWIW I think the brand names are worthless. It was the logistics chain & loyalty program that made Wiggle/CRC my default. the fact that I could get Amazon speed delivery (<12hrs) and a smidge of an additional discount meant they had enough "stickiness" to keep me coming back.
Don't forget the Haribo
The curious thing about Amazon UK is IME its cycling offer is really haphazard.
Bugger - I still have a £50 voucher from my birthday last year!
I just haven't needed any bike bits lately.
wiggle website still functioning today 22nd Feb, all the way though to the basket - not going to click to purchase but would have thought it would have been taken down.
They are emptying the warehouse. So if its actually in stock likely you are safe (ish)
Yes - going to order a few spare consumables and a BB tool I need...
I did click to purchase, getting some spare hangers for my new Vitus bike
Whenever Capitalism seems to have eaten itself there's always someone left to pick over the bones; arise Mr. Ashley
Well, that is the end of dhb and Vitus as decent value brands then. Shame Wiggle/CRC ended up in such a mess.
Real shame. DHB had some good kit. Their merino base layers and leg warmers were great and a regular purchase for me.
I'm quite glad I just bought a new pair of leg warmers. A large part of my cycling kit if DHB.
I've got a fair bit of DHB stuff too - arm/leg warmers/jerseys/bibs/jackets etc - and finding similar decent but good value kit is going to be difficult.
Is dhb still wiggle owned / wiggle exclusive? I agree this would be the biggest loss for me, but they seem to sell from their own website.
It is Wiggle owned (dhb are initials of the founders), on the dhbsport.com website, if you go to buy, you're directed to Wiggle or CRC. A few of their other brands (Nukeproof, Lifeline, etc) were distributed to independents via Hotlines in the UK, but ultimately if the brands and production belonged to WiggleCRC, they will be assimilated into the Frasers hive.
I bought a pair of dhb shades from Wiggle the other week, reduced from £60 to £10 a helmet too, a month back before reduced from £35 to £10. Good quality stuff. Worth buying up the last of the warehouse stock before it goes.
Who can't make a profit on £252 million in sales?
The original merger was another example of over-expand rather than improve efficiency, then borrow heavily then get hit by international events (the sorts incurance don't cover) and die. It was likely piled with some debt as is the fashion.
Everything got worse ordering from them after the merger with out of stocks and weird quality products being listed and I switched to Merlin and similar. And 1 day a year, Aldi.
Ex CR staff quote:
"‘The day the merger was announced we were doomed. They dismantled everything that was good about CRC, piece by piece.
Nobody expected Wiggle to go under, however, that’s what happens when corporate greed takes over.’"
_
Footnote
Tredz was bought by Halfords and Merlin was bought by the German co. CycleFusion. Oh.
Tredz and Merlin at least feel like they've got a semblance of autonomy from their parent companies IMO. Whereas Wiggle is likely to be gutted and stuffed like some crude taxidermy fox.
taxidermy Muddyfox
I always felt CRC was pointless once Wiggle took them over. I never really used CRC prior to the merger, so can't comment. Wiggle (before and after) were always pretty good, speaking as a customer.
I really liked CRC, before the merger with Wiggle. The Merger was pointless, 2 websites essentially the same but with a different colour scheme. What a joke.
Oh great. Soon to be another outlet for Karrimor, Muddy Fox et al then.
Zombie brands, innit? He likes using brand names that used to have a decent enough reputation, but the stuff he actually sells under those brand names isn't very good.
That said, some of the dhb stuff I've had recently seems to be a brand downgrade, even before Ashleyfication.
And judging by Sports Direct, the prices have gone up and up. It's expensive dressing as a chav these days.
Remember Field & Trek, their annual catalogue was always eagerly awaited....loads of great stuff in there. They also went down the pan...
And Karrimor....oh dear (though Karrimor SF is still producing decent rucsacs).
I used to do exactly the same - wait for the Field and Trek catalogue, read it avidly and save save save for the New Year sales.
Evans and ProBikeKit are not flourishing under his ownership
I agree, and they took over TriUK in Yeovil which used to be one of the best bike shops in the area, it's just an Evans now with no stock and last time I went there, no mechanics.
I hope the staff at WiggleCRC find work soon, and it'll be interesting to see what happens to the brands, some of their own brand stuff was excellent. I really kicked the arse out of the fire sale over the last three months, Vitus hardtail 29er MTB reduced from £999 to £499, couple of spare dhb helmets £5 each, and a load of Lifeline tools I'd had an eye on.
Little wonder - have you seen the Evans website lately?!
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