Good morning,
I take the point in the article linked to that they want to be a lifestyle brand so that they don't have to worry about being price competitive, but does that market exist?
Nowadays
Ribble have a glossy web and prices to match
These may have a better paint job than the ones SPA sell but £1.1k for a 725 frame, suddenly my £800 753 Raleigh looks cheap.
Sure, I imagine that Ribble don't really care about selling framesets so any price will do but it does make them look exploitative when for just another £200 they will sell you the frame made up as a whole bike with Tiagra/FSA/Aksium
If you are going to be a premium brand then you need to get the details right. Your website needs to work on mobiles and on my mobile the search box does nothing, just reopens the home page. We seem to be going back to the 1990s where site creators said
we don't support IE2 or Navigator (Netscape) 1, upgrade to IE 4 or Navigator 2. At least this message told you why the site doesn't work.
We all like low prices and I need some new chains, as 10 speed only seem to last 2-3 months I buy them in threes and I see them at £15 each somewhere on the internet or £27 each from SJS. I have bought and had excellent service from SJS but when I look at £45 or £71 low prices do seem awfully attractive.
I also understand that
Wiggle maybe just can't make the numbers add up in the £15 chain market. My favourite local pub operates in the old fashioned way, the landlord/lady do huge numbers of hours at around minimum wage and for the last few years I have been expecting them to say
to hell with this, were getting a job, 4 times the salary and half the hours".
Bye
Ian