• Wiggle gets things at wholesale prices from the manufacturer, I’d imagine, so their cost is below shops’ cost. Retail shops can’t compete with that.

  • It's worse than that. Many online shops get into a frame mftr to get some full bikes made, which allows them access to shimano /sram full oe pricing (container load of tourney plastic fantastic please every month for 2 years) but it also gets them into the mftr, who will be making frames and sometimes assembling them for many other "brands", some of those brands will be on the sour side of a shipping container of tourney every month for 2 years, and they need out of some or all of it. Sometimes are above their price, sometimes below, sometimes way way below depending on how soon various tax/duties /storage fees are due. Thats where a lot of the way cheap priced stuff comes from. Hence why is in misc plastic bags from larger containers.
    Uk retail physical shops are often getting shimano blue box retail and can sometimes with distributor deal help, get the price down inc full uk vat to almost competitive with the guys doing the above.
    Been happening for decades, it's an issue and not an issue.
    We have also sinxe the dawn of time been buying deal prices from online retailers and then retailing ourselves as occasionally the price inc vat is lower than uk trade price by enough to be worthwhile

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