how does campy stay in business

[tarmackev]

How do they stay in business? Simple: wheels (incl. Fulcrum). That's the money maker.

In terms of group sets, they are now a niche player, nothing more than that.

This seems logical.
The wheels are very good, in recent years their mid range groups sets have fallen behind, with Shimano's improving of Ultegra and 105 they seem to have taken a step ahead.
Ive never used Super Record or EPS so wouldn't like to comment, it does look quite nice though.
I can't imagine that they sell a lot of groupsets, they are available at many places in the UK, the wheels however are everywhere.


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[havana]

Their groupsets are good but overpriced, especially SR en EPS groups.

They completely messed up their OEM channel. Very few bike brands still offer a Campa option (Canyon being one of the exceptions).

Local bikes shops aren't recommending Campy anymore because their margin is lower, it will cost more money for the customer and Campy is sometimes unreliable in terms is availability.

Campy can't compete with the huge marketing budgets of our Japanese friends (WT: 3 Campy, 14 Shimano).

[tikka]

How, I don't know but I'm sure glad they do.

How dull would the world be if the choice was limited to 105, ultegra or DA.

I chose SR EPS for my custom Sarto recently. Hopefully Campag can stay in business as a niche player serving people like me, even if their attempts to get back in the OEM game falter.





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[BdaGhisallo]

They completely messed up their OEM channel. Very few bike brands still offer a Campa option (Canyon being one of the exceptions).

Campagnolo simply doesn't have the capacity to satisfy the OEM crowd. They could not produce what was required in the required volumes and within the needed time periods to survive in that arena. They did make a push some years ago, maybe 12 - 20 yrs back, but they couldn't compete with the industrial might of Shimano. And then SRAM came along and that was the end of any hope of ever doing so for Campy.

Their disastrous foray in MTB components certainly didn't help either and further dented their prestige among the OEM crowd.

[kervelo]

Campy may be a niche brand, but I don't see any issues with that. They are not trying to take over the market anyway.

The availability of fully built Campy bikes is not really a problem. Campy bikes are quite often custom built. I assume the biggest buyer group for fully built bikes are the beginner/weekend cyclists and ShimSram is good enough for them.

I have not noticed any issues with the availability of the Campy parts (in EU): I have always found what I need. However, I have not used the LBS for years (decades?), so it may be a different story.

[Zakalwe]

They don't have to produce as much as Shimano do for the OEM market right away, they've only got to make a dent in it. Get a few people into their ecosystem early and they'll likely stay with them, I don't get the impression that they either want or are aiming to take over any market overnight.

[BdaGhisallo]

They don't have to produce as much as Shimano do for the OEM market right away, they've only got to make a dent in it. Get a few people into their ecosystem early and they'll likely stay with them, I don't get the impression that they either want or are aiming to take over any market overnight.

That is basically the route they tried. If my memory serves, they tried to establish OEM supply with Trek, leveraging Trek's surging market share during Lance's time in the spotlight and Americans affinity and ability to pay for the higher priced Campy components.

[DamonRinard]

John Burke told a different story. I worked at Trek in those days. John flew to Italy to buy Campagnolo parts for Treks. Shimano had run out of Ultegra that season, and John wanted to sell those Treks with Campy instead. Mr. Campagnolo gave a nice factory tour, wine with lunch, and in the evening turned Trek down.

[kode54]

i suppose its similar to the italian supercars like Ferrari.

its sex appeal. and as much as i like the Campy on my IndyFab...i've had a RD crack on me. not so much love after than. the RD failed before the hanger broke...and the hanger tore off when the RD got sucked into the spokes. yeah, the IndyFab is my Ferrari so to speak...but i ride on Di2 95%. i do think that Campy will stay in business, no doubt...and still be at a much higher premium than most.

[BdaGhisallo]

John Burke told a different story. I worked at Trek in those days. John flew to Italy to buy Campagnolo parts for Treks. Shimano had run out of Ultegra that season, and John wanted to sell those Treks with Campy instead. Mr. Campagnolo gave a nice factory tour, wine with lunch, and in the evening turned Trek down.

I hadn't heard that take on it before. Do you know why Mr Campag turned him down?

[BRM]

They completely messed up their OEM channel. Very few bike brands still offer a Campa option (Canyon being one of the exceptions).

Campagnolo simply doesn't have the capacity to satisfy the OEM crowd. They could not produce what was required in the required volumes and within the needed time periods to survive in that arena. They did make a push some years ago, maybe 12 - 20 yrs back, but they couldn't compete with the industrial might of Shimano. And then SRAM came along and that was the end of any hope of ever doing so for Campy.

Their disastrous foray in MTB components certainly didn't help either and further dented their prestige among the OEM crowd.

People come with their own thoughts.

Campagnolo have set Potenza in the market just to regain ground in the oem market.
This you could read in every article when Potenza was announced in the media.

[bremerradkurier]

I once read an article, possibly in Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, that Mirage bottom bracket threads were cut too fine for OEM Taiwanese production lines in the mid '90s.

[Miller]

I guess the OEM market demands lowest component prices with volume compensating for a low margin. You probably need far east manufacturing for that.

Cycling Plus (UK magazine) did its 'Bike of the Year' thing a month ago, rating 50 bikes up to GBP2.5k with that hideous Speci front suspension thing winning - doubtless a fine machine, ok - and 49 out of the 50 bikes were Shimano specced, the remaining one being Sram. Surely dominance like that can't be good for the market? Mid-range bikes are boring cookie-cutter affairs these days with the only variation other than the paint job being 105 or Ultegra. The new breed of consumers don't do much in the way of personalising their machines.

Campag is still widespread at club level in the UK, thankfully, in the after-market it's largely price-competitive with Shimano.

[DamonRinard]

John Burke told a different story. I worked at Trek in those days. John flew to Italy to buy Campagnolo parts for Treks. Shimano had run out of Ultegra that season, and John wanted to sell those Treks with Campy instead. Mr. Campagnolo gave a nice factory tour, wine with lunch, and in the evening turned Trek down.

I hadn't heard that take on it before. Do you know why Mr Campag turned him down?

IIRC it was something about being satisfied with the moderate size of the business.

[TonyM]

John Burke told a different story. I worked at Trek in those days. John flew to Italy to buy Campagnolo parts for Treks. Shimano had run out of Ultegra that season, and John wanted to sell those Treks with Campy instead. Mr. Campagnolo gave a nice factory tour, wine with lunch, and in the evening turned Trek down.

I hadn't heard that take on it before. Do you know why Mr Campag turned him down?

IIRC it was something about being satisfied with the moderate size of the business.

I could understand that!
Many business are growing too fast and cannot meet the new requirements and may risk to collapse. It is sometimes wise not to grow too fast...
And of course the philosophy behind Campagnolo and Trek may also be very different. The cultural fit is also necessary for some people/ company.