Rapha to scale back discounting as sales fall & losses mount up.

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chorus88
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by chorus88

From road.cc,
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“There’s a point at which the discounts at the end of the season become mid-season discounts and early-season discounts. And then Black Friday and it ends up being far too much of your business.

“We realised after Tom and Steuart bought the business that we’d been doing too much of this,” he admitted, explaining that the Waltons injected £30 million into Rapha after their takeover to help it avoid defaulting on a £20 million bank loan.

https://road.cc/content/news/268073-rap ... sses-mount
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spdntrxi
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by spdntrxi

makes sense.... when everyone can predict you next sale in which you have many a year...then yes ppl just wait for it.
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robeambro
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by robeambro

What’s worrying is that despite the increasing focus on discounts their sales would dip over time. That’s a very negative sign..

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fa63
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by fa63

robeambro wrote:What’s worrying is that despite the increasing focus on discounts their sales would dip over time. That’s a very negative sign..
I think the constant discounting has devalued the brand a bit. That doesn't help with sales, especially for a company who is priced on the premium side of the market (before the discounts). Neither does the drop in quality reported by many on the web (though I haven't noticed this and I am still a sucker for their bibs).

AJS914
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by AJS914

This kind of stuff is always going to be a problem when you try to increase sales. It seems like Rapha has tried to be more like an upscale Pearl Izumi rather than stay a boutique brand.

$300 bib shorts are boutique items for high income people or even lower income buyers who are convinced that those bibs are the best. Buyers who buy the most expensive stuff also want the purchase to feel like an exclusive luxury good. If you constantly discount the product loses it's luxury appeal and you lose those buyers.

Just looking at the Rapha site, I see they sell 20 different pairs of shorts which can be confusing to customers. Their other problem is that the sell $115 pair of core bibs, $190 pro team training bibs, and $285 pro team bibs and the mostly all look the same. From their web site it's hard to tell how the more expensive stuff is better. The cheaper stuff makes the more expensive stuff less exclusive because someone showing up with core bibs on a group ride gets the Rapha logo on their leg.

dastott
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by dastott

Interesting. Just did my first ride in Rapha bibs yesterday, the Core version, and was wondering how the quality compares to the more expensive versions. The Core bibs look quality to me, compared to other brands I have tried. The Core jersey, on the other hand, is quite a different product to their merino or technical jerseys.

spdntrxi
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by spdntrxi

dastott wrote:
Sun Oct 27, 2019 10:25 pm
Interesting. Just did my first ride in Rapha bibs yesterday, the Core version, and was wondering how the quality compares to the more expensive versions. The Core bibs look quality to me, compared to other brands I have tried. The Core jersey, on the other hand, is quite a different product to their merino or technical jerseys.
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Imaking20
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by Imaking20

The fit on all of their stuff sucks for me. They can discount all they want - some of us have given up on them.

Giordana makes better quality bibs than Rapha can dream of - and Santini and Velocio both have stylish jerseys that fit an athletic build well. The former does so at a bargain!

robertbb
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by robertbb

As is often the case, the founder (Simon Mottram) knew when to get out. The brand was always overvalued - bought by two not-so-smart heirs to the Walmart billions.

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by backdoor

robertbb wrote:As is often the case, the founder (Simon Mottram) knew when to get out. The brand was always overvalued - bought by two not-so-smart heirs to the Walmart billions.
Does anyone own a Viathon?

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by robertbb

:lol:

Touche.

Sockman
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by Sockman

Seems like Rapha have been slow to react on this... they have been discounting more and more frequently over the years and at the same time watering down their offering in terms of "exclusivity" or whatever you want to call it. They definitely got cool again when they picked up EF, but still a bit of a lame company IMHO!

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kgt
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by kgt

I really never understood why people were paying so much for Rapha the moment they could buy better clothes from Assos at the same price or equally good clothes from Santini or Giordana at much lower prices.
Rapha once introduced a minimalist, classy aesthetic that was looking fresh and cool but nowadays they have nothing to offer against the competition.

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Konsi
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by Konsi

kgt wrote:
Mon Oct 28, 2019 2:00 pm
I really never understood why people were paying so much for Rapha the moment they could buy better clothes from Assos at the same price or equally good clothes from Santini or Giordana at much lower prices.
Rapha once introduced a minimalist, classy aesthetic that was looking fresh and cool but nowadays they have nothing to offer against the competition.
Because they make jerseys for a very different bodytype. I cannot get my shoulders into Assos or most italian brands, unless I go several sizes larger (and then they become loose everywhere else). Also, so far I was very lucky with the Rapha quality, still wearing jerseys from 2011 and 2012, which have gone through the laundry machine more than a hundred times. And they make bib shorts with pockets, which I personally love.

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fa63
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by fa63


Konsi wrote:
Because they make jerseys for a very different bodytype. I cannot get my shoulders into Assos or most italian brands, unless I go several sizes larger (and then they become loose everywhere else). Also, so far I was very lucky with the Rapha quality, still wearing jerseys from 2011 and 2012, which have gone through the laundry machine more than a hundred times. And they make bib shorts with pockets, which I personally love.
Same here; love their Cargo shorts.

The longevity remains to be seen though; my last pair of their Core bibs became completely see-through in the back after a year of use.


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