BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Mitch Terleckyj, general manager of BlueRidge, wrote the following on the BikeBiz.co.uk bulletin board earlier today:
"Both Sidi and Blueridge are dismayed at the publication of Xpedias advert on the 14th of Dec 2002. I have contacted Roger Knowles at Xpedia to discuss this advert with him.
He claims to make only a few pence a pair from the ad and is doing it as a loss leader for December to gather mailing lists.
"I asked about the quantity of shoes in his advert and he confirmed he had no more then 160 not 4000 as advertised.
"His 160 pairs were not purchased from us and at the moment we are tracking his sources and will work to make sure this does not happen again.
"From what we understand his margin on Sidi does not allow him to sell Sidi successfully and in fact his ad will probably not pay itself from SiDi sales alone. It does little but undermines the whole brand, which is being looked into by our lawers.
"Sidi in Europe commands a higher price then the UK and the distributors earn higher rewards which can be used for growth and advertising. The heavy discount nature of the UK market makes it prone to such attacks and a target for dumping.
"If the shoes are from a grey source, Sidi has assured us they will terminate the contract with the offending party. I hope this goes some way to allay your concerns about SiDi’s long term viability."
