Chain Reaction Cycles
| Private | |
| Industry | Online sports retail |
| Headquarters | Portsmouth, England, UK |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Will Kernan (CEO) |
| Products | Triathlon equipment. Bicycles, components and accessories. Running shoes and apparel. Swimming products. Outdoor and casual sports apparel. Tools etc. |
| Revenue | £300+ Million (Wiggle-CRC Group) |
Number of employees | c.900 (Wiggle-CRC Group) |
| Website | chainreactioncycles.com |
Chain Reaction Cycles is an online retailer of cycling goods - based in Northern Ireland,[1]
A 2017 merger with Wiggle Ltd resulted in the formation of the Wiggle-CRC group, whose head office is in Portsmouth, UK.
History
Chain Reaction Cycles started out as a small bike shop named Ballynure Cycles which was opened in 1985 by George and Janice Watson[2] using a £1500 bank loan in the small village of Ballynure in Northern Ireland.
The business moved to larger premises in Ballyclare in 1989 and the name of the shop was changed to Ballyclare Cycles. During this time the Watson family organised some of the first ever downhill races in Ireland and put together the first ever Northern Ireland Downhill series.
As business continued to grow a mail order service was created and advertisements were placed in cycling publications. In 1998 the business was moved again to a warehouse to accommodate the increase in orders through the mail order service.
In late 1999 the company registered domain name www.ChainReactionCycles.com and launched the Chain Reaction Cycles website. [3]
The sales grew each year. In 2011 revenues were £136.4 million (€170 million).[4] Its peak sales were in 2013, at £155.6 million.[5] By this time the website was providing multi lingual service and currency options for many countries.[6]
In February 2016, the merger of Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles was announced[7]; this saw the combination of the two largest companies in UK online cycle retail. The Wiggle-CRC group formed in July 2016, after the Competition Commission approved the merger.
Wiggle-CRC merger
In February 2017, Wiggle-CRC appointed Will Kernan as the new CEO[8] - Kernan was previously the CEO of The White Company, and before that the MD at New Look.
The combined Wiggle CRC group generates an annual revenue of over £300 million.
References
- ↑ "Danske Bank gets top spot in Belfast Telegraph's Top 100 Companies ". Belfast Telegraph. By Margaret Canning – 12 May 2015
- ↑ "Nicholls Fuel Oils highest ranked family business in Belfast Telegraph's Top 100". Belfast Telegraph.
- ↑ Retail Week - Chain Reaction: 10 things you didn't know about the cycles etailer
- ↑ Irish Times - Pretax profit of €170m at world's largest online bike shop. Irish Times
- ↑ "Ballyclare-based Chain Reaction Cycles sees its profits rise" By Symon Ross BBC News NI 14 October 2014
- ↑ BBC News - Online-bike shop Chain Reaction makes £13m profit
- ↑ "Merger of Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles approved - MBR". MBR. 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
- ↑ "Stefan Barden to be replaced as Wiggle CEO by The White Co. boss". Bikebiz. Retrieved 2017-06-06.