Cycling Industry News reports that WiggleCRC is refusing currency related price increases from its suppliers. While this is likely to prove good news for consumers for the moment, a number of distributors who work with the firm have said that they will struggle to absorb the costs.

A number of distributors have been forced to make currency-related price hikes following Brexit. However, WiggleCRC, which was created following a merger between Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles earlier this year, is apparently resisting.

Just two of ten distributors spoken to had not yet encountered such a problem when supplying the firm. One said: “They’re refusing rises that we’ve been forced to make in order to retain an already difficult to work with margin.”

Another added: “I feel for the smaller supplier as nobody makes huge margins these days. What do you do when costs go up 20 per cent in a year and an account generating 80 per cent of your business tells you where to go with passing costs on. Somehow you’ll have to pay for that container on the water.”

A third, who has decided to stop dealing with WiggleCRC, said suppliers would have to decide “whether they need turnover or margin.”

WiggleCRC last week announced that it is to move 300 jobs from Northern Ireland to England in a bid to speed up delivery times. The firm says it remains committed to Northern Ireland but cites later order cut-off dates and the importance of rapid delivery to customers for the move.