Planet X Pricing - SMOKE AND MIRRORS

londoncommuter

Best one yet, Dura Ace chainset, was £490 but with 50% off in the sale:

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CSSHM9000/ ... d-chainset

Not that you ever have to pay RRP for anything but according to Wiggle & Sigma it's £375.

How can they get away with that? Surely they've never actually sold it for £115 over RRP and even if they did for some statutory time before having a fake sale you couldn't get away with that!

Ber Nard

londoncommuter wrote:

Best one yet, Dura Ace chainset, was £490 but with 50% off in the sale:

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CSSHM9000/ ... d-chainset

Not that you ever have to pay RRP for anything but according to Wiggle & Sigma it's £375.

How can they get away with that? Surely they've never actually sold it for £115 over RRP and even if they did for some statutory time before having a fake sale you couldn't get away with that!

But it is £490 not was £490. Choose not to use the discount code and that is the price you will pay. The Recommended Retail Price is simply that - a recommendation. And the sale isn't fake if, when you use the code, you genuinely get 50% off.

londoncommuter

Ber Nard wrote:

londoncommuter wrote:

Best one yet, Dura Ace chainset, was £490 but with 50% off in the sale:

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CSSHM9000/ ... d-chainset

Not that you ever have to pay RRP for anything but according to Wiggle & Sigma it's £375.

How can they get away with that? Surely they've never actually sold it for £115 over RRP and even if they did for some statutory time before having a fake sale you couldn't get away with that!

But it is £490 not was £490. Choose not to use the discount code and that is the price you will pay. The Recommended Retail Price is simply that - a recommendation. And the sale isn't fake if, when you use the code, you genuinely get 50% off.

I suppose you're right there. For what it's worth though, it was £200 last year with them as I bought one.....

cycleclinic

If i changed my prices that often i would get a headache. It kind of show thd flaw in business model. They have to keep on offerrkng bargins at cost or below to keep the brand in peoples mind. Other goods then sell at a profit. Margins for online retailer (not just bikes) are very low 2% or so. This thread is good advertising for them it will get folk to there website and some may buy something. That will keep the show on the road. Witn margins that low it is a numbers game. The traffic has to flow or the wheels come off.

It actually is not planetx's fault. They opperate in a market where disounting is the norm. Wiggle show % saved over rrp however aince you are not paying rrp you are not saving. Still the constant price changes are confusing and i think put as many people of there site as it attracts. Consistant pricing with offers that appear for a few days then go is possibly a better way. Less of a headache for there website team too.

It works for them so there is little problem.

mattrixdesign2

The more they push 'liquidation sales' (Sports Direct style) the less I am interested and will turn away.

I have has some deals over the years, but some of its is tat, some on-one arm warmers lasted one ride, led lights wouldnt switch on and off properly

Got a nice deal on a kids frame, but it was a respray job, and some over spray and thick paint on the forks. Overall happy with the product and price

You can't fault the complete bike prices, decent specs, not tried one myself but would he wary if the frame set was of decent quality if everything is so cheap.

I would rather consistently fair prices, rather than flash 'sales', it's how that awful Sports Direct became popular. The amount of people who think they got a bargain from SD is amazing. At least PX aren't badging cheap stuff once quality brands (or are they?).

MikeBrew

It's a shame, because where once stood the opportunity of creating a decent British company - a marque even - there now stands a noisey, attention seeking retail jumble-sale, complete with party hats, streamers and "blowouts". All they need now is a clown ! Oh, hang on a minute though.... .... Hmmmmmm.

MikeBrew

MikeBrew wrote:

No rush... It may well be as cheap or cheaper after the "Sale" . The this hub for instance http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HUVIME40F/ ... 4-hole-hub . Pre sale £24.99 . Beginning of the 40% "Offer" it was £29.99 before discount applied. Now in the same sale, it's £39.99 before the discount is applied, £23.99 after discount.... So it's now a whole £1 cheaper than it was before there was a "sale" at all.
Similarly, the matching rear hub went £49.99 - £59.99 - and now £69.99 in the "Sale".... :roll:

These hubs are now F-£49.99 and R-£79.99 in the "50% off" "Sale" of the century....So as the % discount goes up so does the net price, it's magic !

onyourright

It would be satisfying to start a dedicated Planet X-bashing website to catalogue these fake deals. But way more work than I’m willing to do. Why shouldn’t a competitor do this though? A bit of guerilla marketing. Could work or at least draw the attention of the competition authorities to these practices.

supermurph09

MikeBrew wrote:

It's a shame, because where once stood the opportunity of creating a decent British company - a marque even - there now stands a noisey, attention seeking retail jumble-sale, complete with party hats, streamers and "blowouts". All they need now is a clown ! Oh, hang on a minute though.... .... Hmmmmmm.

I think you are spot on here ,they seem confused in what they are trying to be. Take that new aero bike, normally £2k, dropped to £1,299 for 24 hours. It's now back at full price, who is going to buy it in the knowledge they are happy flogging it for £1,299. It's not exactly a looker either.

Back in September (approx) they had a picture of the Exocet 3, we are now nearly in May and there has been nothing since, what's happened to that? I also cannot fathom why, given the popularity of the Exocet, the Stealth and their wheels why they haven't added a full PX disc to their offering. It seems to me, they have moved away from any type of R&D and would rather get involved in jumble sales.

alan_sherman

I think PX are losing their way a bit. A few years back you could go to them and get a good, cheap bike. The bikes were often a bit quirky (pompetamine for example) but they had an identity. get what you see, direct to customer model, quality ok, good honest value type of place. Ocassionally they would be a bit odd tough (audax bike not available with a fork with mudguard eyelets for example).
Their stealth, pro carbon, kaffenback and pompetamine models had strong followings (and sales). On top of that then they had clearout sales (a couple per year) and you could get an amazing deal.

More recently then they seem to be buying dead brands all over the place, their range has expanded massively, with little clear differentiation or identity. The prices have also gone up, but yoyo about all over the place. they do more clothing now which does seem to have the jumble sale feel to it.

I see they have just started a new titanium road bike range, however the prices aren't cheap, and there is nothing standout from the competition (accepted that Mark Reilly is known to be good at designing Ti bikes though). As much as I like my planet x stealth I don't see Planet X as a premium brand so their bikes need to be better value. Their previous titanium models were well respected and undercut rivals like Van Nicolas.

bendertherobot

alan sherman wrote:

I think PX are losing their way a bit. A few years back you could go to them and get a good, cheap bike. The bikes were often a bit quirky (pompetamine for example) but they had an identity. get what you see, direct to customer model, quality ok, good honest value type of place. Ocassionally they would be a bit odd tough (audax bike not available with a fork with mudguard eyelets for example).
Their stealth, pro carbon, kaffenback and pompetamine models had strong followings (and sales). On top of that then they had clearout sales (a couple per year) and you could get an amazing deal.

More recently then they seem to be buying dead brands all over the place, their range has expanded massively, with little clear differentiation or identity. The prices have also gone up, but yoyo about all over the place. they do more clothing now which does seem to have the jumble sale feel to it.

I see they have just started a new titanium road bike range, however the prices aren't cheap, and there is nothing standout from the competition (accepted that Mark Reilly is known to be good at designing Ti bikes though). As much as I like my planet x stealth I don't see Planet X as a premium brand so their bikes need to be better value. Their previous titanium models were well respected and undercut rivals like Van Nicolas.

There's a hurricane coming............

bendertherobot

And a Spitfire!

MikeBrew

How is the "New" PX Spitfire - which to my untrained eye, looks suspiciously like the PX Pickenflick - Now a Titanium bike ... Shirely, this...
http://www.planetx.co.uk/readers-rides/ ... e-jb-92-px
...long abandoned, and apparently forgotten, Carbon bike is the PX Spitfire ?
Re-cycling model names onto totally unrelated models now eh ? Bit of a liberty to borrow such an historic name from one of our World War Two icons in my view. Similarly with The Hurricane, how dare they try to impute value and substance to their "fly by night" bike models by evoking the memory of authentic "Best of British" icons of yesteryear.
Almost as distasteful as their "PXSAVETHEQUEEN" discount code on the Queens birthday. Get a grip PX...

In my view, WW2 British Fighter Planes = British Might

..................... PX Marketing Ethos = Bag Of Shite

edindevon

I'd agree that all the ducking and diving with the pricing is off-putting, but Planet X do still offer some genuine bargains. This weekend's deal on the RTD-80 Disc SRAM Rival 11 for £900 seems genuine enough and there' were people on here recommending the bike when it was £1400.

daniel_b

Edindevon wrote:

I'd agree that all the ducking and diving with the pricing is off-putting, but Planet X do still offer some genuine bargains. This weekend's deal on the RTD-80 Disc SRAM Rival 11 for £900 seems genuine enough and there' were people on here recommending the bike when it was £1400.

Agreed, that does look like a stonking deal, the groupset on it's own 'should' cost about that eh, and it looks ok too, doesn't rock my world, but it's not obscene.

Yes I heartily agree, they do offer some very good deals, and the above is one of them, but I think the off putting part, as someone who loves a bargain, is that it feels like you have to hit it at exactly the right time to get the best price, like the above one, on sale for what, a weekend?
But then if you miss it that point, you (Or I would not anyway) are not going to then pay £1500 for it at any point in the future, or I would not anyway, as I know it has been sold for £600 less not long ago.
And if you had bought it at another time when it was say £1200, you are still paying £300 over the odds for when this happens - in this instance I can't see it ever going lower than £900, and probably £100 difference I could handle, but when you start talking multiple hundreds, then I become a lot more wary.

supermurph09

Went into PX on Saturday to purchase the Carnac aero helmet to use when training on the TT bike, price then £79.99. Got to the store to find out they only come in small, no idea why that is, seemed odd. Well it didn't fit my 58cm head so walked out and ordered something else online.

Saturday price: £79.99
Email today, "Bank Holiday Price - £29.99.

Glad it didn't fit.

Semantik

More annoying 'teaser' pricing on an Exocet 2 frameset...

http://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/frames/tt- ... ike-frames

Which size/colour option is the one for £499 exactly?

Answer: none of them.

But that price has been showing still for the past week or more on the 'site.

Message to Planet X staff:

I WANT to BUY one for £499 in Medium, black or white preferred.

Deal?

MikeBrew

Yet another example of them playing price Pogo. Is it even really worth £500 though ? And do you r.e..a...l....l.....y want to ride a bike named after the missiles that sank HMS Sheffield in the Falklands war ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sheffield_(D80)
PX's bad taste seems to know no bounds .

bendertherobot

MikeBrew wrote:

Yet another example of them playing price Pogo. Is it even really worth £500 though ? And do you r.e..a...l....l.....y want to ride a bike named after the missiles that sank HMS Sheffield in the Falklands war ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sheffield_(D80)
PX's bad taste seems to know no bounds .

It means flying fish

MikeBrew

Well Bender I think we both know that, that isn't exactly the association they had in mind with the name don't we. Spitfire and Hurricane have other meanings too, but PX make very clear the intended association in those instances....
Personally, I think that they got nearer the money with "Pickenflick"... perhaps the P/X "Guff" will be along soon to pad out that model range... Dave certainly like borrowing names to imbue his products with quality's they really don't possess. No doubt they'd launch the "Elvis" if they thought there was potentially a few quid in it.

bendertherobot

MikeBrew wrote:

Well Bender I think we both know that, that isn't exactly the association they had in mind with the name don't we. Spitfire and Hurricane have other meanings too, but PX make very clear the intended association in those instances....
Personally, I think that they got nearer the money with "Pickenflick"... perhaps the P/X "Guff" will be along soon to pad out that model range...

Ask them. They're from Sheffield as well, it would be odd if deliberate. And if inadvertant perhaps they'd like to know?

In terms of Spitfire and Hurricane I think it's very clear. Perhaps they've bought up some Spin framesets? http://road.cc/content/review/40913-spi ... upermarine

MikeBrew

I don't think that they thought any further than that an Exocet is fast, and that that association would make them a few quid. The fact that one had been used to sink Sheffield's eponymous warship would be beyond their Pound-sign-eyed sensibilities.

bendertherobot

MikeBrew wrote:

I don't think that they thought any further than that an Exocet is fast, and that that association would make them a few quid. The fact that one had been used to sink Sheffield's eponymous warship would be beyond their Pound-sign-eyed sensibilities.

But what about time's y-pants?

Semantik

MikeBrew wrote:

Yet another example of them playing price Pogo. Is it even really worth £500 though ? And do you r.e..a...l....l.....y want to ride a bike named after the missiles that sank HMS Sheffield in the Falklands war ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sheffield_(D80)
PX's bad taste seems to know no bounds .

Hadn't made that unfortunate connection before now.

Can imagine their Sun reading marketing man probably had a few other patriotic suggestions, including the name Belgrano.

Bet that didn't go down too well.

ddraver

MikeBrew wrote:

I don't think that they thought any further than that an Exocet is fast, and that that association would make them a few quid. The fact that one had been used to sink Sheffield's eponymous warship would be beyond their Pound-sign-eyed sensibilities.

YOu ve made a good point about the pricing Mike but I think you re getting a bit off track there...

cougie

Jeez Mike. We get it. You don't like them.

And what about the stealth eh? How dare they name it after a bomber that's probably killed innocent civilians. THE MONSTERS!

bendertherobot

Bloody Specialized shiv is probably responsible for more deaths than any of the others. But they're all criminals so it's ok.

MikeBrew

cougie wrote:

Jeez Mike. We get it. You don't like them.

And what about the stealth eh? How dare they name it after a bomber that's probably killed innocent civilians. THE MONSTERS!

That's actually a valid point, despite your possibly tongue-in-cheek tone/intention. Naming objects used for leisure/sport/pleasure after instruments of death and destruction, simply to make a few quid, has to point to somewhat dulled sensibilities, don't you think ? Where does the line get drawn, the PX Napalm ?

I just thinks that it's marketing at it's most base and tawdry level. But hey, it's only an opinion ....

onyourright

It’s an opinion I share. If you have any wit or taste you draw the line before any of these names.

bobmcstuff

ddraver wrote:

MikeBrew wrote:

I don't think that they thought any further than that an Exocet is fast, and that that association would make them a few quid. The fact that one had been used to sink Sheffield's eponymous warship would be beyond their Pound-sign-eyed sensibilities.

YOu ve made a good point about the pricing Mike but I think you re getting a bit off track there...

Well I for one am outraged.

We shall march on Sheffield in the morning! I'll write the placards.