Chain Reaction Cycles
 | |
| Industry | Cycling |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | Doagh, Northern Ireland |
| Products | Mountain Biking, Triathlon, Road Cycling, BMX bikes and frames, components, accessories and apparel. |
| Revenue | £109 million (2010) |
Number of employees | Circa 500 |
| Website | chainreactioncycles.com |
Chain Reaction Cycles is an online retail website selling sporting goods focusing mainly around cycling. Based in Doagh, in Northern Ireland,[1] in 2013 Chain Reaction Cycles is the largest online bike shop in the world.[2]
Chain Reaction Cycles specialise in selling equipment and apparel for various disciplines of cycling including mountain biking, BMX, cyclocross, road cycling, triathlon and running equipment.
History
Chain Reaction Cycles started out as a small bike shop named Ballynure Cycles which was opened in 1985 by George and Janice Watson[3] 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 adverts 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. The first sale was a chain link sold for 11p.[4] The sales grew each year, and eventually Chain Reaction Cycles became the world’s largest online bike store. In 2011 revenues were £136.4 million (€170 million).[2] 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]
Products
Chain Reaction Cycles sells equipment and apparel for various disciplines of cycling including mountain biking, BMX, cyclocross and road cycling, and also triathlon, motocross, running and swimming equipment. In 2014, the company had a 90,000 item catalogue and processed 6,000 orders a day.[7] The website receives around 1.5 million hits each month.
Sponsored riders
Chain Reaction Cycles sponsor various cycle teams in several different disciplines including the CRC/Nukeproof downhill mountain biking team, the CRC/Vitus road cycling team and CRC/BMX team.[8][9][10][11]
The company also maintains the Davagh Forest biking trails.[12]
References
- ↑ "Danske Bank gets top spot in Belfast Telegraph's Top 100 Companies ". Belfast Telegraph. By Margaret Canning – 12 May 2015
- 1 2 Irish Times - Pretax profit of €170m at world's largest online bike shop. Irish Times
- ↑ "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
- ↑ "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
- ↑ FAST TRACK - 2012 Profit Track 100 Archived June 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ CRC Athletes
- ↑ "Enduro World Series: Callaghan wins second round". Cycling News.
- ↑ "Stars in Barrow for thrilling spectacle". Evening Mail
- ↑ "From prison to pool deck: Woman makes long journey to Gold Nugget Triathlon". Alaska Dispatch News. Beth Bragg, May 16, 2015
- ↑ "Video: Watch as mountain biker tackles the Davagh forest trails at night in the snow". Belfast Telegraph.