Chain Reaction Cycles the Tour

My Background with Chain Reaction Cycles
I have been a customer of Chain Reaction Cycles for a long time. I initially found the website on a general bike component search. First thing I ordered arrived the next day, so from first impressions I always had a good experience with CRC. Nowadays I have a much closer relationship with Chain Reaction Cycles through MRG. Anyone who has not used the online service I think it is time you did. The website is clear and concise and ordering couldn’t be easier. The prices are low and the service is 1^st class. Some times as a customer we like to pay a bit extra for good service. With Chain Reaction Cycles we get the best service with the added bonus of the best price also. I always knew the company was big but not until this tour did I realise just how big they have become. Our experience as online customers is with a screen and sometimes the sales teams on the phone or by email. Some Irish/UK customers have the benefit of the showroom also.

The staff in the show room are again 1^st class in both advice and professionalism. Below is an example of how accommodating the Chain Reaction Cycles team can be in providing the best customer service. In my work place we have a Cycle to Work Scheme. This is a government initiative were we can purchase a bike and pay for it before tax. I approached Ricky the Chain Reaction Cycles showroom manager about doing a display for my colleagues who would be purchasing bikes in the scheme. Ricky agreed to take some bikes to my workplace for the display. He setup in our canteen and stayed most of the day answering questions and helping my colleagues choose the right bike. He has been coming back every year and our order has been increasing due to this great service provided on OUR premises.

Many of you like me don’t think how our components get from the manufacturer to our bikes. On this tour I would learn just how much work goes into this process and how efficient the Chain Reaction Cycles team have become at providing this 1^st class service.

The Tour
When we arrived we were introduced to Charlie our tour guide and issued with visitor passes. I had been to the show room on many occasions previously purchasing items. This was the first time I was getting to see the heart of Chain Reaction Cycles. We went to the warehouse called ‘goods in’. This is the area were every component would be sorted labelled and sent to the main warehouse. Every day a different shipment arrives. The components are then sorted individually and labelled. This is a very important part of the process as labels have to be accurate. The components are then sent to the warehouses to be categorised and boxed accordingly. The warehouse is big really big with different teams located throughout. For me to try and explain what it is like, I will ask you to think of a library on a large scale then multiple that by 1000 you still won’t be close. I use the library as an example because everything sits in the warehouse on shelves. The areas are zoned and the items are coded to distinguish what is on each shelf and in each zone similar to books in a library. Most boxes we see have items. When I say most I am talking 95% of boxes. These boxes are kept topped up at all times so you and I as the customer have our items with no delays. The Pickers are the guys that take the components from these boxes and make up the orders. They then take them to packaging to be dispatched. Single unit parcels to multiple unit parcels they all are done here. The only exception is over size items, frames and full bikes. These items are found in a separate warehouse due to their size. I will talk about these bigger items later.

Next up was customer services/sales and technical offices. The teams comprise of the International teams, local teams and the technical support. The layout is like any other office with staff kitted with phones, headsets and computers. This department deals with orders, emails and voice calls. They work very hard with the other departments to insure the service runs smoothly. We didn’t spend too much time here due to the staff being very busy. We did not want to interrupt while they were on their calls. We went next to the buyers department. This area is where CRC buy from the manufacturers, order more units and find new brand names to add to the list. Beside the buyers is the in house design team. Chain Reaction Cycles has expanded from mainly selling to owning, designing and marketing their own brands. The design team were busy developing some new lines and adding to the success of other products in the Chain Reaction Cycles range. Some I cannot talk about in this Blog but will become clear in the future so keep an eye on the CRC website. We moved on to the next office Marketing.

Marketing is more important than I had imagined in the past. We know the products are physical but we as customers can only see them as an image and description. This is what makes the marketing department so important. We need clear images, concise descriptions and accurate measurements. This is the department that brings that visual and descriptive package to our computer screens. We all can see how good the website looks. We can read the descriptions. Never before had I thought about the process involved in measuring, photographing and describing these components then publishing the items on the website. Why does the website look and read so well? The Marketing Department.

One final warehouse was the full bike warehouse. This is where the fully built bikes are boxed and shipped from. This is one of the biggest warehouses I have ever been too. Every bike purchased from CRC has a tool kit, water bottle and kit bag included in the box. They are quality control checked, boxed in a ready to use state. All the consumer has to do is fit the pedals and straighten the bars. The attention to detail and these small gestures just show how customer focused the operation is. This service really helps us to return time and time again. We as consumers are the reason Chain Reaction Cycles are in business. It is clear that they realise this and make sure we are the number one priority.

This was the end of the tour and time to buy some kit. This was a real privilege to see and something I will remember next time I am making a purchase.