Who pays full price for triathlon gear?

I don’t think I’ve ever paid full price for any triathlon gear. Why would you? Sales come around with helpful regularity. If there is something specific you need, just have patience, it inevitably goes down in price. Yes, you may end up with last season’s version and all the new reviews will be of the current season. But it’s the same stuff – the next season’s gear quickly becomes last season’s. The 2015 season has only ended and I have already managed to purchase bike wheels, a new wetsuit, new tri shoes and new runners – all for between 25% and 50% of their original prices. I don’t know who buys gear at its original prices. I can never understand it. Some people must have money to burn. Perhaps some people are yet to join the online revolution whereby, at any given time, some sports store will be having a sale.

Some point to the impact online shopping has had and continues to have (Runways on Parnell Street is currently closing down) on local retailers of triathlon – swimming, biking and running – gear, but when the prices in such shops are twice or more what online retailers are selling at, who has the money to choose to buy local? Why pay full price if a retailer in Northern Ireland (Chain Reaction Cycles), the UK (Evans, Wiggle, Merlin Cycles, Ribble, Planet X, Sportpursuit), France (Decathlon), Germany (bike-discount.de), Holland (www.dewielershop.nl) and others are selling it cheaper and can courier it to you in a couple of days? A note of caution here about purchasing from outside of the EU – if the goods are worth more than around e30, you will have to pay customs duty, so make sure the price difference is more than the tax.

For those reading this with a slight queasiness because they want to support a given triathlon gear firm, I don’t think you need to worry. There has of late been an increasingly competitive response from Irish triathlon retailers. The response has been to open larger stores, sell more online and offer better customer support and service than online sellers or overseas stores can provide. The likes of Base2Race, Wheelworx, trizone, theedge-sports are gradually bringing Irish pricing in line with that available elsewhere.

But this is the bottom line – Irish retailers need to offer the same products at prices which, even with excellent customer service and marketing, triathletes can justify paying. If the prices are 50% or more in the difference, triathletes will vote with their feet. I am sure Irish retailers are asking suppliers why it is their online or overseas competitors can charge such low prices for gear and trying to address the price differential and this is as it should be. The fact is, however, this work is not done yet and for most triathletes (those without a goose laying golden eggs) shopping around remains the only way to afford entry level gear, or to upgrade to better quality gear.