Sportsdirect.com: trainers from €36 as shipping fees rise
Karrimor trainers for €42, Merrell for €36 and T-shirts at €1.79. Shipping now costs €7.99 and the free mug is gone: a chronicle of bargain shopping at Sportsdirect.com in Spain.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Sportsdirect.com: footwear from €36 and shipping that is no longer free
Shopping at Sportsdirect.com is cheap. Sometimes ridiculously cheap. A pair of waterproof Karrimor trainers for 42 euros, some Merrell for 36 euros, Slazenger T-shirts at 1.79 euros or Dunlop cabin suitcases for just over 4 euros. According to the shoppers themselves, the catalogue starts at 6 euros. The problem is not the price: it is everything that surrounds the price. The shipping, the sizing, the returns and a commercial policy that has been changing for the worse while Spanish customers took notes.
The order that arrived in a week from the United Kingdom
The first documented purchase in this conversation was an order of two pairs of trainers. It took a week from the United Kingdom. The Karrimor trail shoes, waterproof and breathable, cost 42 euros and passed the tap test without a single drop getting in. The Merrell, 36. The buyer warned of a detail that would be repeated in every later message: watch out for the sizing, because the website mixes UK and US sizes without making it too obvious.
The experience repeats itself. Another order of four Slazenger T-shirts, a pair of pyjamas, some Karrimor trainers, the magazine nobody asked for and the famous breakfast mug came to 54 euros including shipping. The problem: of the four T-shirts, only one fit. Bodies are what they are, and British sizes do not forgive.
The free mug, the sneaked-in magazine and the end of an era
For months, Sportsdirect.com included a breakfast mug with first orders. A large mug, holding more than half a litre, which became a symbol of the brand. Customers expected it. They mentioned it. They missed it when it did not arrive. "My delivery arrived this morning and there's no little mug for the kid," one customer summed up. Another confirmed the end: they no longer send mugs.
More annoying than the missing mug was the magazine. The website sneaked it into the basket for 1.40 euros and you had to remove it by hand. Several shoppers admit having paid for it by mistake. A small detail, but one that says a lot about how the shopping experience is managed.
Shipping costs: from 4 euros to 7.99 without warning
Here is the change that angered customers the most. For a while, shipping cost 4 euros for orders between 50 and 100 euros and 1 euro above 100. Then the website changed the terms: from 0 to 99 euros, 7.99 euros in shipping fees. The middle tier disappeared. Someone buying 60 euros of clothes went from paying 4 to paying almost 8.
The blow hit the viability of small orders directly. "I was going to buy something, but it's no longer worth it," one customer wrote. Another simply cancelled the order. The advice that is spreading is to team up: get three or four people together to exceed the threshold and spread the cost. Buying a single pair of cheap trainers stops making sense when shipping eats up the savings.
Karrimor, Slazenger and the lottery of British sizing
The brand's in-house label is Karrimor. Opinions are divided. One buyer points out that his Karrimor trail shoes withstand the tap without letting water in. Another remembers "waterproof" boots that leaked in light rain and were slippery. The conclusion that prevails: when there is no Gore-Tex or Sympatex involved, the result can be defective.
Something similar happens with Slazenger. The polo shirts run large: you need to order one size down. The sleeveless T-shirts too. A hoodie bought for 6 euros turned out to have disproportionately wide shoulders and very long sleeves. Decent quality for the price, a cut that ruins it. On the other hand, a SoulCal fleece onesie for women came out exactly as in the photo, warm and comfortable.
The unwritten rule that keeps coming up: check the reviews of each item, one by one. There is no single sizing. There are sizings by manufacturer, by model and by batch.
DHL, phantom deliveries and the logistics problem
Delivery is another open front. Some denounce that DHL marks failed deliveries without ever having called at the address. "I saw on the website that supposedly they had come twice and there was no one home, a lie because there were people there," recounts a customer who ended up with the package returned to the store and a complaint under way. Others simply ask to be called before the driver comes up, so as not to make the alucinación in vain.
Not everything is complaints. A resident of the United Kingdom who plays squash buys all his gear there and highlights good quality, good price and fast shipping. The difference: he is in the country of origin.
The physical store, Amazon and the gym business
There is one option Spanish shoppers ask for that does not exist: buying online and picking up in store. In Zaragoza, some Lonsdale T-shirts cost 8 euros in the physical store and 6 on the website. The middle option is not available. You can also buy Sportsdirect products through Amazon UK, a side door that some use for convenience.
Meanwhile, the company has diversified. It is said that it is opening gyms for 5 pounds a month in the United Kingdom. The business is no longer just selling cheap trainers: it is capturing the customer at the gym and selling them the clothes inside.
The model works when the order is large, the size has been verified and the shipping is split between several people. It fails when you buy a single pair of trainers, trust your usual size and DHL decides no one was home. With the current shipping costs, the line between a bargain and a rip-off has become thinner. And the mug, that half-litre mug that built loyalty at no cost, is now history.
Shopping at Sportsdirect.com is cheap. Sometimes ridiculously cheap. A pair of waterproof Karrimor trainers for 42 euros, some Merrell for 36 euros, Slazenger T-shirts at 1.79 euros or Dunlop cabin suitcases for just over 4 euros. According to the shoppers themselves, the catalogue starts at 6 euros. The problem is not the price: it is everything that surrounds the price. The shipping, the sizing, the returns and a commercial policy that has been changing for the worse while Spanish customers took notes.
The order that arrived in a week from the United Kingdom
The first documented purchase in this conversation was an order of two pairs of trainers. It took a week from the United Kingdom. The Karrimor trail shoes, waterproof and breathable, cost 42 euros and passed the tap test without a single drop getting in. The Merrell, 36. The buyer warned of a detail that would be repeated in every later message: watch out for the sizing, because the website mixes UK and US sizes without making it too obvious.
The experience repeats itself. Another order of four Slazenger T-shirts, a pair of pyjamas, some Karrimor trainers, the magazine nobody asked for and the famous breakfast mug came to 54 euros including shipping. The problem: of the four T-shirts, only one fit. Bodies are what they are, and British sizes do not forgive.
The free mug, the sneaked-in magazine and the end of an era
For months, Sportsdirect.com included a breakfast mug with first orders. A large mug, holding more than half a litre, which became a symbol of the brand. Customers expected it. They mentioned it. They missed it when it did not arrive. "My delivery arrived this morning and there's no little mug for the kid," one customer summed up. Another confirmed the end: they no longer send mugs.
More annoying than the missing mug was the magazine. The website sneaked it into the basket for 1.40 euros and you had to remove it by hand. Several shoppers admit having paid for it by mistake. A small detail, but one that says a lot about how the shopping experience is managed.
Shipping costs: from 4 euros to 7.99 without warning
Here is the change that angered customers the most. For a while, shipping cost 4 euros for orders between 50 and 100 euros and 1 euro above 100. Then the website changed the terms: from 0 to 99 euros, 7.99 euros in shipping fees. The middle tier disappeared. Someone buying 60 euros of clothes went from paying 4 to paying almost 8.
The blow hit the viability of small orders directly. "I was going to buy something, but it's no longer worth it," one customer wrote. Another simply cancelled the order. The advice that is spreading is to team up: get three or four people together to exceed the threshold and spread the cost. Buying a single pair of cheap trainers stops making sense when shipping eats up the savings.
Karrimor, Slazenger and the lottery of British sizing
The brand's in-house label is Karrimor. Opinions are divided. One buyer points out that his Karrimor trail shoes withstand the tap without letting water in. Another remembers "waterproof" boots that leaked in light rain and were slippery. The conclusion that prevails: when there is no Gore-Tex or Sympatex involved, the result can be defective.
Something similar happens with Slazenger. The polo shirts run large: you need to order one size down. The sleeveless T-shirts too. A hoodie bought for 6 euros turned out to have disproportionately wide shoulders and very long sleeves. Decent quality for the price, a cut that ruins it. On the other hand, a SoulCal fleece onesie for women came out exactly as in the photo, warm and comfortable.
The unwritten rule that keeps coming up: check the reviews of each item, one by one. There is no single sizing. There are sizings by manufacturer, by model and by batch.
DHL, phantom deliveries and the logistics problem
Delivery is another open front. Some denounce that DHL marks failed deliveries without ever having called at the address. "I saw on the website that supposedly they had come twice and there was no one home, a lie because there were people there," recounts a customer who ended up with the package returned to the store and a complaint under way. Others simply ask to be called before the driver comes up, so as not to make the alucinación in vain.
Not everything is complaints. A resident of the United Kingdom who plays squash buys all his gear there and highlights good quality, good price and fast shipping. The difference: he is in the country of origin.
The physical store, Amazon and the gym business
There is one option Spanish shoppers ask for that does not exist: buying online and picking up in store. In Zaragoza, some Lonsdale T-shirts cost 8 euros in the physical store and 6 on the website. The middle option is not available. You can also buy Sportsdirect products through Amazon UK, a side door that some use for convenience.
Meanwhile, the company has diversified. It is said that it is opening gyms for 5 pounds a month in the United Kingdom. The business is no longer just selling cheap trainers: it is capturing the customer at the gym and selling them the clothes inside.
The model works when the order is large, the size has been verified and the shipping is split between several people. It fails when you buy a single pair of trainers, trust your usual size and DHL decides no one was home. With the current shipping costs, the line between a bargain and a rip-off has become thinner. And the mug, that half-litre mug that built loyalty at no cost, is now history.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (59 replies).
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