KewbzUK v Speedcubing.org Debate Thread

[Jam88]

@Luke Terzich @cuber314159

IMO, KewbzUK is better. Speedcubing.org has slightly cheaper prices, but KewbzUK's website is better.

 

[Nir1213]

so this is the UK version of speedcubeshop vs Cubicle. OK makes sense
but im not from UK so im not going to uhh argue here.

 

[Jam88]

so this is the UK version of speedcubeshop vs Cubicle. OK makes sense
but im not from UK so im not going to uhh argue here.

OK lol

 

[Zain_A24]

Theres a bunch of UK stores selling cubes but I would say Kewbz is the most established. I'll likely post my full thoughts in here soon.

 

[Nir1213]

hey @Jam88 can you please make a poll on this. People can vote that way.
just saying

 

[Jam88]

Yeah sure

hey @Jam88 can you please make a poll on this. People can vote that way.
just saying

 

[DiamondGolem12]

I'm from the UK, and I use both of them. Kewbz.uk has a better website and more things available, but speedcubing.org is cheaper and sometimes has things in stock that KewbzUK doesn't have. Most other European speedcubing shops are pretty dodgy from what I've seen.

 

[cuber314159]

I think I will acknowledge the scale is different, we certainly want to grow into a big cube store and compete with kewbzuk (but also with Rubik's and maybe when effective again, market stalls with the general public) eventually. The reality is that there are other UK cube stores of a similar size to speedcubing.org.
Both the cubicle and speedcubeshop are pretty big businesses, each employing 10-20 people I think, each probably have over a million dollars of stock at any one time! I will continue to try to keep good cubes in stock, test all new cubes to try to be able to recommend what cubes are best for people and hopefully provide a good, fast service but unlike Luke and Hollie from Kewbzuk, it is not my full time job (for now?).

 

[Jam88]

I think I will acknowledge the scale is different, we certainly want to grow into a big cube store and compete with kewbzuk (but also with Rubik's and maybe when effective again, market stalls with the general public) eventually. The reality is that there are other UK cube stores of a similar size to speedcubing.org.
Both the cubicle and speedcubeshop are pretty big businesses, each employing 10-20 people I think, each probably have over a million dollars of stock at any one time! I will continue to try to keep good cubes in stock, test all new cubes to try to be able to recommend what cubes are best for people and hopefully provide a good, fast service but unlike Luke and Hollie from Kewbzuk, it is not my full time job (for now?).

Yeah, I guess that it being a full time job is pretty important

 

[PetrusQuber]

Probably an unfair comparison right now due to speedcubing.org being much newer, but some points:
KewbzUK has a wider variety of puzzles
KewbzUK’s store just feels a bit more professional somehow
Speedcubing.org makes up for some of these by having cheaper prices
Smaller stores tend to interact with the community more

 

[Jam88]

Probably an unfair comparison right now due to speedcubing.org being much newer, but some points:
KewbzUK has a wider variety of puzzles
KewbzUK’s store just feels a bit more professional somehow
Speedcubing.org makes up for some of these by having cheaper prices
Smaller stores tend to interact with the community more

This is true. Kewbz also tends to interact with the community a lot, organising comps etc

 

[Luke Terzich]

Only just stumbled upon this somehow.
It's great for the community to discuss things like this.

I'll leave my two cents and explain a few things at the same time.
We do certainly try our very best and Daniel and Speedcubing.org also try's his best and almost every other cube store in the UK that is trying to compete in a very competitive yet niche market are also trying their best (apart from a certain 'UK based cube store') of which I won't name (or did I just name them? We'll never know)

I'd like to bring up the price point. We (unfortunately?) are VAT registered, which means 20% of EVERYTHING we make goes straight to the UK Government. Therefor our prices have to reflect this (imaging we sell a GAN SM for £35 (we have to give the government £7 of that meaning we only get £28 for it). We can claim other costs back but these equate to pennies on the pound.

Being cheap isn't always a good way to grow. Companies (not only cube stores) that are cheap, don't have enough profits to be able to support growth. Imagine being the cheapest store around, you may get a lot of customers but it's going to take you longer to generate the money needed to grow your store with different products. (you have to remember that we have to buy the cube, ship it to the UK, pay customs/duty on it) replace broken cubes, free shipping over £XX all has to be taken into account.

Our TrustPilot has 450 5 star reviews out of 451 total reviews. We're also the 2nd highest rated toy shop on TrustPilot. This is all down to our amazing customer service. Broken cube? We're there to help! Cube not arrived? We're there to help! Whatever the issue, WE'RE THERE TO HELP. (you get the idea)

@cuber314159 (daniel) is doing an amazing job and it does take a lot to say that as we're competitors and we've had some issues in the past but this is not only our job it's hobby here at KewbzUK and with Daniel running stalls at his local malls etc... it's spreading the cubing bug to people that may not have picked one up in 10-20 years+ and that's what its all about, spreading the joy of cubing.

The cubing market is saturated and you've got just as many cubing stores from outside the UK using .co.uk domains as cubing stores actually from the UK! I wouldn't advise anybody looking to start a cube store, to do it, that's not coming from a competitor, that's coming from somebody that's been into business research for 10+ years.

All of that being said, @cuber314159 if you wanted to sell up and join the KewbzUK team PM ME!
-----

ps. we do these every few months and January is probably a good time to do it so....
We've just published a KewbzUK improvement ideas survey. It takes no longer than 4-5 minutes and if you can spare some time we really would appreciate some help. We always take the points on board and discuss as a team on how best to implement them.

https://www.kewbz.co.uk/blogs/tips-tricks/january-2021-survey

Much Love
KewbzUK <3

 

[Zain_A24]

Only just stumbled upon this somehow.
It's great for the community to discuss things like this.

I'll leave my two cents and explain a few things at the same time.
We do certainly try our very best and Daniel and Speedcubing.org also try's his best and almost every other cube store in the UK that is trying to compete in a very competitive yet niche market are also trying their best (apart from a certain 'UK based cube store') of which I won't name (or did I just name them? We'll never know)

I'd like to bring up the price point. We (unfortunately?) are VAT registered, which means 20% of EVERYTHING we make goes straight to the UK Government. Therefor our prices have to reflect this (imaging we sell a GAN SM for £35 (we have to give the government £7 of that meaning we only get £28 for it). We can claim other costs back but these equate to pennies on the pound.

Being cheap isn't always a good way to grow. Companies (not only cube stores) that are cheap, don't have enough profits to be able to support growth. Imagine being the cheapest store around, you may get a lot of customers but it's going to take you longer to generate the money needed to grow your store with different products. (you have to remember that we have to buy the cube, ship it to the UK, pay customs/duty on it) replace broken cubes, free shipping over £XX all has to be taken into account.

Our TrustPilot has 450 5 star reviews out of 451 total reviews. We're also the 2nd highest rated toy shop on TrustPilot. This is all down to our amazing customer service. Broken cube? We're there to help! Cube not arrived? We're there to help! Whatever the issue, WE'RE THERE TO HELP. (you get the idea)

@cuber314159 (daniel) is doing an amazing job and it does take a lot to say that as we're competitors and we've had some issues in the past but this is not only our job it's hobby here at KewbzUK and with Daniel running stalls at his local malls etc... it's spreading the cubing bug to people that may not have picked one up in 10-20 years+ and that's what its all about, spreading the joy of cubing.

The cubing market is saturated and you've got just as many cubing stores from outside the UK using .co.uk domains as cubing stores actually from the UK! I wouldn't advise anybody looking to start a cube store, to do it, that's not coming from a competitor, that's coming from somebody that's been into business research for 10+ years.

All of that being said, @cuber314159 if you wanted to sell up and join the KewbzUK team PM ME!
-----

ps. we do these every few months and January is probably a good time to do it so....
We've just published a KewbzUK improvement ideas survey. It takes no longer than 4-5 minutes and if you can spare some time we really would appreciate some help. We always take the points on board and discuss as a team on how best to implement them.

https://www.kewbz.co.uk/blogs/tips-tricks/january-2021-survey

Much Love
KewbzUK <3

Well said.
With cube stores in the UK having to rely on loyalty more than anything, I think KewbzUK is doing a phenomenal job at giving their customers good reasons to stay with them.

 

[Luke Terzich]

Well said.
With cube stores in the UK having to rely on loyalty more than anything, I think KewbzUK is doing a phenomenal job at giving their customers good reasons to stay with them.

Thank you very much for the support

 

[7ombie]

I'm not sold on this idea that bigger margins are better for everyone, like we need to pay companies to expand our community for us.

Expanding the community expands the market, so it's just good business to do the various things that cube stores tend to present as giving back to the community. YouTubers often do the same thing with giveaways. It's all intended to grow the company, which primarily benefits the owners of the company.

We all want to see the hobby expand, but making it more expensive has the opposite effect.

My only contention with Speed Cube Store UK is their dishonesty at the checkout, pretending it's Royal Mail 2nd Class (which typically takes a day or two in practice) when it's coming from China (which typically takes a week or two in practice). If they were honest about that, I'd be very happy with them, at least, so far. I've not ordered much (only two orders, for about £40 total, and one was only a few days ago, so hasn't arrived yet), so I don't have much experience with them myself, but they have been good so far, and when I emailed about the timeframe, they sent me a tracking number, no problem.

I could get screwed, of course, and I may then find out that their customer service doesn't exist, but that's a couple of pessimistic assumptions. The point is, they could be good (at the very least, hypothetically), and I'd be fine with that. There's still a place for UK companies too (and Luke made a good case for local stores), but I don't see anything intrinsically wrong with these Chinese stores.

 

[GooseCuber]

Here in the RSA we have Speedcubes & CubeCo.