About us
From little things
"I wonder why it has to work like that?". Seems to be a fairly innocuous way to start a business, but for us that was pretty much it.
The year was 2004, winter, our bikes needed some new lights and spares for a muddy weekend ride. Dark and cold loomed outside, even though it was only 4pm. The warmth of the office beckoned, and the search for required equipment turned to the web.
Early on in our search we started looking at sites, saying things like "I wonder why they use Flash all over this site?", and "Why do they wait until I checkout to tell me it's not in stock!?", or "I wonder what other people who've bought this think?". This initial spark began the Mudgrubs collective as we now know it.
How we thought it should work
We decided to build our own site, and had a couple of ideas about improving things:
- Clean images and clear, concise product information.
- Obvious and simple system to display if an item is in stock, or it's availability if not.
- Simple system to allow people to add comments about their experiences of any products we stock.
- Rewards for Reviews system to thank people who take the time to add their comments.
- Technical information and copy added/updated and managed by any of our 'Grubs, anywhere in the world. This way, if our man-in-the-know on say, suspension forks or fly-fishing is in New Zealand, he can update and maintain information from there. The net result is happier workers and better information on our site.
- Once a customer places an order with us, we get the details up on the screens for picking and packing in our fulfillment centre straight away. This means no end-of-day order downloads, or "I'll get to it once I'm off the phone".
- Keep a simple philosophy to delivery costs - try to keep them free!
Making it better
We've put blood*, sweat and tears into Mudgrubs over the last few years. Our aim: to try and fulfill the above goals as best we can. In doing this, we realise the best way to make things better is through feedback and help from you, the customer.
Your comments, advice, feedback and general vibes all help to make us a better outfit. We value it all. Please contact us on customerservices@mudgrubs.com at anytime if you'd like to get in touch. We'll do our utmost to respond quickly.
* One of us must've got a paper cut somewhere along the way!