What's happening to bike sales?
Posted on 13 Mar 2009
It is a tough market out there and reports from retailers for the first two months of the year suggest new bike sales in particular have been affected. We hear P&A, Clothing and workshop business are holding up well.
To try and put some firm foundations behind this view we have published a poll (below) to find out more. We ask cycle retailers to participate in order to give us, and you, a better perspective of what is happening in the market.
Key Factors
Better weather in March and April will likely play a pivotal role in improving new bike sales and setting the tone for market performance for the summer. The sun may be just what we need to overcome the economy.
Cycle to Work scheme
Retailers are reporting that the cycle to work scheme is providing a valuable crutch to support their new bike sales during this tough trading period. Some retailers report cycle to work sales now represent over 30% of their new bike turnover.
Great news but it is of some concern. Firstly, whilst we don't think the scheme is in danger of being closed it is not a guaranteed source of income and its demise could hurt many retailers and suppliers. Secondly, if overall new bike sales are down and more sales are now via cycle to work schemes retailers will see their profits take a hit.
The suppliers view
We asked all leading bike suppliers for their thoughts on this subject.
Russell Merry from Hot Wheels:
"For us we see growth in demand for Fixed wheel bikes such as the Charge Plug. This category is receiving tons of main stream press in newspapers and fashion magazines, probably because of its London focus. The BMX market is strong because of the growth in facilities and provision of skateparks and we are a significant player in that category."
"Our mountain bike offering from GT and Mongoose is competitively priced so we should do well there as the season starts and we have work to do to improve our urban offering. We go to the Taipei show next week and will see the earliest sample versions of next years bikes and urban is where we will be looking closely at what GT and Mongoose have come up with."
We hope other bike suppliers will contribute their thoughts.
