Bad weather dampens the desire to buy
(SFZ) After the two good sales years 2011 and 2012, the bad spring weather in 2013 put pressure on new bike sales figures: A total of 330`313 new bicycles were sold, 5.3% less than in the previous year. Demand for mountain bikes with 29" wheels was very good, while sales of electric bikes fell by 6.7% to the 2011 level.
The bad weather months of March to June 2013 did not bode well for the cycling year 2013. Fewer sunny days, but wet and cold weeks in abundance put pressure on consumers' willingness to buy, and a double-digit percentage drop in unit sales for the entire 2013 bicycle sales year seemed inevitable. The beautiful summer and autumn months from July to October then stimulated demand massively, but were no longer able to make up for the drop in sales in the first half of the year. The end result was a 5.3% drop, practically the same as in the motorbike and scooter sector. Although overall new mountain bike sales were also down 2.2%, this off-road category showed its potential: Of the 29" bikes available since 2012, 23`479 were sold, almost twice as many as in the previous year. Over 16`000 units of racing bikes were sold again in 2013, almost as many as in 2012. Most racing bikes are not bought spontaneously, but are ordered before the season begins. This is why the influence of the weather is less important when buying/selling these bikes than for other categories of bike. The minus for city bikes was within limits at 1.4%. If the spring weather had been better, industry experts believe that considerably more city/everyday bikes could have been sold. Sales of almost 95`000 of these bikes with complete equipment (lights, chain guard, luggage rack etc.) prove the potential of this bike category. Astonishing: 20`249 of the junior city bikes with 20-24 inch wheels were sold, 14.6% more than in the previous year. The year 2014 will show whether this can be seen as the start of a new youth bike trend.
Electric bikes: 25 km/h models on the brakes, 45 km/h models with tailwind
49,362 new e-bikes sold show that the concept of e-drive in combination with pedal power enjoys high acceptance. Every seventh bicycle sold in Switzerland is an e-bike. Although the number of units sold in 2013 was 6.7% lower than the peak figure of almost 53`000 in 2012, it still indicates a high demand for this type of bicycle. In total, there are around 230`000 e-bikes on Swiss roads today, and in ten years' time there will be over 500`000. Of the e-bikes in the category up to 45 km/h, 15,153 units were sold (up 7.7%), i.e. every third e-bike was in the fast category. Chances are good that Peter will show himself to be a merciful weather man in spring 2014, giving the two-wheeler industry a better starting position than in 2013. In addition, the current spending behaviour of consumers, the high value of bicycles in the leisure sector and the constantly increasing traffic density in cities and conurbations speak in favour of the bicycle. The best conditions for a good cycling year 2014.
March 5th, 2014