The band is back together! Ryan is back and will join us each month to share key takeaways from current inventory data, talk about big-picture topics in our industry, and answer your questions.
Higher total sales amounts (by the dollar) in 2023 but lower total unit sales
- The most recent report from PeopleForBikes provided some summary information about 2023. Last year’s market value was nearly $1 billion over pre-pandemic markets. A lot of people rightly point to the dollar growth coming from a higher average selling price, meaning dollar growth is outpacing units.
- 4% decrease compared to 2022 but a 7% increase over 2019
- Electric bikes now make up 20% of total bike sales.
What’s happening now?
- Look at more recent data, we're paying careful attention to the December through February data. Important key metrics have turned the corner across the network.
- Total online sales are up about 11% and site traffic is up about 10%.
- Most of 2023 was down relative to the prior 12 months but that trajectory is changing.
What are the areas of growth in our industry? What’s doing well?
- A lot of the growth we're seeing is coming from bikes - largely electric, 29" mountain, and sport/performance road.
- Heavy discounts in those categories is achieving the intended result of increasing total dollar sales volume.
- Interestingly, discounts in sport/performance road are actually driving up the ASP for bikes in the category.
But who’s doing well?
- While the largest dealers continue to drive most of our sales volume, in February we saw the first significant uptick for the small and medium sized retailers.
Crystal ball time - how is 2024 looking? Can we make any predictions?
- Sizing up the IBD channel right now suggests that 2024 is going to be a tough year. Google Search Data, ridership data, and the sales of consumables like chains and nutrition indicate that people are interested in and riding bikes.
- Retailers on the whole are running their businesses pragmatically and relying on just in time ordering to stay flexible.
Okay, you’ve taken us through a number of ups and downs…how can retailers take action to make a positive impact on their sales?
- My one piece of advice to our customers is to stay very active with your marketing.
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Ryan Atkinson, President + Co-Owner
Suzie Livingston, Marketing + Communications
Mark Still, Business Development
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If you have any questions about the topics discussed in this episode of Around the Workstand or if you have ideas for new topics we can cover, schedule a time to meet with Mark Still here or email mark.s@works...