BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Statistics passed to us by the Bicycle Association have revealed that bicycle import growth has not been sustained.
HMRC data, analysed by the BA, revealed that in terms of imports, growth fell in 2015 with unit values falling £130 in Q1 2014 to £109 in Q4 2015. Perhaps signficantly, e-bike imports grew in the period 2015.
Bicycle exports were steady over the period, however unit values fell £182 in 2014 Q1 to £129 in 2015 Q4. E-bike exports fluctuated and unit value appeared to fall from £1,955 (Q1 2014) to £841 (Q4 2015).
The BA stressed that the HMRC data is ‘broad brush’ and requires further analysis to glean genuine insights. The Association is to use additional accurate data from BA members – provided anonymously – to sharpen estimates for UK market size and provide market segmentation by cycle type with "far more credibility and accuracy than has ever before been available in the UK.
In 2014, UK bicycles were mainly exported to Africa and Europe (with significantly higher unit values in Europe):
- Europe £595
- Americas £285
- Asia & Middle East £199
- Africa £15
The Bicycle Association said: "Our market intelligence initiative is now on the starting blocks…more detailed reports will only be available to companies who join up and input their own data. All members’ contributed data will be held securely by a third part and will never be shared, not even with BA staff, except when anonymised and aggregated to form a ‘whole market’ report. Reports will be free to members who contribute their sales data."
