Description
Rising living costs severely impacted demand for new bikes and e-bikes over the past year. But a recovery in demand is now underway, however, thanks to easing pressure on household budgets and heavy discounting by retailers. Mintel’s UK Cycling Market Report 2023 examines the UK bikes and e-bikes market landscape, and looks at how the market will change in 2024 and beyond. Purchase today and secure future growth for your business.
Below, we’ve handpicked the key insights analysed in the full report and summarised the core topics.
Key Issues Covered in this Report
- How the rise in the cost of living is affecting sales of bikes and e-bikes.
- The growing second-hand market and bike subscriptions as an alternative to ownership.
- Trends in cycling participation.
- Types of bicycles owned and purchase intentions over the next year and beyond.
- Key sales channels and retailers used to purchase bicycles and bicycle parts in the UK.
- Barriers to e-bicycle purchase.
Cycling in UK – Current Market Overview
The UK bicycle market has experienced another year of decline in terms of value and volume sales. The greater demand for second-hand bikes is a contributing factor to the decline, with the cost of living crisis causing consumers to seek out more affordable options.
That being said, Mintel’s analysts forecast a rise in volume and value sales over the next five years to 2028. With higher price point e-bikes fuelling the growth in total value.
- UK cycling industry market forecast: By 2028, the market value of the UK cycling market is forecast to reach £1.5 billion.
While the influence of generalist retailers like Amazon has grown in the value segments of the market, there remains a clear preference for specialists when cyclists buy a new bicycle, or bike parts, clothing or accessories. This reflects the value of expert led, quality assured buying experiences.
- UK cycling retailer market share: Halfords is the top retailer cyclists used to buy a bicycle in the year to July 2023, however Amazon and private second-hand sellers were not far behind the market leader, reflecting how the rising cost of living has affected consumer behaviour.
Cycling Industry Trends – Converting consumer interest into participation
The share of Brits who cycle is in decline, which indicates that the positive impact that COVID-19 has had on on boosting cycling activity is slowly wearing off. However a substantial minority of adults do not currently cycle but are open to doing so in the future. Mintel’s market research has found that men are nearly twice as likely to cycle than women, however over two-fifths of women aged under 45 indicated interest in cycling. These findings highlight a considerable growth potential for the cycling industry. But brands will need to make sure they are focused on the right areas in order to convert this interest into participation.
Our full report highlights more opportunities for growth in the UK cycling market, and provides expert recommendations for how your brand can harness key industry trends to get ahead of your competitors.
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Expert Analysis from a Market Specialist
This report, written by George Zaborowski, a leading market analyst, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends in the UK cycling market and add expert context to the numbers.
There remains a high degree of interest in mechanical bikes, however, the most exciting innovation is taking place with e-bikes, which may soon dominate new sales.
Table of Contents
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Executive Summary
- Opportunities for the cycling market
- Market dynamics and outlook
- What consumers want and why
- Innovation and marketing
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Market Size
- Graph 5: volume of new UK bicycle sales*, 2018-23
- Graph 6: value of new UK bicycle sales*, 2018-23
- After skyrocketing, the average sale price of a new bike has stablised
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Market Forecast
- Learnings from the last time consumers faced an extended income squeeze in the aftermath of the financial crisis
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Macroeconomic Factors
- Graph 7: CPI inflation rate, 2021-23
- Interest rates will rise in importance over the remainder of 2023 and into 2024
- Graph 8: financial confidence index, 2016-23
- The ongoing squeeze on household budgets is hampering new bike sales…
- …and motivating retailers to slash prices to stimulate demand
- Graph 9: Europe Brent Spot price, yearly averages, 2010-2022, forecast for 2023-24
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Social, Environmental and Legal Factors
- Government falling short on plans to boost walking and cycling in England
- Graph 10: adult participation (aged 16+) in cycling activity in England*, November 2016/17-November 2021/22
- Bike riding among children has dropped below pre-pandemic levels
- Getting kids excited abut cycling requires getting them the right bike
- Current legislation limits the e-bike growth potential among younger riders
- E-bike battery safety crucial to segment’s growth prospects
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Cycling participation
- Share of Brits who cycle falls, but remains above pre-pandemic levels
- Graph 11: participation in cycling, 2017- 23
- Graph 12: regular participation in cycling (weekly or more often), 2017-23
- Men are nearly twice as likely to cycle than women
- Dads are a prime cycling target group
- Encouraging more to take up cycling
- Graph 13: potential participation in cycling, by gender and age, 2023
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Bicycle ownership
- MTBs remain the most commonly owned type of bicycle
- Graph 14: bicycle ownership, 2020-23
- Growth in e-bike ownership has stalled, but the future is still rosy
- UK: key demographic figures behind the ownership of the UK’s most popular bikes
- Graph 15: number of types of bicycle owned, 2023
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Cycling retailers
- Specialist retailers dominate
- Graph 16: cycling retailers used to buy a bicycle, and parts, clothing and accessories, 2023
- Graph 17: cycling retailers used to buy a bicycle in last 12 months to July, 2023
- Graph 18: cycling retailers used to buy bicycle parts, clothing and accessories, 2023
- Online bicycle retailer Wiggle enters administration
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Bicycle purchase intentions
- Nearly a quarter of existing or prospective cyclists plan to buy a bike in the next 12 months from July 2023…
- Graph 19: bicycle purchase intentions for self, 2023
- Graph 20: bicycle purchase intentions for self, by cycling groups, 2023
- Graph 21: bicycle purchase intentions for self in next 12 months, by gender, age, and socio-economic group, 2023
- Graph 22: future bicycle purchase intentions for children, 2023
- Emphasising the family aspect of cycling may help close the cycling gender gap
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Type of bicycle most likely to purchase
- MTBs remain top, but interest in e-bikes continues to grow
- Graph 23: type of bicycle most likely to purchase for self, 2021 vs. 2023
- E-bikes set to grow in popularity
- Graph 24: type of bicycle most likely to purchase for self, by timeline, 2023
- Over-45s show most interest in buying an e-bike
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Barriers to e-bike adoption
- Half of cyclists consider e-bikes too expensive
- Graph 25: potential barriers to purchasing an e-bike, 2023
- Subscription services ease most of the challenges to e-bike ownership
- E-bike purchase subsidies and better infrastructure also have the power to accelerate adoption
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Impact of rising costs on bicycle purchasing and cycling
- Buying a new bicycle has become more difficult to justify
- Graph 26: agreement with statements about the impact of rising costs on attitudes and behaviour toward cycling, 2023
- Rising costs have hit demand among younger riders and those with kids most…
- …and are pushing up demand for second-hand bikes
- A third are cycling more to reduce transport costs
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Interest in bicycle subscription services
- Graph 27: level of interest in select types of bicycle subscription services, 2023
- UK: key bike subscription target groups
- The bike subscription model caters best to a niche segment in search of short-term solutions
- Appeal of e-bike subscriptions can be enhanced by making more of how they enable riders to more affordably keep pace with the latest innovations
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Launch activity and innovation
- Halfords launches Bike Xchange programme
- Decathlon launches revolutionary automatic transmission city e-bike aimed at non-cyclists in August 2023
- Niche Mobility launches e-bike system with regenerative braking
- UK start-up Boost set to release latest e-bike conversion kit
- Bikeflex and Solarcycle partner to offer solar e-bike charging
- UK trails projected announced to support the mountain biking community
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Advertising and marketing activity
- Boost launches London buses ad campaign to spread awareness about e-bike conversion
- Latest edition of #BikeIsBest campaign introduced in the summer of 2023
- After its success in Leeds, the ‘Walk It, Ride It’ campaign spreads across the rest of West Yorkshire in September 2023
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APPENDIX
- Supplementary data
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Methodology
About the report
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Data
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*databooks not available with UK B2B Industry reports.
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