The upgrading of “riding craze” breeds a big market, and the bicycle industry takes advantage of the opportunity to rise again
In the recent stage, with the improvement of epidemic prevention and control situation in various places, the outdoor riding fever is heating up again.
On social platforms such as WeChat friends circle, showing cycling equipment and sharing pictures of group cycling have become hot topics.
After the integration of sports, fitness, fashion, technology and other new elements, bicycles that once withdrew from the mainstream market returned to the public view, triggering a new round of consumption boom.
Based on the market, the more obvious the trend of branding, specialization and high-end of bicycles is, the more yuan class bicycles and the situation of “one car is hard to find” reappear, and the re emergence of the tropical bicycle industry has become a reality.
01 It is not difficult to find that China has always been a big consumer of bicycles, but not a strong country, by looking at the history of the development of the bicycle industry.
For a long time, affected by the level of economic development, residents’ income, policy mechanisms and other factors, China has the largest group of bicycle users in the world, but bicycles are often only connected with transportation vehicles.
With the development of the times, bicycles once faded out of the stage.
In recent years, bicycles have reappeared in the public view and been given more colors, which is mainly caused by epidemic, urban infrastructure, consumption upgrading and other factors.
First of all, affected by the epidemic, most people are limited to travel long distances, and cycling around has become the first choice of many urban residents for outdoor activities.
Secondly, in the process of urbanization, with the increasing proportion of urban greenway construction, cycling has become one of the popular outdoor leisure ways.
According to the survey data released by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport recently, the annual number of cyclists will increase from 50 million in 2017 to 950 million in 2021, and residents’ willingness to travel slowly will increase significantly.
In this trend, cycling enthusiasts from different fields continue to promote cycling, especially the sharp increase in the number of users represented by professional athletes, cycling club members, retired employees and other groups, which directly drives the cycling craze.
Under the influence of multiple factors, the cycling market has also undergone a comprehensive transformation, and the proportion of consumer demand for fitness, social networking and fashion related products such as bicycles has become higher and higher.
The 2022 China Consumption Trend Report released by Zhimeng Consulting Agency shows that cycling has become a sports mode driven by interest, so the groups participating in consumption pay more attention to internal elements, especially in terms of spirit.
In addition to focusing on the sports and fitness effects of cycling, cyclists, mainly young users, are more willing to use it as a carrier for social “clocking” and shaping their personal image.
Under this trend, the professional, medium and high-end bicycle market, which was originally relatively small, has grown rapidly and become a new consumption and investment hotspot.
02 Subdivision of the track to meet the needs of multiple users is driven by the popularity of cycling and the upgrading of bicycle consumption.
In order to meet the needs of more users in different scenarios and functions, relevant enterprises and brands have also begun to further segment the market.
At present, in addition to the traditional commuting field, bicycles also cover leisure, mountain, highway and other categories.
In terms of functions, new products such as station wagons, lying down cars, folding cars and climbing cars are constantly coming out.
The accurate positioning of new consumption scenarios and segmentation groups enables more enterprises to focus on extreme innovation in market competition.
Taking Phoenix, an old brand bicycle manufacturer, as an example, in response to the needs of the new market segment, Phoenix has specially raised professional R&D and business teams to prepare for the establishment of a national standard CNAS testing laboratory.
In July this year, Phoenix also took a new generation product, FNIX lithium powered bicycle, to participate in the 2022 European Bicycle Show, aiming at the global market.
Due to the rise of riding craze, the function attribute of bicycle as a substitute for walking has been gradually weakened, but has been gradually expanded to more diversified sports, entertainment, social networking, sports and other attributes by core users, which also makes many domestic and foreign brands start to make a big deal in personalized development.
In the case of Brompton, a famous folding bicycle brand in the UK, it has earned a lot of attention in the social field.
This bike has rich color matching, ingenious folding methods and unique parking style, and Brompton, which focuses on urban slow life, also perfectly matches the British afternoon tea culture.
After entering the Chinese market, relevant topics have been constantly fermented in the traffic platform.
Brompton has more than 20000 notes on the Little Red Book alone, and its brand has attracted numerous fans by virtue of its strong social attributes.
Influenced by this trend factor, many domestic brands have also started to make continuous efforts in personalized and trendy transformation.
Among them, the domestic giant has permanently launched the permanent C sub brand, focusing on elements such as retro, colorful and trendy.
As the bicycle industry heats up again, the market sales of related products and accessories are also rising.
According to the data of Jingdong Mall, during the “618” period this year, the turnover of platform bicycle spare parts increased by 100% year on year, and the turnover of cycling wear equipment increased by 80% year on year.
Especially in the middle and high-end categories, not only did the sales of finished bicycles soar, but the turnover of code watches and helmets of many brands increased by more than 300% year on year.
At present, around the construction of the cycling ecosystem, many domestic and foreign brands are vigorously promoting cycling, thereby stretching the brand awareness and market sales of bicycles.
In a series of cross-border cooperation, the combination of brands and professional cycling events has become closer and closer.
Taking the Tour de France, a benchmark brand in the event, as an example, it has become normal for well-known bicycle brands to sponsor teams, riders and events.
In China, various cycling events and cycling cultural activities have also gradually emerged, attracting the attention of many brands and investors..