COMMENT: Uncomfortable truths, and the opportunities they present

CIN hands over the reins to experienced cycling industry exec Juansi Vivo who, in keeping with that headline, has some hard hitting points to make:

My name is Juansi Vivo, I’ve worked in the cycling industry since 2007, representing global brands including Cannondale, Orbea, and BMC, yet my wife (who owns an eBike) will happily tell you that she’ll never buy a bike from a bike shop.

If our industry is to truly put a dent in the world, this has to change.

Where do we start?

Our industry needs to look long and hard at the way we deliver a retail experience

Taking the largely sport and leisure-focused business as it currently is, for far too many, the store experience remains rooted in the ’90s. The frustrating thing is there are countless good examples of modern sports and lifestyle brands who deliver for women, and those new to the activity, in a way that a sizable percentage of retailers in cycling simply don’t.

That my wife will not go to a bike shop ever, to buy a bike, makes her a good example. Despite my involvement in the industry, making our industry familiar to her through association, she simply doesn’t feel welcome in bike shops. And she’s not alone. Like her, there’s a lot of people out there who will not go to a bike shop because they don’t feel part of it. They don’t feel welcome.

This is a major barrier we, as an industry, need to address; an open conversation we need to have.

Looking outside our industry bubble

When you look at the high-street retail experiences, if you secret shopped Lululemon and Sweaty Betty, or any of the yoga or CrossFit type lifestyle brands, there are great ideas to be utilised in cycle retail, in creating a shop space. CrossFit’s a great example, actually. On the face of it, it’s a super masculine, macho, discipline. However, as a sport, and a lifestyle pursuit, it’s been very, very good at engaging women, who’ve been welcomed into and encouraged to be part of the sport. Closer to home, triathlon has also aced the equal billing/equal media coverage, approach. Proof it definitely can be done.

What I see is that too many bike shops have chosen not to look at external examples of great retail, despite it being clear that these could be really beneficial to their business.

Conversely, I’ve already seen one auto industry-owned bicycle retail business winning a retail award. The warning signs are there for anyone looking.

When you go into a cycling retail environment, all too often it’s exclusively staffed by men, with the store merchandising showing images of men on bikes. Not a welcoming and inclusive image to present to prospective new customers.

When you check the changing rooms in your store, ask yourself if they are well lit, clean and tidy, providing a sense of privacy, conducive with trying on clothing? If you ask the question, many women will tell you that they do not feel, in a male staff dominated environment, like this is a comfortable space. In no other modern retail environment would this be an issue. Even discount retailer T.J Maxx (T.K Maxx in the UK) manages to deliver a basic, yet satisfactory, changing room space.

The whole thing is just super frustrating. We’re talking about retail basics.

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Where is real growth going to come from?

I’ll be blunt: Not cycling as sport.

We, the wider industry, need to accept that sports-focused rider numbers simply do not support substantial growth. We’re largely selling to the same pool of established customers. Real growth isn’t success when you’re acquiring customers from a competitor. We’re all fishing in the same pond.

Speaking with a number of experienced industry professionals, there is common consensus that performance and sports-focused brands will have to look for growth in the experiences & tourism sector if they are to break their evolution roof. Performance & sports brands are what they are – the equivalent of F1 and Moto GP-inspired product. Their growth is limited by this characterisation; products focused on the ‘lighter, stiffer, faster’ audience sector.

Sponsoring teams and hosting races isn’t going to deliver the growth we’re looking for, and need, to propel the entire industry forward. To make the comparison, F1 teams aren’t changing the world. EV manufacturers are (we can debate the true ‘impact’ of EV in more detail elsewhere).

Bike brands need to accept that they are responsible for establishing political and social conditions which support the sustained growth of a new customer base.

What about ‘mobility’, about ‘cycling as transport’?

For the cycling industry, ‘mobility’ is the future. It’s where massive untapped new customer potential can be found.

In corporate speak, this represents ‘fishing in the blue ocean’ (where genuinely new customers are to be found and pioneering businesses are setting the market, not competing against each other).

To unlock this opportunity, I’ll repeat what I said previously, ‘the cycling business, as an industry, needs to own the creating of conditions, political and social, which support and enable growth of cycling as transport’. This is a critical element. It’s why the auto industry lobbies governments and donates millions, unlocking billions in government funding, and, at the same time, influencing ongoing road building.

Mobility is going to rapidly become an automotive-focused conversation. So we’ll naturally want to look at the retail experience customers have at brand and franchise owned dealerships, both car and motorcycle-focused.

The automotive and the motorcycle industry have done their research. They’re aware that the audience for car buying is diverse. They know how big-ticket (high price point) purchasing decisions are made.

Important to point out here, I’m in no way saying that auto dealerships are perfect. Many in the auto space still struggle with making the experience feel warmer, less like order taking, form filling, money chasing. However, it is an industry which has worked hard to make anyone feel comfortable going to a car dealership.

In the auto industry, the bulk of customers drive a utilitarian vehicle (across budget, mid-price and premium brands), used to get from A-to-B, to do the shopping, to visit family and friends. Performance and sports products are a low volume niche within the wider, volume production, market.

In line with this, how do we the cycling industry welcome genuinely new ‘not a cyclist’ customers into our space, if we’re far from welcoming to those on the fringes of our traditional comfort zone – cycling as sport and leisure?

If, and it’s a big if, we manage to drive a sizable number of genuinely new customers to the doors of cycle shops, I’ve serious reservations about what kind of retail and customer experience currently awaits them. If in doubt, don’t ask me, ask my wife. She’s the person whose new business you’re aiming to secure. She’s the person you’re building the future retail and brand experiences around.

The cycling industry needs to look long and hard at the way it delivers a retail experience. Then decide if it wants to make the most of the shift to mobility, or do nothing, and let the auto and motorcycle industry take that business, win those new customers, make that money.

Whatever comes next, lets make that a conscious choice. Not a passive, by default, ‘we did more of the same and wondered why we lost out on millions in new business’ conversation 10 years from now.

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Is there any good news?

The encouraging thing for the cycling industry is that this ‘cycling as transport’ market is still in its infancy in the large majority of countries – some adapting more quickly than others. Critically, Paris has shown what political leadership, backed by societal will, can deliver.  Atlanta and other American cities are experimenting with building in cycling as transport infrastructure – the home of the car has cycling advocates at local government level.

This should speak loudly to us as an industry. There are advocates and partners outside of our industry waiting to form mutually beneficial relationships which shape the future of transport.

The fluid nature of new markets means there is room for experimentation, room to fail fast (as is often the mantra in the technology space) and learn from those mistakes, iterating toward the version of the product customers really value. Methodical testing of the retail experience is something all leading businesses do. Constant evolution is essential to capture, and maintain, market share. Future auto and motorcycle industry partners will tell you plenty about this. We just need to be of the mind to open the conversation, showing ourselves, as an industry, to be the right people to partner with.

Our future is 100% on us.