Sigma Sports’ sales data provides detailed snapshot of Covid-19 crisis ‘bike boom’

In tandem with announcing a new e-Commerce development, Sigma Sports has shared some of the eye-watering sales data attached to the Covid-19.

Most interesting of all, a rise in new customers shopping with the business rose sharply, prompting the retail giant to ship 62% more bikes both inside the UK and abroad year-on-year. Encouragingly, and lending weight to the notion that new cyclist numbers are swelling, it was sales in the low to mid-tier that rose sharpest. Entry-level bike sales jumped 677%, while mid-tier sales rose 130%.

By category the demand for hybrid bikes rose noticeably, with men’s bikes marginally outpaced by women’s demand up 90 and 93%, respectively.

Off road bikes are no less affected as families look to take to the trails and towpaths in a bid to get some exercise. The appeal of trails is demonstrated by increased sales in the off-road category, with men’s mountain bike sales up by 82% and unisex gravel bike sales up by 77%, reports Sigma.

With the new e-Commerce in place, a sharpened ability to track the fine detail of sales data has given the retailer the ability to plot trends faster. As the Covid-19 crisis began, it appeared to be turbo trainer sales that would lead the charge, with Government advice initially stricter than it appears now.

The early days of the crisis saw an unprecedented surge in sales of indoor trainers with a week-on-week increase by 440%. Year-on-year sales in this category saw an increase by 997% in March; a trend that continued in the month of April by a staggering 1,150%.

In news that may terrify mechanics across the country, sales data shows that home maintenance spiked too, with tools and associated maintenance gear up 255% and 124%, respectively.

The new e-Commerce

Sigma Sports’ updated site design offers simplified navigation menus and checkout as well as detailed product gallery features. In addition, shoppers will have the chance to speak with expert store staff through live chat and video consultations, bringing Sigma Sports’ renowned in-store customer service online. The retailer is one of many to introduce this service lately, something that is bound to become more popular with social distancing measures in place.

Earlier this year the business refitted its Hampton Wick flagship store, as well as opening an Oakham store in response to encouraging physical retail sales.

Sigma Sports Managing Director, Ian Whittingham says: “After several months of hard work, we are delighted to introduce the new sigmasports.com. Our goal from the outset was to create a user-friendly browsing experience that is easy to navigate for our valued customers. Like many, we have had to adapt to the current situation across the business with great flexibility. Despite the challenges of closing our store over recent weeks, we are proud to still be bringing the best and latest product to the market and initiating new ways to keep our community engaged through digital efforts. With our events postponed for the foreseeable future, we keep our social media channels active as ever and have just launched a weekly podcast series called ‘Matt Stephens Unplugged’, hosted by the former professional road racing cyclist and Sigma Sports ambassador. We are focused on delivering the same quality of customer service and unrivalled knowledge we are renowned for in-store to new and existing customers online. We hope to see many on our regular organised rides and runs and at our store events when things return to some sort of normal.”