Trek buys 21 stores as retail landscape continues to change
It has been reported that Trek Bicycle Corporation has purchased 21 Orlando, Florida-based stores which make up the David’s World Cycle group.
Bizjournals.com reports that an April 8th email from owners David and Yvette Sanborn, to customers, confirmed the transaction, with the David’s World Cycle’s website also addressing their customers directly.
For a global cycling industry audience the interest is in the speed and volume of retailer acquisitions being made by Trek, and others now active in the sector.
From January 2021 onward it is estimated that the Wisconsin US headquartered bicycle brand has acquired at least 40 shops (typically through acquisition of multi location businesses), to which the David’s World Cycle’s purchase adds an additional 21 stores.
Commenting on brand level competition, BRAIN highlighted that, “Since many of those purchases were shops that were formerly Specialized dealers, it seems unavoidable to conclude that Trek purchases of retail businesses hit Specialized’s dealer numbers especially hard.”
A wider trend
As the industry tracks market activity, a second element should also be mentioned; the purchase, by PON Group, of 12 bike shop business, Mike’s Bikes.
PON Group, already a major presence in the industry, now a giant, following the $810mn purchase of Dorrel Sports, has a portfolio (which) comprises more than 15 bike brands, including Cervélo, FOCUS, Santa Cruz, Kalkhoff, and Cannondale, with a global market presence, including the Netherlands, Germany, the US, Canada, China, Taiwan, the UK, Hong Kong, Australia, and Brazil.
The third element of this retailer purchasing activity introduces auto distributors to the conversation. PON – made up of a group spanning 5 industry sectors – including auto, are not the only players here.
In Belgium D’Ieteren Automotive – distributor of Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, Škoda, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Rimac, Cupra and Porsche vehicles in Belgium, with a market share of more than 23% and 1.2 million vehicles on the road – announced its entry into the bicycle retail sector, with the business trading as Lucien.
Having acquired 9 stores, via purchase of 2 established cycling retail businesses, D’Ieteren Automotive launched Lucien as a retail brand, with the aim, “to expand further, through acquiring of stores in the most important cities in the country, so as to have a Belgian wide footprint within a 5 year timeframe.”
Naturally enough this activity has brought a forth element – investors – into play, enticed by big 4 consulting firms like Deloitte forecasting “Between 2020 and 2023, more than 130 million e-bikes are expected to be sold.”
With cycling as transport to the fore, IAA Mobility 2021 can certainly be seen as a landmark event, where auto makers publicly championed the ‘mobility’ moniker – embracing e-mobility in all it’s forms – collectively, for the first time. The pace of change will only accelerate from here, and this will reflect in the way products are sold, through retailers, and Direct2Consumer.
Bike brands, cycling product distributors, auto industry distributors and manufacturers, and investors; all active in the cycling marketplace. That’s quite a list!
