Future, the publisher of Cyclingnews and Cycling Weekly, has released its latest figures with Giro, Specialized and Garmin the most-clicked brands through the first half of 2024
Giro keeps hold of the top spot it also held for clicks in the second half of 2023, while Specialized and Garmin replace Castelli and Rapha on the podium.
According to the publisher, clicks to these brands and the performance of buying guides for products such as bike locks, helmets and lights, resulted in 153,000 transactions in the first six months of 2024 – an increase of 20% year-over-year.
“So far this year, we’ve driven more transactions and sales than for the same period during the ‘peak cycling’ phase of the pandemic,” said Future’s content director for cycling, Rob Spedding.
Consumer purchases made via Future Cycling affiliate links increased by 25% over the same six month period of 2023, with Cycling Weekly recording its highest ever e-commerce sales and revenues in June 2024, beating the previous best month of June 2021 by 22%.
Future’s proprietary affiliate engine, Hawk, allows it to send potential customers to cycling retailers every month as a revenue earning strategy.
This sees them promoting other company’s products and receiving a commission for every sale that is made, if the transaction originated from their site.
“The e-commerce success of our brands is a sure sign that our audience has an incredibly strong appetite for our clients products,” added Future’s cycling advertising director, Jess Hamer.
“This in turn means that Future cycling is perfectly placed to amplify our commercial partners’ messaging.”
Despite these “pleasing” results, Spedding insists the company won’t be resting on its laurels as the cycling market recovery is “far from complete”.
He said: “We’ve recently completed our second Bike Track Pulse 2024 survey into cyclists’ buying intent and, following some promising signs in our initial survey, we have seen a slight downturn in consumer confidence.
“The latest responses to Bike Track Pulse indicate that the intent to purchase big-ticket items has softened slightly in both the US and UK. In particular the proportion of respondents who tell us they plan to purchase mountain bikes – both electric and non-powered – has decreased markedly.
“However, among visitors to Future’s cycling websites we did discover that half still expect to spend over £500 on cycling products in the next twelve months, with 33% planning to spend more than £1,000, and 17% planning to spend more than £2,000 so there is still opportunity and reason for optimism.”
Spedding remains confident that with a renewed focus on “market leading buying advice and reviews content” Future will continue to support its partners and beat last year’s result of driving more than £13 million in sales.
The 10 most clicked cycling brands in January to June 2024
- Giro
- Specialized
- Garmin
- Wahoo
- Shimano
- Topeak
- Rapha
- Endura
- Trek
- Castelli
