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The Bicycle Association (BA) has released its 2022 half-year report: A Bumpier Ride: Challenges and Prospects in the UK Cycling Market.
The report, based on exclusive BA Market Data Service (MDS) figures, covers the calendar year up to date and includes figures from more than 70% of the UK cycling industry.
The report was produced using data from the BA’s Market Data Service (MDS), powered by Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS), a UK wide, monthly collation of sales data direct from retailers across the country.
A Bumpier Ride: Challenges and Prospects in the UK Cycling Market is a 55-page report providing detailed analysis of cycling industry sales and growth during the first half of the calendar year 2022. It integrates the BA’s sales data with wider data sets, from weather patterns to the National Travel Survey, to provide a comprehensive analysis of the UK market.
This report is one of only a few that the BA makes available beyond its membership, and it is released to provide a definitive picture of what is happening in the UK market.
BA MDS director Simon Irons said: “Two years on from the biggest cycling market boom in recent history, and with the backdrop of higher cycling levels, the BA’s half year 2022 report shows how the cycling market is coping with the challenges of rising inflation and declining consumer confidence.
“It’s certainly been a challenging year but there are bright spots and many reasons to be optimistic for the long term.”
The post-boom dip in demand, which began in May 2021, is colliding with an escalating cost-of-living crisis, said the report. Total market volume and value versus the first half of 2021 have declined by 27% and 25%, respectively.
Overall market value for the first half of 2022 remained 17% higher than in 2019. The key factors sustaining value growth have been a rise in average prices, the growing proportion of e-bikes in the overall sales mix, and a relatively resilient performance in the Specialist segment of the market, compared to the Generalist segment.
The BA forecasts the total market value for 2022 will be £1.9 billion, 19% ahead of 2019.
E-bike volume sales during the first half of 2022 are almost double the pre-Covid period. Overall growth has stalled, although sales of e-bikes in the Generalist market segment have performed better than Specialist sales during the first half of 2022. This is driven by an influx of lower-priced e-bikes, said the BA, and product shortages at the premium end.
Electric cargo bikes are also an emerging product category. Volume sales during the 12 months ending June 2022 increased by 40%, compared with July 2020-June 2021. Hybrid bikes and kids’ bikes have lost market share versus 2019.
To purchase the report, please contact Emma Catt at emma@bicycleassociation.org.uk or +44 (0) 203 857 4411.
The BA’s Market Data Service is powered by Sports Marketing Surveys, the BA’s data partner. The MDS database now comprises over one million cycling products with history back to January 2018.
