First look at Best Buy’s electric bike range

Following the news that US retail giant Best Buy is coming to the UK and stocking electric bikes, BikeBiz has been given an early look at how the store will be merchandising its electric range.

We’ve got shots from the new store here, here, here and here.

UPDATE: Best Buy told BikeBiz about its plans to grow the UK e-bike market here.

Set in a ‘GreenTech’ area, electric bikes are set alongside scooters and an electric car. In-store displays provide a brief guide to the e-bike sector, listing reasons to buy including savings on fuel, parking and bus fares, and having a positive environmental impact.

The store is also pitching electric bikes as an ideal way to ‘get back into cycling’, and as a cheaper alternative to a second car.

The new store opens at the end of this week and will be followed by five more Best Buy shops before winter this year. For more, click here.

The UK cycle trade has already been debating Best Buy’s potential impact on the industry on the BikeBiz.com forum.

Some commentators have questioned whether Best Buy’s e-bike offering will prove a threat to IBDs also in the electric bike sector. Other Forum users have pointed out that the move is likely to give the market a further boost, further to a number of announcements made by bike firms entering the electric bike market.

Some of those recent announcements include Zyro’s move into the electric bike sector, and Halfords‘ increased e-bike offering.