BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The Bicycle Association (BA) has released its 2021 cycling impact report, ‘Is There Growth Beyond the Boom?’
The report is driven by the latest BA Market Data Service numbers, gathered from monthly retail sales data from tills across the country, and details how the UK cycling market soared to new heights during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The road was tougher to navigate in 2021 however, as evolving dynamics of supply and demand played out across the industry. 2021 was up 34% vs 2019, with strong double-digit value growth seen across all categories, but the total number of bicycles sold in 2021 was down vs 2019.
“Our data proves that if you remove half the cars, vans and lorries from our roads, there is a very significant nascent demand for cycling,” said Steve Garidis, BA executive director. “It also proves that without significant policy intervention to correct the car-centric, heavy-traffic status quo, cycling growth will be held back in the UK.”
Simon Irons, BA Market Data Service director, added: “The BA has seen a boom in interest from the financial sector, with close attention paid to trends, mergers and acquisitions. This sector will continue to generate investor interest, and we are confident that cycling will see significant growth in years to come.”
The report was produced using data from the BA’s Market Data Service, powered by Sports Marketing Surveys, a UK-wide, monthly collation of sales data direct from retailers across the country, covering over two-thirds of the UK cycling market.
‘Is There Growth Beyond the Boom: UK Cycling Market Report 2021’ is a 58-page report providing a detailed analysis of cycling industry sales and growth during the calendar year 2021. It integrates the BA’s sales data with wider data sets, from weather patterns to the National Travel Survey, to provide a credible, comprehensive analysis of the UK market.
The 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.
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 draws data from over 70% of the UK cycling market and is powered by Sports Marketing Surveys, the BA’s data partner. The database now comprises over 1,000,000 cycling products with history back to January 2018, and can help businesses understand UK cycling market trends and identify growth opportunities as well as support the BA’s advocacy programme.
