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Bradley’s Wiggins’ success in the Tour de France has preceeded a surge in new employers looking to offer cycle to work to employees via provider Cyclescheme.
Cyclescheme, which operates its scheme via a network of over 1,850 independent dealers, saw it’s highest number of employer sign ups for the year to date, in the week immediately following Wiggins’ victory. This amounted to a 26 per cent improvement on the previous highest week, back in March, which signaled the start of the cycling season.
Cyclescheme’s head of commercial operations Daniel Gillborn said he believed the sales surge was down to the ‘Wiggo effect’.
He said: “The Tour de France has always been a major event in the cycling calendar, but Bradley’s win looks like it has been a welcome catalyst for a new group of workers to choose two wheels to get them to work. Winners, it seems, are good for business and we’re hoping for plenty more during the next ten days.”
The ‘Wiggo effect’ has been a much discussed point. Visa has reported a 6.3 per cent increase in bike shop spending following the TdF win, while the ACT has reported a rise in searches on its bike shop finder (more on both of those stories here) while Evans Cycles said it has seen the Tour de France have a positive impact on sales – as has Halfords. Multi-sports tour operator Sports Tour International has reported a boost in sales, while even non-trade sites have also reported a post-TdF rise in bike searches. Regardless of whether you’re convinced that British success has any immediate effect on trade, the TdF – and the London 2012 Olympics – have at the very least placed bikes under the noses of millions of British TV watchers this summer.
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