Electric Bike Sales Losing Momentum in Leading European Pedelec Market

AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands – During the first six months of 2010 sales of electric bikes in the leading European market for such bicycles, The Netherlands, dropped by 1%. The drop indicates that the e-Bike trend is losing momentum now that there are more than 600,000 electrically-assisted bicycles in the Netherlands.

According to a market survey held by GfK Marketing Services Benelux and published by the Dutch industry association RAI Vereniging and Dutch dealer organization BOVAG, the turnover made with e-Bike sales increased with 1% in the first half of the year. Comparing the outcome of the 2010 survey with the results from the same survey of 2009; e-Bike sales in the Netherlands stood at 103,950 units.

During the first six months of 2009 a total of 105,000 electric bicycles were sold; 75,000 through bike dealers and 30,000 via retail chains like Halfords, supermarkets and Do-It-Yourself stores. During the whole year of 2009 a total of 153,000 e-Bikes were sold in the Netherlands. Last year one out of every eight bicycles sold was an e-Bike which is on average three times more expensive than a regular bicycle.
 
The dealer channel performed outstandingly well in e-Bike sales during the first half of this year. According to the RAI association; dealers managed to sell 8% more electric bikes compared to the same period in 2009 while their turnover increased by 11%. However, for regular bicycles the dealer channel saw its market share drop with a big 5% to an all time low of 65%. Dealers saw their sales in city & trekking bikes as well as in all other categories drop by 14% in volume and 6% in turnover.