Double Digit Drop in (e)Bike Sales in Holland Due to Wet Summer

AMSTELVEEN, the Netherlands – Last June bike sales in the Netherlands dropped a dramatic 23%. This figure represents the complete market including online and department store sales. Dealers took an even bigger blow!

Never before such a big drop in the sale of new bicycles was recorded in Holland as last June. It is said that weather conditions are the main reason for the huge drop. After a sunny spring summer started in June with lots of rain and cloudy conditions.

These conditions spurred bike sales at dealers to drop with a big 26%, according to the statistics of market researcher Gfk Retail and Technology Benelux BV. These statistics are considered accurate and reliable as they are derived from cash register entries.

Even the trendy electric bikes couldn’t prevent the big drop this time as they too became victim of the rainy and cold weather in June. The sale of this bike category didn’t drop as hard as other models, but was with a decline of 19% still very, very considerable.

At the end of July held press conference on the mid-year results of Accell Group NB, CEO René Takens said about the big drop in June sales: “Our stock levels for complete bikes are high. What remained unsold in June is still in our warehouses. We are keeping bikes in stock these days as dealers are reluctant in ordering as they try to keep their stocks low.”

As in July weather conditions didn’t improve in the Netherlands as well as a big part of Europe, stock levels must have remained high. It will undoubtedly bring about lots of clearing-actions for MY 2011 models coming fall. Unless of course summer really comes in a big part of Europe.