Holland: e-Bikes Climbing to 26% Market Share

It’s meanwhile safe to say that e-Bikes are a genuine trend in Holland. In the past years electric bicycles have become so popular here that even car brands are nowadays using them as incentives in order to sell their 4-wheelers. In case the Netherlands is setting the trend for the whole of Europe (and who is denying that?) then the bike sector is in for a treat as in The Netherlands e-Bikes now count for 26% of all the money dealers make with selling new bicycles.

“With e-Bikes a market opened up that is not to be looked upon in terms of volume as with regular bikes; it’s about revenue and profit.” This is said by the spokesperson of GfK RetailTracking that with its retailpanel is able to pinpoint exactly how many e-Bikes were sold in Holland last year through the various distribution channels.

Average sales price

That number stood at 124,250. A vast majority of about 80% were sold through dealers at an average sales price of € 1,945. No other distribution channel in The Netherlands is able to sell e-Bikes for such prices. Dutch department stores as V&D or Hema sell electric bikes for prices just below € 1,000. DIY stores however can only sell them for about half that amount (€ 528).

Of the total of 124,250 e-Bikes sold last year in Holland 97,800 were sold through dealers. Here they accounted for 17% of the total turnover. But despite freezing temperatures during the first two months of 2009, during which the sale of regular bicycles dropped with 21% when compared with the same period in 2008; sale of e-Bikes climbed further.

The harsh winter couldn’t stop the growing demand which made that during the first two months of 2009 dealers recorded a 26% share in turnover made with e-Bikes.

“Looking at all this it is remarkable that about 20% of all dealers in Holland are still not selling electric bicycles. They miss out on about € 135,000 in turnover which is on average what a dealer is per year now making with e-Bikes,” says the GfK RetailTracking spokesperson in one of the recent editions of the Dutch Dealer Magazine, Tweewieler.

On the current bestsellers in e-Bikes, GfK RetailTracking says: “At dealer level about half of all sales is done with the models from Sparta and Batavus. About one third is made with Gazelle and Giant while at fifth place stands Koga-Miyata.”

“Price is not an issue for consumers when shopping for an e-Bike,” continues GfK RetailTracking in  Tweewieler. “Looking at the prices for e-Bikes at Sparta, Batavus, Gazelle, Giant and Koga, dealers tend to include cheap private labels in their range. However, they should consider the fact that consumers don’t shop for low prices at dealers. Instead they look for advice, service and quality.”

e-Bikes in Bike Europe’s May edition:

• EPAC standard coming into force
• TranzX e-Bikes & drive systems factory profiled
• Lithium-Ion and Lithium Polymer batteries
• India’s e-Vehicle market capacity
• New model launches