UK Bike Market Expanding 20% Per Year

LONDON, UK - Management consultancy Allegra Strategies, estimates the UK cycling market is growing by more than 20% per year. In Project Vélo, the UK’s first ever in-depth study of the cycling sector, Allegra estimates the industry to be worth in excess of GBP 1.5 billion (€ 1.8 bn), far larger than previous valuations.

Allegra Strategies is a London-based management consultancy specialising in retail and consumer lifestyle trends. Allegra has been producing leading edge research reports within the leisure sector for over 10 years. Allegra’s clients include Starbucks, McDonald’s, Tesco, Coca Cola, Shell and Samsung.

Allegra notes that the UK market is: “An almost perfect picture of growth: burgeoning bike and accessory sales, rising price points, Halfords selling more than 1 million bikes in the last year, leading retailers such as Tesco introducing ‘bike shops’ within its stores and growing packs of cyclists on Britain’s roads and sometimes footpaths."

"For many UK consumers, cycling is the new golf.”

Allegra predicts that this market is far from saturation and will see significant growth in the next three to five years, with an increasing influence of cycling on urban design. “In the last decade, London has experienced a 91% increase in the number of cycle journeys and with the new ‘Cycle Hire’ scheme due to launch in July 2010, this figure is set to rise even further.”

The management consultancy also claims that continued rapid growth of this industry is likely to be hindered by a number of strategic issues. “Road safety and helmet wearing, bike crime and insurance and a lack of cycling infrastructure are just some of the potential market inhibitors. Ever more refined consumer, product segmentation and intensifying competition will further add complexity to this market.”

To find out how those issues will affect the industry, Allegra Strategies invites industry executives and UK consumers to take part in the largest study on cycling ever undertaken on the UK cycling sector. For that visit www.projectvelo.co.uk. Allegra Strategies will release Project Vélo this summer.