Issue 72 | January 2012
EDITORIAL
NEWS 4-10 MYSTERY SHOPPER
SPONSORED BY FOCUS ON…
Madison gets fully clothed, happy campers for York Cycle Show, Future reveals new Hub and much more
DUE TO THE quirks of publishing, I’m writing this column before I’ve even started my Christmas shopping. For you, all the presents have been unwrapped and you’ll have munched all the mince pies you can possibly stomach, while I’ve yet to get my chops around a brussel sprout (hurrah). What you probably will also be doing ‘round about now is ruminating on the
year ahead and what it will hold. I’m not talking about how long the inevitably temporary New Year resolutions will last, but how, in fact, your bicycle business will fare over the next 12 months.
Our undercover reporter makes a nuisance of himself in the Corby area
ONLINE MARKETPLACE 2012 PREDICTIONS 17
Expenses-paid trips to Jamaica? The trade gives us their (realistic) expectations for 2012
OUTDOORS Jack Wolfskin opens a new store in the UK, Helly Hansen goes off piste and Speedo reveals new swim tech
CORE BIKE GUIDE 50 CLEANERS, TOOLS & MORE ABUS REVEALED
14 27
With the rise of online marketplaces adding another route to market, BikeBiz interviews the major players to see how bike retailers can benefit...
12
Germany-based Abus enlists BikeBiz to try and break into several bicycle locks
Depending on who you talk to, 2011 was a bit of a mixed
bag. Cycle to Work was tweaked, leading to a few nervous moments, but seemed to make a decent recovery in the end. Others say bikes were hard to shift, but sales of accessories were through the roof and more than made up for it. But what everybody I’ve spoken to seems to agree on, or
admit, was that 2011 was the year that the tough economic climate finally made some impact on the trade. How big an impact has it made? As 2011 financials and statistics filter in
2011 seems to have been the year that tough economic conditions finally hit the trade. Nevertheless, 2012 promises plenty of reasons to be cheerful.
as the months go by we’ll have a more accurate picture, but I’m willing to predict that the impact hasn’t been as significant as on the rest of the increasingly brittle High Street.
I hope you’ll forgive me for being unashamedly upbeat,
but from where I’m standing, there’s plenty of good stuff ahead for the trade. The event of 2012 will undoubtedly be the Olympics, and if we have a few sunny months and maybe some success on the track, road and the courses, who knows how many will be inspired to dust off their cycling skills? Or encourage parents to nurture their little tykes as potential Olympic candidates for the future? It’s true that the EU is in a state of flux, certainly at time
30 MOBILE RETAIL PEOPLE NEW PRODUCTS 56
Half the adult population has a smartphone. Is your website geared up to take advantage?
52
British Cycling, Avocet, Snow and Rock, Dahon Polar and Vos all have people news this month
58
Velocite, BBB, Wildoo, Endura, Clarks and Federal are among the goodies this month...
SPOKESMAN 86
‘Thou shalt not buy online’ may not have been in the Bible, but it did appear in the Velomanti blog
EVENTS 72 OFF THE RECORD 84 NUMBER CRUNCHING 82 LETTERS SPONSORED BY 61 68
Are retailers selling the benefits of cheap travel by bicycle? asks one BikeBiz reader...
of writing, but at least we can be sure that HMRC won’t want to change Cycle to Work again. Surely? But it’s not just me who’s mainly chipper about 2012.
BikeBiz asked the industry for how they thought this year will pan out (on pages 14 and 15) and one of the key quotes was, for me, from someone who has been in the industry for far longer than I – two decades in fact (back while I was still in short trousers). He said that it is currently the most exciting time for the bicycle industry in the last 20 years, and that is not something I’m about to argue with.
Jonathon Harker, Editor
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88