MICROMOBILITY
TVS acquired EBCO in April 2022
with Swiss e-Mobility Group - a very high quality engineered product which is very successful in the DACH region,” said Mishra
“When looking at how we could expand in the UK, we came across EBCO. At that point in time, EBCO had been in business for many years but was struggling to expand beyond the UK.
“If you have a brand within our business, we can bring this opportunity across the board in other geographies and look to expand our portfolio in the UK also.” EBCO stood out to the TVS Group due to its market position, described by Mishra as very different from others. “EBCO has a portfolio that is very clear - a premium value range of products for city riding,” he said. “EBCO is a well-known brand in the UK which we can grow further using our expansion and scale up strategies. “The product portfolio is very apt for a particular segment and our customers find it attractive for this market. It is a very thoughtful design portfolio being updated naturally.”
EBCO Changes As many will know, the investment in EBCO saw a complete relaunch of the brand. “We looked at the fundamental positioning of the company
to understand what is required to achieve our long-term vision for EBCO,” said Mishra. “We then looked to create a blueprint to achieve that vision within a time frame. “After speaking with Rick and Paul (Stanforth, founders of EBCO), we thought the best way forward was to start everything from scratch.” One of the most noticeable elements of the relaunch was the simplification of its product range. Now EBCO offers products across three clear categories: Urban, Adventure and Street.
36 | December 2023
“As I mentioned earlier, we don’t see e-bikes just as an extension of the bike industry,” said Mishra. “We looked at how we can help people understand what the electric bike industry is and how we communicate and bring into the market from our downstream business activities. “So we created a product portfolio which is extremely suitable for the market.” As well as streamlining the product offering, EBCO built a team with around 80 to 100 years of combined experience in the bike industry. “We also have a sales and service team because we fundamentally believe that we cannot sell a
product which is not service ready,” said Mishra. “So we built that first before we started selling any products. We also have a headquarter team for brand development and product planning “This is then all integrated so we can maintain a fresh outlook on how the business operates.”
2024 and beyond EBCO relaunched in August, so 2024 will be the brand’s first full season since the refresh. Mishra sees this as a chance to grow and scale from a partnership perspective, develop the downstream business, build the brand further, and improve the customer experience.
All of this has been planned in a vision document. A key focus for EBCO next year is strong partnerships with IBDs. “We will bring the digital approach in terms of reaching
out to the customer too, but we are building a combination of that mechanism where we partner with the dealers,” said Mishra “We promote the demand and then we also create an opportunity for them to interact with the customer and ensure the servicing is being done. “Partnerships are important. We are not trying to see a ‘winner takes all’ kind of approach.. We are trying to see the industry ecosystem grow as a whole.” It’s clear that TVS has big plans for EBCO, the UK
market and beyond, but the motivation remains the same as when T. V. Sundram Iyengar started that humble bus service - to make the lives of everyday people easier. “We really want people to understand how valuable the
bicycle is as a mobility platform,” said Mishra “Industry leaders and thought leaders all have a common goal and that is to see people adopting more electric mobility as part of their day-to-day life.”
www.bikebiz.com
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