Halfords has issued a trading update which appears to show that the cost of living is taking its toll on its cycling business. Overall, cycling sales …

By stwhannah

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Halfords Bike Sales Reflect Cost Of Living Squeeze

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Our own brand Premium Adult bikes performed well, up +20%, as did E-bikes growing over
+100%.
▪ Our online performance cycling business “Tredz” also performed very well, up +47%.

People buying bikes to commute on?
Maybe buying a hobby they can do from home or not having to pay a season ticket / access fee / cost each weekend?

Halfords own Tredz….

Everyday is a school day

Maybe buying a hobby they can do from home or not having to pay a season ticket / access fee / cost each weekend?

Unless they’re downgrading from a swanky golf club then it’s still a very expensive hobby.

Interesting that it’s still going up at all though, I’d have thought the COVID wave of sales would have well and truly passed by now. So being up at all relative to the last couple of years is a big deal. But maybe that’s what’s being shown in the lower range bikes whereas the higher end is just business as normal. And it just shows how niche high end bikes are, if a 47% increase in sales doesn’t even offset single digit drops in lower end stuff.

The higher end would also include cycle2work as well.

Anecdotally, those Voodoo Brizango Carbon’s have been out of stock for a long time, so they’re obviously selling more bikes than anticipated or can supply.

I think a big problem in the bike industry is that for the last 3 years or longer, bikes got so dam good at what they do so people do not feel the need to replace them. I’m not saying everyone being skint isn’t a factor but me and pretty much everyone I ride with are not in a rush to go new, as they love the bike they past bought.

whereas the higher end is just business as normal. And it just shows how niche high end bikes are, if a 47% increase in sales doesn’t even offset single digit drops in lower end stuff.

I think (as discussed before on here) there is a decent segment of society who’ve been totally unaffected by the cost of living crisis and are carrying on buying luxury everything without a second thought.
Based on some of the road bikes i’ve seen out on club rides there are still plenty of people spending £5k+ on a bike to ride on Saturday mornings.
Apparently Bentley had a record year last year – which tells you all you need to know.

We went on holiday to Rome the week before Christmas – it was packed with tourists, and the high-end shopping districts seemed to be doing a roaring trade.

Yet if you look at the previous years’ Q3 reports, 2021 shows a 35% increase in cycling revenue for that quarter – and almost 50% increase in revenue for the year to that point.

So how significant is a 20%-odd drop now?

More stats required, I’d say.

Reports here if anyone wants a rummage.

2020/2021 were blip years, everyone wanted a bike, supply issues, costs rises etc
probably need to look at like for like over the last decade to see where the trend is going.

as @freeagent points out this cost of living crisis isnt impacting everyone, it seems to me to be media led, they are dragging out people who have struggled for years, granted disposal income is reducing due to higher bills, housing/mortgage/rent heating and food bills, but I’m not seeing a slow down in motorway traffic, or popular bars and restaurants. i was at hathrow and manchester airports mid december both Rammed

i expected more Q1 failures when the rents come due, but no unexpected major casualties so far.
the recruitment agents are still pestering me on linkedin with jobs,

Agreed – they need to publish LFL sales vs 2019.