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Local cycle shops weather economic storm

15 Jan 2009

Latest figures from the Association of Cycle Traders and their business support providers ActSmart have shown local independent cycle retailers are proving resilient in the current tough retail market.

Specialist local cycle shops have witnessed like for like sales growth of 5% since the severe economic downturn in September, making cycling as popular as food and drink.

Whilst most retailers - apart from the supermarkets - report declining sales, the last 4 months of 2008 remained buoyant for the specialist cycle retail sector.

This result has been achieved without significant discounting and margin erosion, unlike leading high street retailers. In fact independent cycle retailers have been forced to increase prices over the past several months as the costs of raw materials and deteriorating exchange rates have impacted upon bicycle imports.

Fact File:

• Specialist retail sector core sales excluding Retail Finance and Cycle to Work Schemes
• September core business increased like for like 25% vs. 2007
• October sales decreased by (5.5%)
• November sales decreased by (7.3%)
• December sales increased by 0.9%
• September - December core business increased like for like 3.6%
• Total annual specialist cycle retail sales growth for 2008 is estimated at 6.8%
• Retail Finance (0% interest) sales increased by more than 20% in 2008
• Cycle to Work scheme sales increased by in excess of 100% in 2008

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