The Cycle Show organising team has today announced the addition of a trade day to its schedule in June. Following a recent reshuffle of dates, the show is now due to run from the 24th-27th June 2021.
‘The show which is taking place at one of London’s most iconic venues, Alexandra Palace, will include the UK’s first dedicated electric bike show, the inaugural London eBike Festival in partnership with Shimano Steps.’
Show organiser Chris Holman said “Given the cancellation of the early year trade events in 2021, we consulted with the confirmed exhibitors to get their views on reinstating a trade day at the Cycle Show. The consensus to do so was very positive; so we will be opening the show a day early for the trade on Thursday 24th June.
“Next year is going to see a major resetting period with stocks arriving at different times than usually scheduled. Even if products have been launched digitally to the trade there will have been few opportunities for dealers to see them first-hand and to meet with brand experts.
“Currently there are no plans to offer a trade day beyond next year, but we will survey exhibitors and visitors after the show to see if there is a need to offer it again in some capacity.
“One of the USPs of the venue is the exterior parkland and the opportunity to properly demo bikes on the hill, so there will be further discussions with exhibitors to gauge the levels of interest in opening the tracks a day earlier. An additional charge to brands wishing to participate may be levied to do that, but we don’t anticipate any other costs for taking part in the trade day.”
The organisers also confirmed that… ‘the London eBike Festival powered by Shimano Steps is now fully booked.’
Holman pointed out that this didn’t mean more e-bike brands weren’t welcome however. He said “The growth in interest in electric bikes is showing no signs of waning and it’s great to have so many quality brands on the floor plan. There will be plenty of e-bikes to see throughout the rest of the show and electric bike companies can still exhibit in the main Cycle Show hall.”
The Trade Day will be free to attend, but strictly for IBDs and other cycle retailers, plus members of the press only. Previous incarnations of the trade day at the NEC in Birmingham allowed other members of the trade to attend, but this will not be extended for the Alexandra Palace show.
All trade registrations will be subject to approval in the same way as the annual house shows operate. Trade applications open in early 2021.
Exhibitors already confirmed to attend include: Shimano Steps, Bosch e-Bike Systems, Trek, Lezyne, Specialized, Canyon, Ribble, Raleigh, Lapierre, Haibike, Kinesis, Cannondale, Riese & Muller, VanMoof, Surly, Swift Carbon, Ridgeback, SRAM, and GoCycle amongst others.
Alongside the organisation of the shows, the event team has undertaken a recent research project into consumer cycling habits across the Immediate portfolio of digital titles. Over 4,600 people completed the survey and the summary document of this research will be available for all brands exhibiting at next year’s shows. Research and insight covers a range of results from consumer buying habits, electric bike ownership interests, consumer participation, consumer holiday habits and much more.
Close to 8.5% of respondents reportedly said they were considering buying an electric bike in the next 12 months; 77% of those were non-enthusiast cyclists looking for a multi-purpose/leisure style bike.
While price was the key factor when first considering buying an electric bike, that was overtaken by weight of the bike and battery capacity becoming important considerations at the time of purchase.
Demos of electric bikes are reportedly key to the buying process, with 64% of buyers having a test ride before purchasing.
There was good news for IBDs from the research, with 75% of potential customers saying their local bike shop was the first choice for them when considering buying an electric bike. Less than 0.5% felt that bike shops were intimidating places to go into to find information about buying.
www.cycleshow.co.uk
www.londonebikefestival.co.uk
