Overview of the Slovakian Bicycle Market

It’s fair to say that the bicycle market hasn't been the most fruitful of late and there was a growing fear of even more decline until the release of the 2014 statistics. After three consecutive years of a reduction in the amount of bicycles being produced, the 2014 figures came as a welcome boost as a 5% increase was experienced; the first increase in production since 2010.

Production

Since the heights of the turn of the millennium where 14.5 million units were produced, the market has been steadily declining to 11.3 million units as was announced last year. However, this 5% increase means that nearly 12 million units were produced in 2014; still nowhere near the year 2000 but the highest since 2010.

With this in mind, it’s fair to say that we saw quite a bit of change from 2013-2014. Germany, the second largest producer of bicycles in Europe, saw their market share fall as did Portugal and France. So who were the big winners of the year? Romania’s market share rose by 3 points to 7%, Hungary jumped above Spain in the rankings and Slovakia also managed to increase their national production.

In 2013, Slovakia produced 209,000 units over the course of the 12 months which meant that they had a market share of 1.84%. Although their market share hasn't changed too much, production numbers did increase which is impressive considering some countries struggled including Germany who experienced a decrease in bicycle units produced. Currently, Slovakia finds itself in a comfortable position in the production charts as they are some way off competing with Lithuania who produced 80,000 units more but also well ahead of Austria who produced 70,000 units less. It seems as though they still have some way to go to catch up with Lithuania but an increase in production from one year to the next can only be a positive way to start.

It was also promising news for Slovakia when it comes to ‘bicycle parts and accessories’ as they increased their total production here too. Although they fell behind Spain and Bulgaria in the rankings, production stood at €9 million in 2013 but rose to €10 million just 12 months later which again can only be a positive place to start. Many countries struggled over the 12 months to increase both of these figures but Slovakia seems to have found the formula which has led to them to now having a 1% market share.

Sales

Much like production, sales of bicycles has also steadily fallen since a high in 2007 but this was brought to an end in 2013 and the improvement continued into 2014. 2013 saw the first year of positive growth for three years as sales increased by 0.31%; a growth that could easily be seen as a lucky figure but not quite ‘real’ growth. However, 2014 saw an increase of 2.3% and increased units sold into the 20,000s for the first time since 2011.

It was Germany who led the way once more with over 4 million sales followed by Great Britain with 3.6 million sales and France at just under 3 million. As things stand, Slovakia sold just 38,000 units in 2014 which shows that there is a real intent for the country to focus on the production of bicycles rather than the selling side of things. This seems to be going well as we have already seen an increase in all the figures when it comes to production.

The Netherlands remains the most expensive country to buy a bicycle with each unit coming in at €844 with Germany and Sweden rounding off the top three. Surprisingly, Great Britain and France are only 10th and 12th respectively in the average price rankings who seem to be adopting a completely different approach to those around them at the very top of the selling charts. The average price of a bicycle in Slovakia rose significantly from €110 to €196 which compensated for the reduction in sales slightly.

In General

The increase in production in Slovakia seems to be having a positive effect on the economy also as over 5% more people are working in the bicycle industry when compared to 2013. Slovakia are surprisingly still ahead of one of the biggest sellers in the shape of Great Britain and even moved ahead of Austria with the amount of people employed in the bicycle industry.

It remains to be seen what figures will be shown when the 2015 European Bicycle Market Review is released but Slovakia is expected to have continued its transition to manufacturing bicycles rather than selling them. In truth, Slovakia looks to be one of the most promising markets in Europe; of course, there are opportunities in some of the bigger countries but there is also a lot more competition. With Slovakia, you will find a fairly untapped market with much less competition and a chance to become one of the market leaders in a very short amount of time. Cycling is becoming increasingly popular with Mountain biking steady growing but it’s in road cycling that the biggest increase in participation has been demonstrated which arguable could be down to one man Slovakian and the current road world champion Peter Sagan who is considered by cycling experts to be the best all road cyclist on the planet.

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