The state of the Indian bike market.
Written by Brandon Els | 12th January, 2012
It's 5 years now that we have been operating in the Indian bike market and it is really interesting to see how the market has developed. In many ways it is taking the shape of any other bike market in the world.
Mass retailers such as Hypercity, Big Bazaar and Reliance are establishing world class buying teams in the league of Walmart and are taking direct shipments of bikes under private label brands directly from China and are not purchasing from the traditional bike manufacturers in India.
Independent bicycle dealers are moving their price points up and are also allocating much less of their floor space to traditional Indian bike brands and more to international brands.
This is leaving the traditional Indian bike brands in a fight for relevance because although they have vast manufacturing capability they do not understand the modern Indian consumer and understand even less about bike branding and design. The tradional Indian bike brands are struggling to sell bikes for more than 7 500 Rupees while we are easily selling SCOTT at 28 500 Rupees and up to 200 000 Rupees for a bike like the 2012 Spark 40.
It is also interesting to see the strategy of international bike brands in India. Most are not prepared to do the hard work of establishing their own distribution network and companies and are hoping that tie-ups with traditional Indian bike companies will give them volume. Others are even happy to just sell their brand for a royalty payment and couldn't be cared how their brand is managed or positioned. These are lazy strategies that have or are in the process of back-firing as the culture of the brand is lost in the hands of tradtional Indian bike companies who understand very little of international bike brand heritage.
We are very happy to control our brands and distribution 100% with our own employees on the ground in India and building relationships with our dealers over lunch and supper. It is not the easy way, but it is the long-term route to sucess in India.
SCOTT and AXIS Bikes are absolutely flourishing and at our plus minus 50 dedicated dealers that we have cultivated over the last 5 years and our private label brands dominate the formal mass retail in India.
It sure is an interesting time in India and as I sit here at the Mumbai International Airport Star Alliance lounge I am even enjoying a very good Cabarnet from the Nasik Valley India. Incredible India - the tourism slogan is indeed accurate!
Happy Cycling!
Brandon
