Suppliers sold bicycles worth more in dollars this May than last May, marking the first month this year that dollar sales exceeded same month sales last year.
Auppliers sold bicycles worth 11.1 percent more in May than in May last year, according to the BPSA Topline for Cycling RetailTRAK from Leisure Trends Group.?Though up in dollars, suppliers sold 1.1 percent fewer bicycles to IBDs.
May sell-in to retail resulted in further improvement year-to-date, though suppliers remain down compared to last year. Through the first five months, suppliers sold 14.8 percent fewer bikes worth 7.3 percent less in dollars compared to the same period last year.?
"Clearly, we're relieved to see the bounce-back from our industry-wide soft first quarter," said Michael Forte, director of operations for Felt Bicycles and chairman of the BPSA statistics committee. "Last year, the season started strong and tapered quickly in July. Hopefully, we'll keep going strong this year and get most of those early-season sales back that we lost to the cold, wet weather."
Big wheel mountain bikes continue to be the shining star for suppliers, with sales increases in all 29-inch mountain bike categories including rigid, front-suspension and dual suspension. Sales of dual-suspension 29-inch mountain bikes increased the most of any category by units, up 96.5 percent in units and 50.4 percent in dollars through May. Sales of front-suspension 29-inch mountain bikes were up 12 percent in units and 12.6 percent in dollars through May.?
However, suppliers are still sitting on more inventory than at the same time last year. Inventory was up 55.5 percent in dollars and 71.7 percent in bikes in May compared to the same month last year. The bulk of that inventory in dollars is in road bikes, with 34.2 percent of all supplier dollars tied up in road bike inventory.
The full Leisure Trends Group sell-in data is supported by dues from BPSA members and distributed to those members monthly.
