Due to the Lockdown in China – Bicycle Boom leads to bottlenecks since the Corona Bike is in the Trend. The large demand means that traders now brings their limits: Many models are out of stock, customers need to adjust to waiting times.Maren Meyer0 comment beautiful spring weather and the fear of contagion, let the Swiss back to more Cycling.Photo: Reto Oeschger
Switzerland departs Velo. And since the onset of the Corona of a pandemic, considerably more than usual. Instead, in the Tram, the Bus or the train of a possible contagion to suspend, even brought the old dusty models out of the basement, as the industry Association Velosuisse recently stated.
bike mechanic indicated that the tires will demand size 26 inch increasingly. “This suggests that older mountain bikes and everyday bikes are roadworthy,” writes Velosuisse.
Who still has no Bicycle or even longer with a new model, toying, seems to buy now. Since the end of February recorded Velosuisse members an increased demand for vehicles and spare parts. Also the Lockdown of the Radelfreudigkeit Switzerland fact, and no crash.
Almost all models are sold out
But the industry has the good news brings bike shops now have their limits. Some customers have to adjust to long waiting times. The planned bike tour in the spring could be in the summer.
In the case of Sick Cycles, a provider of Urban Bikes from the Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland, to work on high speed, so the Bikes will be available from June available. “The demand in the last weeks and months has increased significantly,” says Oliver Wyss from the bike dealer. Especially online, this was flooded with orders. “We are sold out for weeks, with virtually all models and take currently taking pre-orders for the month of June.”
traders suffer from dependence on China
The reason for the bottleneck Corona: Asia and China in particular means for Sickly Cycles is important. We are highly dependent on the supplier site, says Wyss. So it was at the beginning of the year, large delays due to the Corona jailbreak. Only parts of a first delivery arrived in Switzerland. Closed factories in China led to delays of almost one and a half months.
“however, We have the luck that the second shipment arrives in June with us and we can meet the high demand,” says Wyss. But: A large part of these Bikes was sold out due to the many pre-orders already almost.
Under the dependence of the Asian region, many bike shops are currently suffering. Single parts and entire bikes are manufactured in China and other neighboring countries. While some of the Swiss dealer would have been able to replenish their stock before the Chinese plants were shut down. But even now, as production is up and running again, Before would the capacity-Corona-times is not reached, says Dominique Metz, chief from the supplier Veloplus. Because in Asia, protection measures must be applied. It must, therefore, be significantly more bikes than usual significantly less employees produced.
“Within a week, we had the best day in the entire history of the company. Every day is like a Saturday in the main season.”
Dominique Metz, chief of Veloplus
In the case of Veloplus attaining a level four times the online orders, pay attention during the Lockdown. Was bought mainly accessories such as hoses, brake pads or tires. “The people wanted to bring their bikes back into swing,” says Metz. Since the Opening on 11. May, the demand in the stores was extremely high. “Within a week, we had the best day in the entire history of the company,” says the chief. Although he could not provide Figures, but these were “incredibly, every day is like a Saturday in the main season”.
But the customers need to be patient: suppliers, customer service, logistics and in-store staff – were all at the stop. “The market is drying up, the demand is greater than supply. The manufacturers do everything they can to make product available,” says Metz.
In the stores and the logistics he had to adjust to support temporary work forces, with more to follow in the coming week. “It seems as if we could make the losses we have accumulated during the eight weeks of Lockdown, in the next two weeks of betting,” he says.
Hardly bottlenecks in Coop and Migros
in demand, Especially the cheap models up to 1500 Swiss francs are currently strong. And were quickly sold out, says Metz. Instead of the usual four customers would have to wait now ten days on your bike.
In the Migros daughters Bike World and SportXX the demand across all categories is exceptionally high. “It is, in fact, so that by the predictable current Situation, the stock on the supplier side, exhausted, almost or completely emptied,” says a Migros spokesman. The availability of the bicycles is ensured in the case of SportXX and Bike World is currently up to a few exceptions, is good.
Also at Coop Bau+Hobby, no delivery, there were currently shortages, such as the retailer asserted. But here, too, are sold since the re-opening of more bicycles. Especially great is the demand for children’s bikes, Mountain Bikes and E – Bikes is.
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