ZEIST, The Netherlands - Undeniably European e-bike sales took a step back last year. In 7 European countries which have already reported their market statistics f
or 2023, the total volume decreased by 8%, from 4,555,264 units in 2022 to 4,178713 last year.
Moment of market stabilisation
Although the average retail price increased in most markets, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands, it was not enough to compensated for the loss of the total market value. Exceptional market value declines were reported in Austria (-15%) and Italy (-18%). After more than a decade of unbridled expansion in e-bike sales, a moment of market stabilisation had to come.After more than a decade of unbridled expansion in e-bike sales, a moment of market stabilisation had to come.
Consumers have been massively adopting the e-bike while the pandemic even accelerated this process. Many of the first-time cyclists who were looking for another means of transportation in Europe’s cities wanted to avoid traffic congestion or busy public transport and bought an e-bike, instead of a regular bicycle. Even though the run-on bicycle shops the industry saw during the early months of COVID is over, the consumer interest for cycling is still bigger than before 2020.
The market situation for regular or mechanical bicycles is in Europe’s main markets is a completely different situation, compared with e-bikes. The decline in sales volumes is so big that you could wonder whether this is only the result of excess inventory. E-bikes are often sold in exchange for a mechanical bike, as the common trend in markets with growing e-bike share indicate. In those cases the total market volume of e-bikes and bicycles combined often slowly decreases.
However, in 2023, bicycle sales slowed down massively in some countries. In Austria, Italy and Belgium the market lost almost a quarter of its volume, but also the other countries reported substantial declines; Germany -21%, France and Switzerland both -16%. Only in the Netherlands the volume is down ‘just’ -5%. In all countries combined the total market volume dropped by 19% from 6,950,000 in 2022 to 5,600,000 last year.
The major differences between the market development of e-bikes and bicycles also resulted in a shift in market shares. The line showing the increasing popularity of the e-bike followed the same trend as in the past 9 years, with a few exceptions. The e-bike market share in the Netherlands stabilised at 56% while this figure showed a decline in Switzerland from 45.2% in 2022 to 43.7%. Percentage wise the biggest growth was report in Germany (+5%) and Italy (+6%).
