| 09/05/2001 | 2nd Quarter Bicycle Sales Continue Downward TrendAs reported by the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association (BPSA), second quarter bicycle shipments to Specialty dealers continued to decline from the previous year levels, but not at the rate of this years' first quarter. Total second quarter unit sales were down 103,000 or 12%, while dollar sales declined from last year by $16million or 8.3%. Poor weather at the beginning of the quarter, weak economic conditions, and excess dealer inventories continued to hinder sales. Year to date unit sales were down 14.4% or 210,000 units with a dollar sales drop of $37 million. Bicycle inventory did not keep pace with the sales decline and registered only a 1.5% or 8,000 unit drop. Nevertheless, this was an encouraging reversal from the 1st quarter trend when unit inventory increased by 77,000 over Y2000.
Cross bikes were the only product category to grow in dollar sales increasing by $1.1 million despite a 2,900 unit decline. Inventories remained under control decreasing by 1.7%. This reflects an increase in average unit selling price. Road bike sales declined slightly down 1.2% in dollars and 4.8% in units. June was an especially strong month for road bikes with a 21.7% sales increase. Unfortunately, inventories continued to increase dramatically up 35% in units and 12% in dollar value. This follows the 1st quarter increase of 39%.
Juvenile products continued their precipitous downward slide falling 37,000 units or 19% compared to last year and a dollar decline of $4.2 million or 17.6%. Year to date kids bikes were off by 74,000 units or 22% and $8 million or 21%. Starting in the fall of last year and for four straight quarters, juvenile 20" sales have fallen steeply. Fortunately, inventories, which had been increasing, seem to have been brought under control showing a 2.5% drop at the end of June. The specialty dealer continues to be negatively impacted by the mass merchandisers sales in this product category.
The mountain, comfort and cruiser group, which is the leading category with a 59% market share, also experienced significant decline in Q2. Sales were off $10.3 million and 40,600 units. This brings the year to date dollars down by $23 million and units by 92,000 or 11%. The disturbing upward trend in inventories, which was evident in the first quarter, has now been reversed and is down by 2%. The loss of this level of sales volume in the first half of the year in this category is difficult for the industry to absorb and could have a negative affect on many companies.
Whereas the parts, accessories and rubber business was essentially flat in Q1, the second quarter was very strong increasing by $7.7 million or 11% Both the part and accessories and the tires and tubes categories increased. On a year to date basis, sales increased $7.5 million reflecting that all of the growth came in Q2. The only meaningful category variances were in helmets (down 8.5%) and baby joggers (down 46.3%). All others-computers, car carriers, wheels. and locks--were even to or ahead of the previous year.
Overall the second quarter showed improvement over this years' first quarter, but was still considerably behind last year. June, however, was the best performing month this year down only 6% versus the YTD loss of 14.4%. It is evident that dealers are managing their inventories better than in the past, are not bringing in excess inventories and are waiting for the market to open to gauge the demand.www.bpsa.org
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