Japanese components giant hails “favourable” response to new groupsets – but sales in key European market are on the slide and forecast to halve in the second half of 2023Shimano has said that the global cycling market remains “weak” as the company revealed that sales of bicycle components fell by a quarter during the opening nine months of the year – and detailed figures published by the Japan-based components giant reveal that sales of bicycle components in the key European market are hardest...
Shimano said that the global economy remains “lacklustre” due to factors including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, as well as rises in interest rates imposed by central banks to try and curb inflation.Due to its strength in componentry, Shimano is something of a bellwether for the cycling industry as a whole, and despitehas previously cautioned that the growth driven by the boom in bicycle sales at the height of the coronavirus pandemic would be unsustainable in the coming years.
“Overseas, in the European market, the strong interest in bicycles continued in our major market, namely, Germany and Benelux countries, and retail sales of completed bicycles were strong. Market inventories, however, remained at high levels. “In the Japanese market, retail sales were somewhat sluggish as affected by the soaring price of completed bicycles due to yen depreciation and pullbacks in consumer spending and market inventories remained somewhat high,” the company added.