Accelerated demand for bikes in 2020 continues

With the government guidance earlier in the year to avoid public transport, it was expected that the bike market would see an influx of new buyers, but nobody was prepared for the demand seen so far.  

Auto Trader Bikes saw no decline to audience numbers immediately following the first lockdown in March, and the number of people visiting the platform continued to grow over the Summer. Year to date, there have been an additional 11 million bike advert views than the same period last year. 1 

As we come to the end of the traditional season, along with the uncertainty of further upcoming restrictions throughout the month, October still saw audience, engagement and response in line with what we would normally see at the height of the season. October visits to Auto Trader Bike were up 42% versus 2019 and sales enquiries were up 48%. 2 

As well as this increase in demand for bikes, prices have also been steadily rising. In October the average price of a used bike on Auto Trader was £7,216 – a 7% increase on October 2019 when it was £6,719.  The bikes that sold during October 2020 were advertised a median of 27 days, a good indication of the speed of sale.  12 months prior it was 36 days for the same metric. 3 

You might expect the most recent announcement and the lead-up to the England lockdown last Thursday to have had an impact on audience, but following an initial dip immediately after the announcement, the first weekend of lockdown has seen visits to the bikes platform and response back to the numbers of two weeks ago. And November to date, visits are up 45% and sales enquiries up 70% versus the same period last year.4 

Although some retailers see November and December as “quiet” months in the bike market, last year, there were 11.3 million advert views for bikes on Auto Trader, showing that there is a clear market out there, something we’re expecting to see even more this year if the trend of recent months continues. 5 

Even with showrooms closed for now, our research has shown that over 50% of buyers are willing to utilise home delivery or click and collect options, so the coming weeks are still incredibly important for getting bikes in front of buyers whether for remote purchase now, or for researching ready for next season.  

Auto Trader Internal Data: 1 Jan 1st - Nov 10th 2020 vs 2019, 2 October 1st-31st 2020 vs 2019, 3 October 1st-31st 2020 vs 2019, 4 5 1st - 10th Nov 2020 vs 1st - 10th Nov 2019, 5 November & December 2019, 6 Auto Trader consumer survey, November 5th-11th 2020