The Growth Years
The Indian bicycle market had barely grown in the few years after the dawn of the new millennium. The volumes of bicycles sold in the country just increased from 11 million units to 12 million units in the years from 2000-09. The bicycle manufacturers were found pedaling uphill without gears. The revenue for TI cycles stayed between Rs.450 and 500 crores between 2001-05 and 2005-06. TI cycles witnessed fierce competition from others which pushed down the prices and tampered profits. A new team took over the mantle at TI Cycles and began transition. They realized that there is a need to create demand for the cycle industry as such and the outlook towards cycling itself had to change. They explored newer and fresh ideas to market …show more content…
Research was limited to making ergonomically suitable bicycles for the standard segments and the SLR-MTB category of the special segments. The declining trend in the standards segment and the special segments market reaching near maturity levels TI cycles had to do something different. There was a big jump in the demand for cycles from urban adults who were fitness and environment cautious. This was an untapped market and had huge potential for growth.
TI initially tried to capture the market through importing high quality components from other countries for their geared vehicles segment. For instance, Shimano in Japan were renowned for their gear systems and also had a high recall value amongst cycling enthusiast. They also imported components for their high end cycles like Schwinn, Canondale and Bianchi which were assembled in their plant in Chennai. However with rising exchange price and to avoid shelling out high import duties levied on these components, TI decided to significantly upgrade its Research and Development focus to leverage lower cost of production. [Ref …show more content…
The anti-dumping duties for Chinese bicycles and rising costs in China had prompted many bicycle retailers in the west to scout for low cost manufacturing hubs like India. TI cycles should look to enter into a strategic relationship with some of Europe’s and US’ large retailers to sell their cycles there. Interestingly Walmart’s largest importer remains Pacific Cycles that includes brands like Schwinn, Mongoose and Cannondale which are imported in India by TI Cycles [Ref 6]. Therefore it won’t be difficult to push brands like Montra through the same
The Indian bicycle market had barely grown in the few years after the dawn of the new millennium. The volumes of bicycles sold in the country just increased from 11 million units to 12 million units in the years from 2000-09. The bicycle manufacturers were found pedaling uphill without gears. The revenue for TI cycles stayed between Rs.450 and 500 crores between 2001-05 and 2005-06. TI cycles witnessed fierce competition from others which pushed down the prices and tampered profits. A new team took over the mantle at TI Cycles and began transition. They realized that there is a need to create demand for the cycle industry as such and the outlook towards cycling itself had to change. They explored newer and fresh ideas to market …show more content…
Research was limited to making ergonomically suitable bicycles for the standard segments and the SLR-MTB category of the special segments. The declining trend in the standards segment and the special segments market reaching near maturity levels TI cycles had to do something different. There was a big jump in the demand for cycles from urban adults who were fitness and environment cautious. This was an untapped market and had huge potential for growth.
TI initially tried to capture the market through importing high quality components from other countries for their geared vehicles segment. For instance, Shimano in Japan were renowned for their gear systems and also had a high recall value amongst cycling enthusiast. They also imported components for their high end cycles like Schwinn, Canondale and Bianchi which were assembled in their plant in Chennai. However with rising exchange price and to avoid shelling out high import duties levied on these components, TI decided to significantly upgrade its Research and Development focus to leverage lower cost of production. [Ref …show more content…
The anti-dumping duties for Chinese bicycles and rising costs in China had prompted many bicycle retailers in the west to scout for low cost manufacturing hubs like India. TI cycles should look to enter into a strategic relationship with some of Europe’s and US’ large retailers to sell their cycles there. Interestingly Walmart’s largest importer remains Pacific Cycles that includes brands like Schwinn, Mongoose and Cannondale which are imported in India by TI Cycles [Ref 6]. Therefore it won’t be difficult to push brands like Montra through the same