April data and trends with Ryan Atkinson, upgrade to product pages, and NBDA webinar

Around the Workstand

Look back at April data and help share some actionable items for helping retailers capture more business

• Ryan was back in Colorado last week and saw a lot of our team based out of there. We did a pinball happy hour on Thursday, a gravel ride on Friday, and went to the Supercross race in Denver on Saturday.
• We are stoked about the big software enhancement we released last week. The product detail pages now have a super modern visual interface for customers to select size and color variations. The shopping experience is comparable to REI. We expect to see an increase in add to cart rates just in time for summer website traffic.
• Looking at the bike industry, most retailers and suppliers are putting a lot of weight on the market performance in May. The spring was pretty erratic and we’re looking for stability entering the summer.
• Promising indicators coming out of April.
• Google search volume for bike shops has been steadily growing on an expected seasonal trend after a slowdown in March.
• Google search volume for “best bike” was at the highest level in the last 18 months in the first week in May. This is great news about consumer demand but it’s also noteworthy that volume for this term is outpacing “bike shop”. This consumer shift to online shopping is continuing - it isn’t going to retreat after COVID. The long term trend is holding, growing about 1% share of total retail sales every year.
• April website traffic for bike shops using Workstand was up 9% over March and up 11% compared to last year.
• Average Order Value online in April was up 12.5% compared to last year as more consumers are buying bikes online.
• Paying attention to headlines about supplier financial health. Obviously Trek’s cutbacks earlier this year were eye opening but I trust that their leadership team is more than capable of managing through the situation. The news about Kona was more troubling because the company is up for sale. Kona is an important brand for our customers and I’m hoping that the right buyer comes in and stabilizes the company.

What’s coming up next

• NBDA webinar with Suzie and Ryan this Friday
• Ryan attending the NBDA Retailer Summit next week
• Client Success Summit in June

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Ryan Atkinson, President + Co-Owner
Suzie Livingston, Marketing + Communications
Mark Still, Business Development
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