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Please provide the approximate annual gross sales for mobile bicycle service and sales providers in the United states, including Beeline, Velofix, and independent operators.
Hello! Thanks for your question about the mobile bicycle services.
The short version is that after searching extensively through industry reports and press statements, I’ve determined that the information you requested is not publicly available because there is no information available about the number of independent mobile repair operators. However, I was able to learn that the biggest companies made $9.7 million gross sales for 2016 with continued growth into 2017 to $13.5 million. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
It has been difficult to establish numbers for this industry, as it is so new and growing so fast; the only company that has published any financial figures is Velofix.
After searching exhaustively I haven't found any kind of statistic establishing the number of independent mobile repair operators so it is not possible to work out their share of the market. I have looked through the research data available at the National Bike Dealers Association and looked through surveys and press reports at industry publications such as the 'Bike Retailer and Industry News' as well as extensive webs searches.
While I could not find a direct answer to your question, I was able to gather some information about the biggest players, which I think will be helpful for your project.
Ashburn Bike Repair has estimated that a typical franchisee might make $100,000 in sales. (This roughly equates with the average of $92,750 which the typical cycle shop makes in repairs) Using the number of franchise territories announced by each company the total sales can be estimated.
INTRO
The mobile bicycle repair industry has changed immensely in the last few years with the introduction of the franchise business model. In the USA, it is currently dominated by two main players, Beeline Bikes and Velofix, although there are new players coming into the market as well as established independent mobile repair companies.
FRANCHISE BUSINESSES
VELOFIX
Velofix was founded in Canada in 2012, and broke in to the US market in October 2014, following a $300,000 dollar investment on Dragons Den. By the end of 2016, Velofix has amassed 89 franchises, at least 58 in the USA and plans to expand to a total of 150 next year. Franchisees have to pay at least $163,200 of initial investment.
Velofix reported in its annual US financial disclosure report (search for Velofix here) that it generated no revenue in the year ending 31 December 2014 and $297,754 in the year ending 31 December 2015.
Total sales, presumably including the business in Canada have grown from $760,000 in 2015 to over $3 million dollars in 2016.
BEELINE BIKES
Beeline Bikes, was founded in 2013 and has been selling franchises since late 2015. In July 2015 Beeline announced that it had closed a $2.6M Series A financing round. Franchisees have to pay at least $59,500 of initial investment.
Bike Doctor, currently has 3 company-owned stores and 5 franchised stores based in Maryland. Bike Doctor has announced in recent months that it is now looking to open a franchise based mobile bicycle repair company, with plans to expand nationwide, with up to 10 franchises by March and up to 100 within five years.
The total number of US franchises and company owned vans in 2016 from these two companies is 58 + 39 = 97
In 2017 we can expect continued growth of the two main franchisors with at least 75 US velofix franchises and at least 50 Beeline Bikes vans in addition to at least 10 Bike Doctor vans equalling $13.5 million of sales.
VELOTOOLER
Velotooler is another new entrant to the market, going live in 2017. Velotooler has a different business model to other companies, using the concept of a shared economy, like Uber, rather than a franchise model. Clients in need of a bike repair are paired up with mechanics who have signed up, the mechanics provide their own vehicles and tools and set their own prices with Velotooler taking a 20% cut (10% from the client and 10% from the mechanic). It is as yet unclear how successful Velotooler's disruptive model is set to be and what affect it will have on the market.
INDEPENDENTS
For many years small independent mobile repair vans have operated regionally a few examples are given below. It is difficult to establish how many of these companies exist in the USA.
As discussed later, as the big players continue to expand we could see them competing with the independents leading to some consolidation in the marketplace.
TRENDS
Although Velofix and Beeline Bikes started out as mainly bicycle repair and maintenance services, they have also started selling bicycles directly from the manufacturers, this could be a large area of growth. A 2015 industry report found that the average bicycle dealer makes 47.4% of their revenue on bicycle sales and and only 10.7% on repairs.
Bicycle Retailer and Industry News in 2016 stated that almost none of the brick and mortar bike shops they had spoken to throughout the country had plans for opening a mobile option to accompany their physical-store presence.
An independent mobile mechanic company Prozone, recently shut down to buy a Velofix franchise for the entire state of Minnesota. Stories like this indicate that their may be consolidation of the mobile bicycle repair market over the next few years with small independent mobile repair companies being replaced by larger franchise organisations.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, after searching extensively through industry reports and media publications a direct answer to your question is not publicly available.
However I learned that the total annual mobile bicycle repairs and sales can be estimated at least at $9.7 million for 2016 with continued growth into 2017.
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