Covid-19 has affected just about every facet of human existence. The motorcycle industry hasn’t escaped its influences.
With stimulus packages no longer on offer and the JobKeeper element of govt subsidised income now a memory, consumer confidence is expected to take a dive in the remaining quarters of 2021.
While there are unique challenges for our industry, motorcycling hasn’t escaped the inherent erratic nature of consumption brought about by Covid-19 and its lockdowns.
Counter-intuitively, motorcycle sales and participation figures are well up. Across the board, retail sales for the last six months have shown a steady rise.
In fact, motorcycle sales in Australia saw an increase of 22.1 per cent in 2020, with 108,926 bikes finding new homes, compared to 89,199 in 2019.
Much of the purchasing in Australia has been carried out online, with motorcycles ordered from locked-down regions and ‘click and collect’ the new way of buying a bike. The numbers in regard to online spending support this as a strong factor.
In fact, GlobalData‘s E-Commerce Analytics reveals that e-commerce payments in Australia were estimated to grow by 13.9% in 2020 to reach $A52.2 billion ($US36.7 billion), as wary consumers stayed home and used online channels to avoid physical contact.
So, with all this bonhomie around the industry and new channels of purchasing becoming the norm, what could go wrong?
One of the main elements that could well stymie bike-sector sales buoyancy is that of supply. With global freight systems in disarray for myriad reasons, getting bikes and gear into the country and then into dealerships is proving difficult indeed.
Order some of the more popular bike models today, and indeed you could well wait four months for delivery.
That’s a shot to the heart of dealers, with one new bike salesman telling INFO MOTO “I have had five people in this week, looking to buy a new bike that day, and I’ve had to tell them that it will be four months. It’s a massive problem”.
Shutdowns at factories across the globe has meant that production rates have slowed to a trickle, particularly in the labour-intensive manufacturing sector. Smack-bang in the motorcycle wheelhouse.
Demand is indeed solid, but supply is nowhere near matching it, and many in the motorcycle industry fear long-term consequences. Boats, caravans, local holidays and four-wheel drives are all seeing sales booms. Across the board, discretionary spending is at an all-time high. “They’ll find other ways to spend it, for sure,” one dealer added.
The secondhand motorcycle market is booming, mainly due to that shortage of new stock. While that keeps bikes on the road, it does little for manufacturers and new bike dealers.
It also pushes the prices of used bikes higher, which will be felt when the slowdown comes with dealers unable to match trade-in prices with the customer’s original purchase price. Less money for trade-ins means less money for a new bike.
Shelves in bike shops are also bereft of gear. Where you could once examine many styles and variants of a helmet for argument’s sake, there will be far fewer choices. Also, all sizes may not be available. There will no doubt be a rationalisation of choice, but some distributors see that as a good thing.
“Too much choice is a bad thing and this will rationalise ordering to sensible levels,” a leading industry figure told INFO MOTO.
“There’s no point selling only four units of a particular style of lid across the nation. There’s just no margin in working that way.”
At retail level, selling has changed markedly.
Mick Hone is the principal at Mick Hone Motorcycles and he’s been at his Box Hill dealership for 41 years.
“I don’t see any pluses to having Covid in the mix, but we have sold more parts during the pandemic lockdown than we were prior,” Hone told INFO MOTO.
“When people were not allowed to do much, working on their bikes was remedial. It’s therapy.”
With the changes in buying moving solidly into an online-dominated environment, the shopfront, showroom driven norm of motorcycle purchasing has been affected to the point of unlikely return.
“Our business became ‘click and collect’ and I can’t see that changing much. It’s about running your own race and being adaptable,” Hone added.
Time will tell, but one thing is certain. Motorcycling has been irrevocably changed by Covid-19 and those changes will reveal themselves over the long haul.
We watch, with interest.
Snag’s career in motoring journalism spans 29 years with stints at major bike mags Australian Road Rider, Motorcycle Trader and AMCN along with contributions to just about every other outlet worth a hill of beans. He was editor of Unique Cars magazine and hosts his legendary podcast ‘Snag Says’ when he gets off his date.
The thrust, then cut of economic stimulus provided by governments will have an impact. But economists are predicting things like a 6.2% improvement in the US economy after a 4% drop under the previous administration and the impact of covid. China is the same, Australia is not far behind. this means supply lines should pick up the slack and the sooner the better for the industry here. There is a boom in the need for individual transport and there’s no more efficient than a motorcycle. The industry heavy hitters need to get together and push their product and take advantage while they can. Governments need to recognise motorcycles and their advantages in an integrated road system, not just as injury statistics. That’s enough from me!!!
Thanks Rixy. There will be a patch between manufacture and supply, but we hope that will be minimised. The worry is that people are impatient, and rightly so. They will want an improvement in delivery times. If that happens, happy days.