On the continent, pedelecs (for pedal electric cycle) meaning electric bicycles are on the
brink of broad acceptance. In the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and now Austria these pedal-assist machines already count for up to 5- 15% of the market for bicycles with numbers
continuously growing.
The e-bike sales result in turnovers higher than those
from muscle-only powered two-wheelers. Their commercial success is reflected in
the media. Almost every newspaper, national and local, and TV station has at least once featured the
new vehicles.
Recently, the pedelec trend swashed over the Atlantic shores when the likes of
Leonardo di Caprio and Adrien Brody were seen on Swiss-made bikes in New York
and Los Angeles. On the same track is Cadel Evans (picture), winner of the Tour de France, literally polishing the image of electric bicycles in a new marketing campaign.
These bikes have nothing to do anymore with what was once
widely perceived as a mobility aid for elderly generations, if known at all and
it is safe to say, that they have become trendy by now.
However, the mass-media reporting the pedelec’s success and its prominent owners
are only one explanation for its advance- battery or sensor technology another.
What is strangely missing are the actual everyday users. How often do you see
someone actually riding a pedelec and if so, who sits in the saddle? Most likely it will be someone in the autumn of their life, golden or not.
Ultimately, the pedelec is a technology that is not easily communicated by shiny campaigns but that is best to be experienced
to unfold a persuasive power rarely matched by other inventions.
Therefore, a factor worth looking at to describe the advent of electric bikes
and to feed it further is the groundwork done by people who tried it early on.
The difficulty of communicating the pedal-assist principle
When explaining the working principle of an electric bicycle in
accurate terms, i.e. as a human-machine hybrid which engine only works when
driven by muscle power, one is usually faced with misconceptions. The first
reaction often goes along the lines of: “Oh, so you do not have to pedal
anymore?!”
The answer: “No, it is pedal-assist, you have to pedal for the motor to support
you” might lead to further efforts of understanding but is soon met with certain
cognitive resistance (almost a cognitive dissonance).
As the bicycle is widely seen as a sports device, the idea of an
added motor is closely associated with effortlessness or weakness or the
concept of a throttle-controlled scooter. So if one thinks motor, the facile
flick of a wrist comes to mind, not the turn of the pedals.
Still, there is a way to bring across the idea of electric bicycles. Let someone try it. Instant understanding and
interest is the reward.
Marketeers, go real
Given that an electric bicycle should be tried to be sold, campaigning alone
will not do much. If then the most successful process of how the product is
best sold to the consumer is already predefined (test-ride) and not easily or
cost-effectively achieved, one wonders what role marketing had and/or will play
in the emergence of the pedelec.
The answer might lie within the creation of a product early on. This would mean to reconnect
marketing to the identification of consumer's need and to advise on creating
products that satisfy those needs.
The emergence of digital marketing has made campaigning appear all
too easy and cheap. It builds on the idea of a continuous feedback process (=
impact evaluation) through social networking. However, the number of fans,
likes or retweets is only quantitative data with no or very limited qualitative
substance or substantial exchange.
While social media marketing in its simple forms might help to shape the image
or feel of brands it is unlikely to sell or create products, especially those
entirely new to most audiences. Therefore, it cannot replace thorough market
research as done in face-to-face interviews or surveys which, in case of the
pedelec, would imply a test-ride opportunity.
Consider that the 5-15% market share pedelecs have are only their share
in the bicycle market which makes not more than 20% of the population. In
Germany there were about a million sold pedelecs in a country with 80 mio
people, so one can assume that pedelecs still remain a product many people have
not yet heard of nor tried. This means, that an online survey for example will
certainly prove difficult.
Again, the practical experience will have to come into play and leads to a
change in attitude rarely heard of. A qualitative study of the Dutch G2
consultancy asked participants of their
survey about their opinions, before and after offering a test-ride. After
actually trying the bike, 50% of participants considered buying an electric
bicycle, regardless of what they thought of it before.
Adopting technology
Everett Rogers theory on the diffusion of innovation explains how
innovation is adopted by a social system through certain channels over time. He
identifies mass media and individuals as the two main sources spreading (in the
sense of buying) a new technology.
Before a new product category becomes widely accepted it undergoes five stages
that Rogers calls knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and
confirmation. This means an individual becomes aware of an innovation, actively
seeks information on which ground a decision of acceptance or rejection is
taken.
While this process is the same for each individual, Rogers assumes that there
are some individuals more prone to adopt a new technology. He calls these the “early adopters” only outrun
by the actual “innovators”. The former are made of the so-called opinion
leaders that have specific knowledge of a field or are well-known. Their opinions are thus trusted and soon
followed by others called “early majority” till the "late majority"
and even the "laggards" or last adopters accept the new technology. This
is the point where the market reaches saturation.
Nowadays, with social networks building on the idea of
recommendation through a trusted circle of acquaintances, the concept of the
opinion leader has become highly relevant but blurred at the same time.
For Rogers, an opinion leader was defined not necessarily by prominence or
image but by inside knowledge or expertise in a relevant field. An engineer specializing in green energy would be more likely to hear of and
adopt solar panel technology early on and later be able to convince his
neighbours to try the same. The neighbours therefore skip the process of
collecting hard to find information and draw from the experiences made by their
trusted neighbour instead.
This “local” process that involves actually experiencing the product has become somehow neglected in the digital world. While Rogers’
theory helps to understand the acceptance of once new technologies through
essentially a process of hear-say-follow, the most important part of embracing
the idea of an electric bike is to actually experience it. What Everett calls persuasion
is mostly or solely done by the product itself given it is of a certain
quality.
Adoptive parents and young trendy laggards
The pedelec being principally a bicycle makes it an inclusive rather than exclusive
product. Special knowledge, apart from being able to ride a bike is not necessarily required. Curiosity or the quest for information can thus be
driven by a need not expertise.
The desire for an electric bicycle was first felt by individuals looking for
something that could re-introduce individual and healthy mobility into their
lives. This means that a rather unusual group of early adopters has played an
important role in the broad acceptance of electric bicycles: the elderly and
the infirm.
While most marketers compete for the attention of the most valued
group of the 18- 39 year old who are believed to be setting or follow trends
quickly the pedelec, turned that process upside-down.
Even though one might not go as far as to say, that the niece has tried her
granny's bike and liked it so much that she bought one for herself and showed
it to her friends who in turn wanted one as well till a new trend was born (though
those cases are not unheard of today), the elder generation has indeed facilitated
the broad acceptance of electric bikes by their sheer commercial power.
By buying these new products in great numbers and at high prices
early on, the elderly injected money into the bicycle industry that was
hitherto unseen. In return, they got better products for themselves but also
sparked a wave of innovation or the will and means to open this most profitable
segment to the other, more fashionable classes of bicycles as well, thus making them appealing to
younger people as well.
Today, urban commuter machines some as fast as 45 km/h and even
electric mountain and road bikes are available and become more widely accepted
by the month. These more stylish and conceptual bikes certainly helped to
further raise awareness of electric bicycles in all parts of society. More
importantly, they are changing the perceptions and image slowly thus making it
easier to sell with a less legs-on method in the future.
Finally, the marketing models of opinion leadership or prominence
can unfold their persuasive power again with Leonardo di Caprio or Adrien
Brody spearheading the trend on fashionable e-bikes rather unashamedly
in the streets of NYC. Accordingly, evermore campaigns surface that put their hopes on sport prominence or fancy videos.
However, one should not be mistaken.
The biggest share of the market still lies with the elder population or comes
down to usability like commuter pedelecs for middle-aged people with good
income, esp. so because the most fancy models are often the most expensive and out of reach of younger buyers. And yet, people that
give it a try are most likely to buy.
Nora
Manthey
Pictures and video are courtesy of : Stromer, Susanne Bruesch, Nora Manthey & Haibike
