Accell North America (ANA) announced the acquisition of Beeline Bikes, the largest mobile bike service franchise in the country.
The investment “solidifies ANA’s commitment to being the world’s most consumer-centric bicycle company,” according to a press release.
Recently, ANA announced its Consumer Centric Omnichannel Strategy, which launched to Independent Bicycle Dealers (IBDs), Jan. 19, 2018.
“We launched Beeline five years ago to address the huge opportunity in the market to provide a friendly, professional and convenient service experience to all types of cyclists,” said Pete Buhl, co-founder and CEO of Beeline Bikes. “ANA has the same vision and can invest to further it. I couldn’t be more excited about our future. ANA will be focused on rapidly growing the Beeline Bikes footprint in North America, which will support existing and future franchise partners as they seek to build dominant businesses in their respective markets. “
ANA is 100 percent focused on empowering IBDs to remarkably serve cyclists the way they research and buy today–across multiple channels,” said John Short, CEO of ANA. “The acquisition of Beeline Bikes enables us to offer expansion to our IBD partners; it brings convenience, high-touch service and an experiential and data-driven solution that rapidly expands our consumer reach while bolstering value to our growing franchise and IBD network.”
ANA is the North American parent company of Diamondback, Haibike, iZip, Raleigh and Redline bicycle brands.
“Our objective is to cover all the major metro markets in the U.S. and Canada,” said Larry Pizzi, VP of North America sales for ANA. “We have a tremendous group of IBD affiliate and independent franchisees in the Beeline network already and we look forward to supporting the success of our franchisees with new revenue streams and innovative customer acquisition tools.”
Born in Silicon Valley, Beeline’s mobile bike shop platform and its advanced technology capabilities and integrations support online purchase to the home delivery of ready-to-ride bikes. Going forward, Beeline franchisees will have direct access to the brands and resources of ANA as it grows its franchise network, enabling ongoing, increased revenue streams and fulfillment opportunities.
“To win locally in the North American market our strategy will focus on the needs and wishes of consumers and a true omni-channel approach, said Ton Anbeek, CEO of Accell Group. “We have been partnering with Beeline Bikes for quite a while and have found that the Beeline mobile model and technology platform offer highly attractive synergies with the traditional brick and mortar channels–this acquisition is a clear case of 1+1=3.”
Photo courtesy Beeline
