By Charlie Lunan
On the eve of America’s largest trade show for independent bicycle dealers (IDBs), Europe’s largest IBD cooperative announced this week it had withdrawn from Eurobike to focus on building up its own show over the next three years.
ZEG, which provides buying and other services for approximately 960 IBDs in Germany, announced September 13 that it had pulled out of Eurobike and will focus on expanding the ZEG Bike Show, which will open to non-member dealers for the first time next summer.
ZEG, which exhibited its private brands at Eurobike, attributed its decision to the show’s declining proportion of trade visitors and a decision last week to cut Eurobike’s consumer festival back to one day from two. The ZEG Bike Show is scheduled to take place July 21-24, 2017 in the group’s home town of Cologne.
“We will do more in the future on our increasingly successful and growing in-house exhibition,” said ZEG CEO Georg Honkomp. “We are taking a new approach. We will increase the importance of our internal trade fair in the industry and make it a special product experience.”
ZEG, an acronym for Zweirad Experten Grupe (Bicycle Expert Group), is Germany’s exclusive distributor for Pinarello, buys from Cannondale, Scott, Hercules and other major brands and owns the Pegasus family, Bulls mountain bike and Green Mover and Zemo e-bike brands. It had exhibited the Bulls, Hercules and Kettler aluminum bikes at Eurobike.
The cooperative made its announcement September 13, or 11 days after Eurobike wrapped up in Friedrichshafen, Germany and a week after the show’s producer Friedrichshafen Messe announced Eurobike will return to a three-day schedule in 2017 after its one-day extension of Eurobike Festival Days consumer show did not meet expectations. ZEG has no plans to open its show to consumers, a spokesman told SGB Executive Friday.
The news comes on the eve of Interbike, which is expected to draw about 25,000 IBD buyers and owners to Las Vegas September 19-23 for two days of test riding Model 2017 bikes and a three-day trade show that opens its doors to consumers on its final day. With more than more than 300,000 square feet of exhibition space, 750 exhibitors, 1,400 brands and 150 educational seminars, Interbike is by far the largest gathering of the cycling tribe in the Western Hemisphere.
On September 23, members of the public willing to pay $20 are admitted to “see just about every major brand on sale in your local bike shop, including several new brands.”
This year, dozens of bicycle brands will be on display, including BMC, Cannondale, Colnago, Divinci, Easy Motion, Elliptigo, Marin, Raleigh, Scott, Tern and Yuba. However, none of the Big 3 brands — Specialized, Trek and Giant — will be there.
Giant will not participate in the show’s two-day demo event after opting instead to preview its Model Year 2017 bikes to U.S. dealers via a multi-city tour over the summer.
Interbike producer Emerald Expositions LLC has responded by working closely with trade groups to enhance educational seminars for dealers and create showcases for e-bikes and Made in USA products. The National Bicycle Dealers Association will offer 19 free seminars on social media, selling, marketing to millennials, customer loyalty and other topics, while the Electric Theater presented by Bosch will offer 11 seminars on how and why to tap the emerging e-bike market.
“Interbike is about the future and adapting your business to changing conditions,” noted Ray Keener, executive director for the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association. “It’s not really about bikes any more. It’s becoming about how Americans buy things.”
Given the tectonic shifts taking place in the industry, the programming alone is worth hopping on a plane for a few nights in a cheap hotel room, said show supporters.
Photo courtesy Eurobike
