Market analysis with financial editor Roger Willis
F
MOTORCYCLE
visitors did business at Expo
same or of visitors did the of increased the amount 2011 business at Expo
FACT 74%
Report Roger Willis
Motor Cycle According to the (MCIA), which capture this market. for Industry Association were on alert to and low seat the Department spend is gets its data from Driver and he female market of the The Harley image models is particularly Transport (DfT) and the (DVLA), cent eight to 11 per height on some members of the Agency and riders. Vehicle Licensing licence holders overall UK motorcycle appealing to some fraternity, said y 3.5 million New female full motorcycle and according there are approximatel licences in in of scooter market, female motorcycling In America one joining the ranks 12 per cent people with motorcycle s, dealers and other Harley show staff. Harley-Davidsons 525,000 (15 per to manufacturer canvassed for this scooter riders constituteThis figure the UK. Of them total. ten buyers of new industry members share has been of the newcomer cent) are women. MCIA survey is female. active riders? To feature. This marketquarters as a some clothing and is from the 2008 How many are which In recent years figure with s have been recognised in some growth potential. Women and Motorcycling, survey of approach that particular with note aftermarket manufacturer to the telephone valuable sector of realism, we must are dedicated taking ng was based on a s lines sense any or scooter-owni The introducing Among manufacturer sector also says there 600 motorcycleAmong them are in this that the DVLA more than female market. powered twoa serious interest households conducted BMW and Arai. 1.29 million licensedroads. Adding a Harley-Davidson. per cent of the Key Collection, are Suzuki and a decade ago. Ten argue wheelers on British in active use, introduced a website year this women. You could Suzuki bikes market by sample were riders strains the fairer sex (Girl bit for untaxed QuaNtiFyiNg tHe s mostly rely on recently estimated dedicated to the that a mere 60 the first allwhich was most cent, credibility. Bike manufacturer as to the further 3.6 per Torque) and organised Park, 14 bounds of statistical the poll “guesstimates” the DfT to be a (Donington 1.34 day judicious worth, nearly track it’s to market girl up For what pushes the tally size of the women’s 32 per cent of these doesn’t illuminate September 2011). dealers have been overall ly reluctant to discovered that 35-44. Two per million. But that Harley-Davidson to teach female and are understandab total either because degrees of success if women were aged Seventy-five per the overall rider nights more 25. reveal their own own under running ladies’ the most out of were minority competition, the cent and 60 per cent (or otherwise) to them a substantial Building in a buyers how to get basic roadside cent held full licences than ten years. able to measure out than one motorcycle. more indeed they are their bikes, carry per cent for multiple stated, somewhere for lifting had been riding discount of ten means convincingly. As 11 per cent is the repairs, learn techniques individuals by ownership between eight and . bikes and so on. Live at the most popular generalisation At 2010 Motorcycle son UK staff NEC, Harley-David
prefer of visiting business’s start-ofExpo’s January season timing
FACT 8/10
s population, the e almost half the uk’ sts are men. motorcycli While women compris crepancy, given majority of British overwhelming this customer-base disoption. Continuing to ignore es we face, is not an the hard economic tim
riders in total, probably 1.2 million possibly fewer. 15 per cent female Transferring the holders to bikes factor from licence 180,000 female us on the road gives
following the passes have plummeted more controversial claimed that a imposition of a Just over a quarter was their main test regime. powered two-wheeler official information and 27 per cent Since 2008 little form of transport riders made up on the female market has been used mopeds. All-year pleasure of riding gathererd. 63 per cent. The for 42 per cent. was top motivator by 38 per cent. data Mobility was quoted that, of women BLack Horse finance uptake and Point-of-sale The MCIA reports 20 per cent shine a sharper, cover surveyed, has insurance per riders it light on the state machines and 18 more up-to-date ride supersport Motorcycle of play. Black Horse on this button cent sport/tour. DfT finger Finance has its According to 2000-2007average of biggest consumer an annual and is by far the compendiums, test, through UK learners took the a funding provider 11,680 female with a keen compared to motorcycle dealerships, every 55 per cent passing success rate. During vested interest in growing of 67 per cent male segment. Franchise highest percentage possible market this period the was 14 per cent. Dave Macey development manager data. female test takers for 2008 show provided the following DVLA statistics total test cent of new in Some 12.27 per per cent of a sudden increase 9.9 105,362. Of them motorcycles and with Black applications to women. were cent) used bikes bought now go to 15,288 (14.5 per was 66.4 per cent ➥ Horse loan participation as a Overall pass rate 55 per cent customers. Applied (68 per cent men, applications and female then women). Since
analysis
analysis
FOR...
Female market
GIrL
FACT 95%
VER WAY YOU
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building sisterhood in the saddle when interviewed. Only one of them was actually female, Fiona Cole at Honda, mind you. Pressure from covert sales and marketing tools like mystery shopping were being assiduously applied, they told me, to ensure the average dealership ceased
The core industry is basically run by the usual bunch of blokes in suits, perhaps even more so than it was ten years ago
reflecting my far more detailed research from ten years ago. Taken together, hardly in-depth information. So is the women’s market really growing? On such scant evidence, I suspect not. Way back in 2011, there was far more promotional activity aimed at women by both the industry and individual motorcycle manufacturers. The MCIA website featured a Women and Motorcycling business press briefing fact sheet. expansion The facts speak for It doesn’t even mention themselves... the fairer sex now. Suzuki GB had a dedicated Girl stands from FACT only £749 Torque web presence – PoWEr long since redundant. Every single marketing or T communications manager from major brands expressed firm and focused d in the malege an ch s ha ch mu A decade on, not ustry corporate commitment to dors of the bike ind EXHIBIT AT EXPO
Female market
To gild this frail lily of data, Auto Trader also quoted comparethemarket.com revelations that women most likely to buy a bike are in the younger 25-34 age bracket and the popular majority of machines purchased by female riders are in the up-to125cc mobility sector – closely
or a party animal like yours truly, all landmark anniversaries are worth celebrating. It’s a sobering thought that an entire decade has passed since I wrote a weighty 4000-word analysis of UK women’s motorcycle market prospects for this magazine in October 2011. Our only excuse for the fact that BDN hasn’t bothered to address the subject again is that neither has anybody else. However, recent teasers from Auto Trader about activity on its bike website, suggesting the number of female riders is rising, has tempted me into dusting off what now appears to be an otherwise moribund topic. According to the online used bike sales platform, it experienced a 36% increase in female traffic and 34% growth for virgin female users, year-on-year, during June 2021. Furthermore, 48% of all lady visitors to the site this year have been first timers.
-EXPO.COM
On the Money
On the Money
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to be a blatant male-chauvinist pigsty. So showrooms were no longer necessarily replete with soft-core girly calendars behind the spares counter and condescending staff who treated female footfall humiliation as an entertaining blood sport. There was a sense of work in progress, even if some approaches were a tad facile, and solid data supported that contention. Leading POS funding provider Black Horse had cheerfully obliged me with details on the proportion of female customers. Some 12.3% of new motorcycles and 9.9% of used machines bought with Black Horse finance participation in 2010 had been ridden away from dealers by women. Scooter numbers were even more encouraging, 25.8% for new and 21.2% for used.
Scooter registrations, including 50cc products, had subsequently risen by 13.1% in the first nine months of 2011, pointing to a growing feminine presence in the mobility sector. In my decade-old analysis, I reckoned from a consensus of various sources that about 15% of overall bike park ownership and somewhere between 11% and 15% at best of new and used bike sales were attributable to women that year. But here’s the rub. Department for Transport figures showed 1.29 million licensed powered two-wheelers on British roads in 2011. There were exactly the same number in the most recent data covering 2020. And I would bet the percentage of that volume owned by women will be approximately static too, given the extent to which enthusiasm for canvassing sales across the gender divide has stagnated – and in many ways been abandoned altogether. Ironically, MCIA chief executive Tony Campbell castigated BDN last October for sexism in jocular remarks about a new female chief financial officer joining HarleyDavidson. In his stern missive, Campbell pontificated about belief in equal opportunities, “evidenced by the number of senior women across the UK motorcycle industry”. Where are they hiding? I can think of none. The core industry
International Share Prices USA – PANIC STATIONS
EUROPE – SHARED CHINA SYNDROME
The third week in September stank of volatility in New York, caused by an unfolding bankruptcy crisis for huge Chinese property developer Evergrande, with lots of US investment capital at risk. Wall Street’s “worst day for more than six months” on Monday was followed by two sessions of steady bounce-back, anticipating Chinese governmental intervention to save the company. Thursday turned into Wall Street’s “best day since mid-July”, before Friday slumped when it became evident Evergrande’s woes hadn’t gone away. Inevitably, market indices were up and down as this saga progressed. The blue-chip S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average eventually closed on minor respective gains of 0.5% and 0.6%. S&P’s MidCap 400 did a bit better, 0.8% up.
The Evergrande debt default threat also hit European markets as the week began and Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax index performed a single-session dive of 2.3% on Monday. But more generalised influences related to supply chains, microchip shortages, energy issues and Covid took over. A resilient mood in the face of these challenges prompted steady Dax recovery, to finish 0.3% up. In Italy, Milan’s MIB index bucked gloom with a 1% rise, primarily because Italian investors had little or no exposure to Chinese real estate. However, Italian biker stocks slipped, probably bitten by lack of chips.
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JAPAN – AUTUMNAL INTERRUPTIONS After a three-week boost through September, thanks to the prospect of a smarter new Japanese
prime minister in the offing, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index turned sour, declining by 0.8%. The main culprit was shrivelled trading volume, though, because Monday and Thursday were both public holidays associated with the Autumn Equinox. Many investors filled in the gaps by simply staying at home. Honda and Suzuki shares followed weakening market activity. Yamaha and Kawasaki blithely ignored it.
INDIA – TWO-WHEELED RETREAT Sobering news specific to its motorcycle industry upset India’s applecart. The dominant share of powered two-wheelers in the Indian automotive market as a whole has fallen to 74% during this year so far, the lowest level since 2013. And data for August going into September suggested that numbers were still falling.
www.britishdealernews.co.uk 27/09/2021 10:07