E-bike to go serves thousands of consumers and business users who ride an electric bicycle through a monthly cancelable subscription, which also includes maintenance and service. The market leader can include multinationals and food companies among its customers. A record number of 2019 electric bicycles were sold in the Netherlands in 420.000, bringing 70% of the total turnover in the bicycle market from the sale of e-bikes. * To meet this high demand from consumers, e-bike goes to this year is expanding distribution by opening more physical stores and pick-up points.

E-bike to go races past itself

The company started this year with a fleet of 1.900 e-bikes, now 4.000 are driving around in the Netherlands. Jelle Visser, founder of e-bike to go:

“We adjusted our strategy for this year, partly due to the consequences of the corona crisis. For example, we noticed a high demand from meal deliverers, but at the same time a decrease in the number of requests for home-work users because so many people work from home. Healthcare also has a great need for electric bicycles at the moment, which is why we have made this available free of charge to healthcare workers this year, so that they can travel to and from work safely or make visits. "

The adjusted course quickly shows results. The bicycles for care are permanent, the demand from meal deliverers is growing faster than ever and commuter traffic is picking up again, partly due to people who now prefer to avoid public transport. Visser indicates that they sell a record number of subscriptions every week. 

“The market for electric bicycles is a huge growth market, but the purchase price of a new one is still considerable, which is why a subscription to an e-bike that also includes service and maintenance is an increasingly interesting alternative. We can barely keep up in terms of surgery and we expect to run out of our stock of bicycles by mid-July. In the short term, we therefore need more bicycles and to achieve that we are looking for a substantial investment. We are therefore already busy with the plans for 2021, in which we expect to grow by 10.000 bicycles compared to this year and to further expand our store formula. ”

Expansion distribution

E bike to go wants to expand distribution in the next two years with pick-up points and physical stores. In the shops, consumers can not only take out a subscription, there is also a day rental and subscription holders can come here for repairs or to pick up their bicycle. The first achievement of this strategic course is the opening of the first physical store on the Overtoom in Amsterdam in March this year. Fisherman explains: 

“Physical stores and pick-up points are important for our growth, so we make the use of an electric bicycle accessible to everyone. In our first store in the capital, for example, local residents are in great demand for day-to-day rental and this demand is expected to grow in the coming years. Because of the corona virus, people have changed their view of transport and their lifestyle, the electric bicycle is a super good, sustainable and safe replacement for public transport and short car trips. ”

International ambition

E-bike to go will open more physical pick-up points in the near future, where subscriptions can be taken out and customers can go for repairs and picking up their bikes. 

“We have now run a successful pilot in The Hague and we are now also weekly in Rotterdam and Utrecht. In June we start with a weekly pick-up point in Eindhoven. With this location we can better reach the south of the Netherlands. Our ambition is to open another 10 stores next year. Not only in the Netherlands, but also abroad ”, Visser concludes.

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