Do you know what your customers need?

Due to COVID-19, E-bikes became popular transportation to low down the risk while online shopping has grown rapidly. In the urban areas, Uber Eat also boosted the e-bikes needs. More and more senior citizens want an e-bike so they can enjoy riding without pain. The market is booming.

To find the most popular e-bikes in the market, we researched the top 100 products on Amazon’s Best Sellers list. Excluding the e-bike parts and accessories in this list, there are left with 25 mountain bikes and 23 folding bikes. We listed their appearances, prices, freights, and specs as below. Let's figure out what inspiration we can get from it!

From the data we have compiled, 98% of the electric folding bicycles are priced below $1,000, 80% are below $800, and 60% are between $500 and $800. Those priced between $500 and $600 US dollars accounted for the largest proportion. It indicates that the budget of most customers is about US$600. And we'd better NOT pricing our folding electric bicycles higher than $800.

As for electric mountain bikes, 76% of them are below $1,000. About half of them are priced between $700 and $900. We can tell that the average price of electric mountain bikes is higher than that of electric folding bikes. Why? Because they are used in different scenarios. The top feature of a folding e-bike should be light and portable so the customers can effortlessly use it for commuting and errands. On the other hand, customers who buy an electric mountain bike tend to ride in more rugged road conditions. That means a mountain bike should be powerful and tough enough to fit in off-road. In other words, its specs should be higher than a folding bike.

Overall, these products on the best sellers list are very affordable. Is affordable the only criterion? Customers pay for products to meet their own needs. If the product is poor-performance, a low price won't earn you customers as well. Now, how do the top 100 e-bikes perform? The key specs will tell.

We all know that the battery matters most for an e-bike. Therefore, it is also the most expensive part. With the same voltage, the larger capacity, the farther milage. With the same capacity, the higher voltage, the stronger power. In conclusion, a 10.4ah battery lasts longer than an 8ah one, a 48V battery is more powerful than a 36V one.

For folding bikes, only 20% of them have a battery voltage of 48V. 50% of them have a battery capacity lower than 8ah. For mountain bikes, 39% of them have a battery voltage of 48V. 89% of them have a battery capacity higher than 10ah. Regardless of the power or the range, the performance of mountain bikes is much better than that of folding bikes. No wonder mountain bikes are more expensive than folding bikes.

In addition to the basic performance, riding experience also matters. For example, suspension can increase comfort during riding. And most products take this into consideration: 58% of the folding bikes have suspension and 82% of the mountain bikes have suspension.

The derailleur can change the speed of the bicycle by adjusting the size of the front and rear chainrings, or respond to different road sections and road conditions. No surprise that 42% of folding bikes are without a derailleur while only 4% of mountain bikes are without a derailleur. This is consistent with the customer needs for mountain bikes: adapt to different road conditions. For both folding bikes and mountain bikes, the most common type is 7-speed. That's not impressive but it's enough to meet the customer's needs.

Other findings:
1. More than 95% of the bikes in best sellers list has a monochrome display.
2. All folding bikes and 96% of mountain bikes have mechanical brakes.
3. Half of the sellers offer free shipping.

In conclusion, the product should consider two factors. One is the customer's needs, and the other is the customer's budget. Prices fluctuate around value. Generally speaking, the higher the configuration, the higher the price. Therefore, the best-selling model is the product that meets the customer's budget and meets their basic needs.

In fact, online shopping also has its drawbacks. Customers who buy e-bike online need to assemble them by themselves. What's more, customers can only access online technical support if any problems arise during use. This leads to a poor customer service experience. For customers who are not mechanic-advantage type, this is a disaster. Therefore, there are always reviews suggesting not to buy e-bikes online on Amazon. Even so, online shopping for electric bicycles has not decreased. The epidemic has also led to the closure of many bike shops. Facing the attack of online shopping, how should we defend our own shops? The strategy is to find products that meet customers' needs, set a price that is affordable, and give full play to our advantages-timely professional technical support.