CIE’s latest Business Impact Survey to measure the state of cycling in Europe

What is the state of cycling businesses in Autumn 2020? Is the COVID boom continuing, or have the second wave and darker days slowed things down?

One of the cycling sector’s most powerful tools during the coronavirus pandemic has been CIE’s series of Business Impact Surveys, showing the impact and the changes as the pandemic has evolved. In April the survey showed the true impact of business closures and the need for government support across the continent (read the Survey results from April here). By June many companies were back in recovery, but it was CIE’s data that showed many were still working their way through difficult times.

Now CIE has launched the third edition of the survey, to make sure we really understand the current state of CIE Members and the key issues of the moment. Was there a universal boom for all our members? Is the whole industry experiencing supply chain issues? Is government support still needed for some companies?

With critical meetings with EU officials in coming weeks, there is over €700 billion of recovery funds to be influenced (read what CIE is doing here). So this is not just a statistical exercise, it is the information that enables cycling to stand alongside other industries and make its case.

Hard evidence about the state of cycling presented to the EU and national governments has already improved our ability to lobby for high levels of support for cycling. Since March over €1 billion has been pledged to cycling infrastructure and incentives, much of which has already been installed and spent.

At times when the sector was full of rumours and anecdotes the CIE surveys have been conducted professionally and anonymously so we could provide hard evidence on the real trends. This was only possible because of the trust CIE Members have in the organisation, helping CIE ask the right questions and use the data in a sensitive way to navigate the sector through the crisis.

CIE’s Coronavirus Business Impact Surveys are commissioned CIE’s Market Impact and Intelligence Expert Group and the process is overseen by members who give their time to that group. More information here.

The survey is carried out by Sports Marketing Surveys, an independent market research company and member of the CIE’s Market Impact and Intelligence Expert Group. No detail about the member providing the data is required and no individual company data is shared, only aggregated results by sector. CIE thanks SMS for their expertise and resources to carry out the survey again.