‘Numbers, we love ’em’: The Bicycle Blue Book Survey
Call it a hunch, call it a gut feeling, but when we started Bicycle Blue Book we were pretty sure riders everywhere would be really excited about a tool that gave then an accurate value for their used bikes for the first time. When your bike’s used value can be equal to your cars, it’s important to get it right and thanks to some serious research and high level math, that’s what Bicycle Blue Book does. Our marketplace takes it the next step, providing a safe and easy way to list and sell your used bike.
But we are always thinking, always finding ways to improve what we do or provide new services, our Trade In Widget is a great example of this. We recently decided to run some of the things we have been thinking about by a few riders to get some feedback, and when we say a few, we mean thousands. With our friends at MTBR, we conducted our first major survey and guess what, turns out riders everywhere are thinking about a lot of the same things we are. We asked more than 20 questions and here are some of the highlights.
We asked riders if their next bike purchase would be new or used, and while we knew the used market was big, we were surprised to learn that a third of all riders are looking for a used bike first.
• A whopping 85% of riders feel an accurate evaluation guide is an important tool when they consider buying or selling a used bike. I guess our gut feeling was right!
• 83% of riders thought they would buy a new bike more often if they could find an easy and trusted place to sell their used bike. Have I mentioned our Marketplace? A similar percentage wants a way to trade in their old bike. Trade In Widget, anybody?
• Again, approximately 80% of riders would like a reputable bike shop to inspect and verify a used bike purchase and would be willing to pay for the service. This makes perfect sense, as we discovered that the number one obstacle to buying a new bike is concern about the bike’s history, from crashes to overall condition.
We learned much, much more in our survey thanks to the thousands of riders that participated and you can be sure as we improve our used bike marketplace and our valuation toolwe will be using this feedback to better serve riders everywhere. You can already see the results in our marketplace and our Trade In Widget. Take them for a spin and you’ll find solutions to the concerns and hurdles riders expressed in our survey.
