The ANWB sells more than 60,000 bicycle helmets | NieuwsFiets.nu
ZWOLLE – During one of the sessions at the NVVC conference, Suzanne Buijtelaar, marketer Fiets & Erop Uit at the ANWB, gave a presentation on how they have achieved sales of bicycle helmets. Last year more than 60,000 pieces and this year they are aiming for 80,000.
Many ANWB members are over 55 and it certainly did not escape the attention of the cyclists’ association that the number of accidents in this target group was showing an increasing trend. Reason to pay more attention to the sale of bicycle helmets, both online and in the 72 ANWB stores, spread throughout the Netherlands. “We have 5 million members and a very large group of them are over-55s and cyclists. We can reach them. We already do that, for example by recommending nice cycling routes. We had not yet approached them much regarding bicycle safety,” said Buijtelaar, who indicated that the ANWB is not in favor of compulsory helmet use. “We want as many Dutch people as possible to cycle. That is why we have chosen to inform our members regarding bicycle helmets. And maybe we should start selling them in our stores, we thought at the time.”
ANWB members started inspiring others to wear a helmet
When they delved into the website data, they noticed at the ANWB that bicycle helmets were often searched for in the search behavior on the website. “We didn’t know exactly what information they were looking for regarding bicycle helmets, but the word ‘bike helmet’ came up more and more in 2022. Then we sold 26,000 and last year we went for 60,000 helmets because we thought ‘we can do this’. This year we focused on 80,000 bicycle helmets. That is quite a lot and costs a lot in terms of purchasing and space in the warehouse, so we have to work hard.”
A year ago, the ANWB started a bicycle safety campaign to inform and inspire its members, aimed at the ’empty nester’, the active older person who likes to cycle, has time to spare and consumes the ANWB media very well. “They love information and we have given them a lot of it,” Buijtelaar continues. “We have also made inspiration videos in which a cycling expert explains what a helmet does and how it works. Those videos have been extremely well viewed, especially on Facebook.”
Buijtelaar acknowledges that the bicycle helmet was quite a new product for the ANWB. But during the four campaign weeks, following Bicycle Helmet Day, last year it turned out that they had already sold 15,000 helmets, which fueled confidence that the target of 60,000 was achievable. “But we also learned during the campaign,” Buijtelaar admits. “We discovered that a message like ‘Wear a bicycle helmet’ doesn’t work at all. What did score is what people can do themselves. They want to know what to look for when selling a helmet. They want to know a lot, but remain in control and have the choice. Whenever we posted something on Facebook, we saw more than 600 reactions. It was nice to see members discussing with each other and giving tips. It inspired other members to wear helmets, which was a nice by-catch.”
People want to try on the bicycle helmet and a mirror to see how it looks
They have also started working actively in the ANWB shops. They put a bicycle helmet on all the mannequins and hung up large posters, with good photography that shows off the helmet. Buijtelaar explains that the online campaign scored particularly well in terms of reach and click-throughs, but that active online sales remained at just over 100 bicycle helmets. It turned out that ANWB customers strongly prefer to buy a helmet in the store. “77% of the people who bought a helmet in the store were over 55. The youth? 25… Pieces, not a percent. So we are not achieving that enough yet,” says Buijtelaar honestly. “People really want to try on the bicycle helmet and they want a mirror to see how it looks. We recently also added a mirror in the helmet wall.”
All store employees recently received training on bicycle helmets, so that they can fully focus on sales and achieve the target of 80,000 helmets by 2024.
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