Presentation of ANCMA data about the Italian bicycle market in 2025
At the ANCMA press conference held on March 31 in Bollate, the main takeaway was the market decline: 1,303,000 bicycles sold in 2025, down -4% compared to 1,354,000 in 2024.
Data highlighting a deep structural crisis
Looking more closely, traditional bicycles dropped to 1,047,000 units (-3%), while e-bikes declined to 256,000 (-7%). The first key insight is that the segment expected to drive growth – electric – is now the one declining the fastest.
Even more significant is the historical comparison: compared to 2019, the market has lost over 400,000 bicycles, despite total revenue rising to approximately €2.5 billion, mainly driven by price increases (up to +32% in 2022).
As clearly stated during the conference by Cristiano De Rosa, bicycles are now too expensive, and this represents a direct barrier to market access.
The result is a system with lower volumes, higher prices, and reduced accessibility, where the contraction is not sudden but the outcome of a long post-COVID adjustment phase, further exacerbated by an increasingly evident issue of overstock: full warehouses that compress demand, slow product turnover, and disrupt the natural dynamics of the market.
The struggle of the specialized retail channel
The real breaking point, however, is not the aggregated data, but the evolution of sales channels. Specialized retail, which represents approximately 65–70% of the market, shows the sharpest declines (-14% e-bike and around -8% traditional bikes), while large-scale retail and online channels are growing, partially offsetting the decline of small and mid-sized retailers.
This shift is redefining sell-out dynamics: the market is not disappearing, but moving toward more price-driven models and less in-person advisory. Large chains, thanks to competitive pricing and clearer, more structured product information, generate higher trust among consumers. Independent retailers, on the other hand, struggle precisely on clarity and efficiency.
Another key point is that the number of physical stores is increasing (over 4,000 in Italy), indicating that retail is not disappearing but evolving, increasingly relying on services (technical assistance and workshops) rather than pure sales.
At the same time, bicycle usage is growing (from 2% in 2015 to 4% in 2025), alongside emerging signals such as the expansion of rental (+47% active locations) and the weight of cycling tourism (€10 billion). All indicators of real demand that exists but does not automatically translate into purchases.
An industry apparently moving in the opposite direction – but what does it mean?
When looking at the industrial side, the picture reverses. In 2025, traditional bicycle production increases to 1,805,000 units (+6%), exports rise to 1,042,000 units (+11%), and imports drop to 284,000 units (-28%).
The trade balance (exports minus imports) remains positive at +€172 million, indicating that Italian companies are still capable of transforming mostly Asian components into higher-value finished products. However, this raises critical questions:
How long will it take for Chinese brands to enter Western markets with finished products and strong branding? We already discussed this here.
To what extent does Italy’s lower labor cost compared to most European countries play a role? In other words, are we truly more competitive, or simply more cost-efficient in assembling mid-range consumer bicycles?
The components segment shows even stronger dynamics (exports at €550 million +14.5%, imports at €577 million +25.4%), suggesting an increasing reliance on semi-finished goods for assembly.
The Italian bike industry includes 220 companies, 17,000 direct employees, and €1.9 billion in industrial turnover, confirming a seemingly solid and competitive supply chain that positions Italy as a key European manufacturing hub, including contract manufacturing for major international groups.
A symbolic data point shared by Piero Nigrelli (ANCMA): 40% of European children ride bicycles made in Italy.
The paradox and the urgency to act
The paradox is clear: the industry is growing while the domestic market is shrinking. This misalignment is even more evident in the e-bike segment, where Italy remains stuck at around 20% market share (compared to up to 80% in Northern Europe), with declines in production (-17%), exports (-20.7%), and imports (-7.8%).
The structural issues are well known:
insufficient infrastructure (only €150 million allocated out of €1.2 billion planned for mobility)
low perceived safety – to the point that professional athletes like Pogačar have highlighted the risks of cycling in Italy – along with theft concerns
lack of coordinated policies and the spread of non-compliant electric vehicles distorting the market
insufficient education and cultural development around cycling
These macro issues are real, but a crisis of this magnitude requires prioritizing actions that can be implemented within months, not years or decades.
The system is not failing due to lack of products, but due to its inability to function efficiently: the connection between production and retail, between usage and purchase, and between supply and end users is breaking down.
The real critical point
The market is still being analyzed using traditional metrics (sales, production, exports), but the real issue is now different: the ability to convert potential demand into actual demand. This is also where immediate action is possible.
It is necessary to make the offering more accessible and understandable through structured product data, support retail in its evolving hybrid role between sales and service, and enable manufacturers and distributors to digitize the supply chain. This would allow retailers to be effectively present online without the current frictions (time, skills, cost), and to intercept demand before the purchase decision.
EurekaBike is the missing layer
In this context, EurekaBike acts as an enabling infrastructure: a layer that organizes, standardizes, and distributes product data across the entire value chain, improving operational efficiency for brands and distributors, increasing information quality for retailers, and making the purchasing experience simpler and more relevant for the end user.
At the same time, it connects supply and demand directly, transforming immobilized stock into sales opportunities and providing retailers with concrete tools to generate demand, both through the consumer marketplace AGORA (live at eurekabike.it) and through new B2B initiatives (HERMES) aimed at connecting distributors and retailers.
The -4% of the Italian market should therefore be read as a symptom: the real issue is a misaligned system that, without a pragmatic and immediate intervention, will continue to produce inconsistent results regardless of the strength of the industry.