The goal of this article is to present an overview analysis of the common e-Commerce platforms in the cycling apparel industry in 2020. You’ll find a quick report about the most common bicycle apparel e-Commerce software and some personal considerations. It’s a starting point to evaluate the best e-Commerce solution for your future project.
About e-Commerce platforms
Put simply, a platform is software that allows a website to perform complex functions both in the front and back end of its operations. If we refer to a standard website (like a blog) we use the acronym CMS. “A CMS platform (Content Management System platform) is a piece of software that allows you to easily manage content and create a website”. A CMS like WordPress is useful to create small personal or business websites (read this reference article if you want to learn more). “Back end” functions are like writing a post, designing a contact form, updating a menu, and similar. “Front end” refers to the presentation of the posts, the template of the website, and similar functions.
When it comes to e-Commerce platforms, the “Back end” functions are a bit different: uploading a list of new products, managing the attributes of those products (size, color, availability, price), creating new categories, defining checkout payment methods, and other critical aspects to sell products online. The “Front end” functions are filtering the products by some attributes, the visualization of a listing of products, the checkout steps, the add to cart call to action, the cart widget, and similar functions.
Cycling apparel industry
I’m a passionate cycling amateur and I work in the e-Commerce industry. I often buy online my favorite Jerseys or Bib Shorts. During my last purchase, I was wondering about which one of the common e-Commerce platforms was the website running on. For this analysis around 20+ brands from the cycling apparel industry have been considered, starting with the ones wearing the UCI WorldTeams (men’s category, the teams of the highest category in professional road cycling). Plus other iconic brands are well-known in the market. Some considerations regarding the context/industry:
- Giordania, Alé Cycling, Vermac, and Castelli (Castelli + Sportful, same company) are the brands wearing at least 2 teams (UCI WorldTeams).
- Italy is the country with more brands wearing the teams (UCI WorldTeams) in this quick report.
Data collected on the best e-Commerce solutions
In this shared Google Sheet, you will find all the data collected. Click here to open the shared document and take a look at the side notes for more info about the data collection.
In this Google Datastudio dashboard, the data are summarized to count the usage of each platform.
Quick report & considerations
From the data collected these are the first considerations:
- Shopify is the most common platform in this industry (considering the brands analyzed).
- Magento, Prestashop, and WooCommerce are the other platforms used at least by two different brands.
- Salesforce Commerce Cloud is implemented by multi-sport brands with a bigger market.
- SAP Commerce Cloud, SuiteCommerce, and Custom solutions are other platforms used by those brands.
- Some brands still don’t have a dedicated e-Commerce or Shop online.
The choice of the e-Commerce platforms for their store may be affected by different motivations. One of these is the pricing of the platform and the pricing of the implementation. Here you can find the pricing grid for Shopify, the most common platform in this quick report. The entry-level pricing for the platform is 29$/month (348$/year). Some solutions (like Salesforce Commerce Cloud and SAP Commerce Cloud) have higher pricing and a higher level of functions compared with solutions for entry-level solutions like the previous.
The brands listed can sell their products on other channels online: on marketplace platforms (e.g. Amazon), on some multi-brand websites specific to the industry (e.g. Deporvillage or All4cycling).
Actions after reading
If you enjoyed reading this quick report there are some actions you can take now:
- Do you want to improve the article or add some valuable info to the report? Add a comment below or a comment in the Google Sheet file.
- Do you work in the cycling industry and do you need e-Commerce or a digital marketing consultancy? Please send me a request on the contact page.
Email: andreafagan93@gmail.com
Side Notes
- This article is an ongoing draft. I’ll try to improve it with all the considerations and comments that it will receive.
- All the content below can be verified/discussed. The statements declared are based on personal research and something can be wrong or missing. If you notice some improvements or errors please contact me.
- Some sites are custom made or the info was not available. Consider also that I’ve checked the website related to my current country (Italy). Some brands can have different platforms for each country.
- Do you want to understand which platform is using one of your favorite brands? I suggest this article by Pixel Union. When the info is available you can use the described methodology.
Credits & Sources
Here you will find your name if you want to contribute to this article:
- Images, sources: Alé Cycling, Shopify, Le Col.
