Let's delve into the 5 major reasons behind the choice of connectivity to ensure the brand's success among cyclists, as well as its long-term profitability and growth.
Amélie Guicheney and Jacques Bonneville, co-founders of Gaya, integrated digital elements into the brand's strategy from the inception of the project. By placing data at the core of this strategy, they can identify 5 significant benefits for the brand:
- Enhancing the riding experience
- Simplifying maintenance and servicing to extend the life of your bike
- Developing new business models based on usage
- Measuring its impact
- Thinking about the bike's second life
Connectivity to enhance the rider experience
The integrated IoT product in Gaya bicycles (Mobitrax, IoT device by Velco) enables data collection and triggers actions. The collected data is transformed into services aimed at making the cycling experience increasingly secure, serene, simple, comfortable, and enjoyable. The primary functionality through a white-label mobile application in Gaya's branding colors is, of course, bike theft protection with the Velco device covering deterrence and bike recovery: notifications in case of suspicious movement, audible alarm, assistance cutoff, geolocation, and theft reporting within the application. The brand can also deploy services to improve assistance in case of a fall or breakdown. Statistics introduce a gamification and community aspect that strengthens the bond between the brand and cyclists.
Simplifying maintenance with connectivity
Through advice, reminders, and alerts, cyclists are guided in maintaining their bikes to avoid the inconvenience of a breakdown and, more importantly, the risks of a fall due to poor bike maintenance. Cyclist safety and the bike's lifespan are optimised through connected maintenance.
Developing new business models based on data
With data on the usage patterns of its cyclists and their profiles, brands can deploy services tailored to the needs and expectations of their customers. Thus, data can help design the next bike closely aligned with usage habits, marketing campaigns become more relevant with knowledge of the brand's cyclist profiles, and the brand can deploy innovative services to stand out and become a beloved brand.
Measuring its impact thanks to connectivity
Gaya bikes have covered more than 2 million kilometers in the last two years. A figure that the brand can track and showcase as desired to measure and, above all, prove its impact on green mobility. The brand can also measure its theft rate (less than 2% for Gaya bikes, well below national averages) and its rate of recovery of stolen bikes. Numerous metrics are available to brands to maximise opportunities from connectivity.
Thinking about the bike's second life
Connectivity allows the analysis of a bike with its mileage, maintenance history, and thus envision a strategy for the second life of electric-assist bicycles.
The Velco team sincerely thanks Gaya for shedding light on the benefits of connectivity for electric bikes and the specifics of the IoT solutions deployed by Velco. Official IoT partner of Shimano & Valeo and compliant with about 10 e-drive systems, Velco can connect any e-bikes with its IoT devices and software suite (web apps, mobile app & APIs). With more than 50,000 e-bikes equipped in Europe and North America, Velco is the preferred connectivity partner for your smartbike projects.
This article is sponsored by Velco.
