It is neither the first nor the second time we see it. Lidl it usually has a firm roadmap with which it manages to position its own products on the market, sell them out as a result of unbridled fever and, above all, sell itself as a real alternative to brands that offer much more expensive items.
Generally, it has known how to find the market niches that are succeeding at all times and in a short period of time it has found the way to exploit them. We have seen it with its air fryers, its electric scooters or its gaming keyboards.
The problem has been when the product to be “cheaper” has a much higher cost. The strategy in these cases has been to popularize a very cheap first entry product and, with the followers already in their pockets, release higher-priced and more advanced versions. An example? Its first Monsieur Cuisine Connect, and its more advanced but also more expensive Monsieur Cuisine Smart.
With electric bicycles we have seen the firm act in a similar way. First, it has opted for simple electric bicycles, with removable batteries that were attached to the frame but at a much lower price than its rivals. Now, Lidl takes a leap in quality.
Jumping on the electric bike bandwagon
Although growth was already being experienced, the real boom from the bike It came with the coronavirus pandemic. Tired of being at home, thousands of new cyclists came to this sport to use it as a means of transportation, purely recreational or something more serious and competitive. One way or another, the bikes disappeared from the shelves and a huge bubble was created.
Part of these cyclists found in the electric bicycle the means of transport they needed. “What makes me happier is to see that everyone who tries the electric bicycle no longer wants to use the motorcycle or the car again,” Ricard Jornet, a resident of Mataró (Barcelona), pointed out to our colleague José Manuel Blanco, in this interesting article in which several cyclists recounted their experience.
As expected, large surfaces such as Decathlon or Lidl They did not hesitate to enter the bubble. First with simple bicycles and, later, with options of higher quality and cost for the customer, like a kind of “cheap Vanmoof” that Decathlon seems to have in mind or the latest release from Lidl.
The supermarket chain is already selling its CRIVIT Urban E-Bike X and Urban E-Bike, the top-of-the-range versions of its electric bicycles, in Germany. They are models that are already sold for 1,199 euros and, despite everything, they are cheap compared to other models on the market to which you have to add a few hundred euros to obtain similar specifications.
These versions already have the battery integrated in your frame and it is sold with a touring bike finish and a more sporty one, although, in both cases, they are bikes designed for a purely urban environment.
In addition, these bicycles have up to 70 kilometers of fully electric autonomy and five power levels for a total of 250 watts that will propel the cyclist up to a maximum of 25 km/h. At this speed, the electric motor stops working, as required by European legislation.
Lidl has seen open a pool before your eyes with the electric bike. He first she has put a foot, has verified that the temperature is correct, it is comfortable and that she could stay in the water for a long time. It seems that, now, she has decided to jump in head first and get all soaked.
That first foot was their simpler electric bikes. He has verified that there are many potential customers for the product and has decided to compete in a market that demands higher quality and entails higher costs for the customer. Its CRIVIT Urban E-Bike X and Urban E-Bike already exceed 1,000 euros and, despite everything, that means sinking prices compared to the competition.
The commercial surface wants to repeat the tactic that it already used against Thermomix. Now we will discover if the water temperature was correct, it is too cold or the pool simply has no water.
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Photo | Lidl
