For bicycle retailers, the season starts in spring. In 2020 the spring brochure – around 110,000 copies – went out two days before the first Covid lockdown. After that, the retailer’s route to a sale was blocked: shop, advice, test ride.
The retailer: a bicycle shop with a service workshop in the Rhineland, seven staff, run by two brothers in the second generation. Its focus: e-bikes, brand-name bikes, servicing.
Advertising followed a plan that the owner drew up in advance every year: a brochure and a newspaper advertisement placed through an agency. Sales happened in the shop – a needs assessment by the long-serving sales manager, then a test ride outside on the road. The website was, in the co-owner’s words, ‘more or less a web shop with no checkout’.
‘And that’s what we call our spring brochure, to open the season. Naturally, we’d distributed it two days before the shutdown.’
The owner of the bicycle retailer at the ideation workshop on 6 April 2020
According to the owners, the shop held stock with a purchase value of over €1m, about ten per cent above sales in the best year so far, the financing had to be serviced from ongoing income, and about two weeks remained before the business was at risk.
Sales continued only in emergency mode, by appointment. The co-owner approached Oberwasser Consulting, with a goal of no more than ten days to the first operational change.
Test rides on the customer’s own routes were already standard practice – ‘give the customer the bike and ride the routes where they’ll actually use it’, as the owner put it. Open: why customers came here, and what of that could be shown without the shop.
The format was called ‘Re-innovate to survive!’: a sprint in days rather than weeks. At kick-off, revenue was broken down by product group; e-bikes brought in the largest share, and the focus went there. The retailer’s team developed the ideas itself.
It was based on in-depth Jobs to Be Done interviews using the Wheel of Progress framework: three with customers who had bought an e-bike from this retailer in the preceding months, and one with a mountain biker who had bought her bike elsewhere – as a comparison. A team of four analysed them. The Wheel of Progress makes the forces at work measurable; Eckhart Böhme and Peter Rochel developed it in 2019.
In 2026, we analysed the same four transcripts again with AI. What the AI found, and what only the team saw: JTBD customer interviews: AI vs. human (in German).
The case study as a PDF (7 pages): background, project, finding, test cards and what happened next. Download it free – no sign-up needed, link at the end of this page.
All three shop customers described the same task: keeping up without effort – uphill, into the wind, with a partner or with the dogs. None of the three purchases had anything to do with Covid.
‘Without an e-bike, no chance at all.’
Buyer with dogs
She came into the workshop with a broken bike, having found the retailer through the manufacturer’s dealer directory and good reviews.
‘[…] to keep up, to switch the motor on now and then.’
Buyer, bike for his wife
Retailer nearby. The sales conversation tipped the balance.
‘[…] every obstacle, really, with a smile.’
Couple, e-bike purchase
Retailer nearby, with an eye to servicing later on. The advice tipped the balance.
The comparison case: a mountain biker wanted fun and better skills. She bought elsewhere, without a test ride.
| Finding | Shop customers |
|---|---|
| Wanting to keep up without effort | 3 of 3 |
| Researched before the visit (manufacturer sites, directories, reviews, acquaintances) | 3 of 3 |
| Chose the retailer partly because it was nearby | 3 of 3 |
| Explicitly mentioned the workshop and later servicing | 2 of 3 |
| Attentive advice tipped the balance | 2 of 3 |
| Purchase had something to do with Covid | 0 of 3 |
At the ideation workshop, the owner asked whether these customers had come into the shop by chance:
‘So, by implication, that means it was basically chance that they came into the shop here, because we hadn’t got the message across beforehand that we’re a good service partner. Or how should I read that?’
The owner at the ideation workshop on 6 April 2020, after the interviews were presented
The interviews showed otherwise: all three had done their research beforehand – manufacturer sites, dealer directories, reviews or acquaintances. They chose a retailer nearby, two of them explicitly with an eye to servicing later. Both could be shown even with the door shut.
‘[…] someone who can also give us a certain level of service later on. Because these e-bikes do need servicing after a while.’
E-bike buyer on choosing the retailer
At the workshop, the retailer’s team drew up three test cards, each with a criterion set in advance.
| Before | Test card |
|---|---|
| Spring brochure and newspaper advertisement on an annual plan | A call to the local radio station with an offer for commuters. Criterion: agreement to run a piece within 14 days |
| Test rides from the shop, outside on the road | Test rides at the customer’s home, offered on the website, with a note to manufacturers for their dealer directories. Criterion: ten test rides booked within seven days |
| Advice only in the shop | Questions and answers with a checklist on the website, plus the boss’s phone number. Criterion: at least three calls in the first week |
There are no measurements per test card.
What happened next comes from conversations with the owners, not from measurements. According to the owners:
From 20 April 2020, bicycle shops were allowed to reopen. The measures and the reopening coincided; whether, and how much, the measures contributed cannot be separated out.
The case study in 7 pages: background, project, finding, test cards and what happened next – ready to pass on to others with a say.
In this case, eight days passed between kick-off on 30 March 2020 and the start of implementation on 7 April: four buyer interviews from 1 to 3 April, analysis as a team, and on 6 April the ideation workshop with the retailer’s team. The format was condensed into days to suit the lockdown.
This case is a bicycle retailer with a service workshop and seven staff. Four buyer interviews were enough to see why customers came: all three shop customers wanted to keep up without effort and chose a retailer nearby, two of them explicitly with an eye to the workshop and servicing.
How much the measures contributed cannot be separated from the effect of the reopening. According to the owners, the threat to the business had passed after three weeks and the stock was sold within eight to twelve weeks. From 20 April 2020, bicycle shops were allowed to reopen; the measures and the reopening coincided. There are no measurements per test card.
A test card records in advance what will be tried and how success will be recognised. One example here: test rides at the customer’s home, offered on the website – criterion: ten test rides booked within seven days.
No. None of the three purchases had anything to do with Covid. The buyers wanted to keep up without effort – uphill, into the wind, with a partner or with the dogs. They also chose the retailer because it was nearby.
Here it was a closed shop. For you, it might be a sales channel falling away, a new competitor or a market on the turn: you know what you are good at – but not which of your strengths tips the balance for buyers. Do you know whether your customers come to you by chance?
The Buying-Reason Finding: a real buyer, interviewed and checked against your assumptions. In this case, it was four interviews in a week. For you, it starts with a list of what you believe today – and one interview.
View the Buying-Reason Finding
Need to know how your customers buy across the board? Then the Customer Insights Sprint is the direct route. Prefer to find out more first? Podcast with real cases (many episodes in German)