Electric bicycle manufacturer VanMoof – popular with some Dutch people, hated by others – is in trouble. In 2021, a loss of 70 million euros was incurred on a turnover of 90 million euros The Financial Times recently.
The company is experiencing growth spurts. Since 2017, the turnover and the workforce have increased tenfold. But at the same time, waiting times are increasing and technical defects are becoming increasingly apparent. Last year there were no fewer than 30,000 complaints. From refusing bicycle bells and spontaneously blaring theft protections to bicycles whose lock cannot be opened with a smartphone. And the latter is extra difficult if the traditional key is no longer there. About 10 percent of the bicycles sold had to be taken back.
VanMoof – founded by the brothers Ties and Taco Carlier – claims to develop all parts of the bicycle itself. But those parts have to be made in Asia, especially in Taiwan. And when they arrive in boxes, there is often something wrong with them due to production errors. Sometimes there is something wrong with the software. Sometimes the hardware is not quite one hundred percent, just a millimeter too big or too small. But the consequences are huge. If the first unpacked part does not fit completely, this usually applies to the entire shipment. And it takes months to complete the whole process from return to new parts receipt. Certainly with the logistical problems in maritime transport today. It is the flip side of globalization that those parts can no longer be made and repaired here. VanMoof also has insufficient bicycle repairmen to repair the defects themselves. There are as few candidates for that profession as there are for newspaper deliverers and solar panel installers.
VanMoof is in a battle with time. Turnover must reach 500 million euros to break even. That’s a fivefold increase. And that has to be done quickly, for two reasons. Competitors who want to get their share of VanMoof’s yuppie segment are lurking. Just like with Netflix, it’s nice when you’re alone in the market, but it becomes different when the whole community starts shooting among your pigeons. VanMoof has therefore launched a new series of models at a lower price, including the S5 and A5 with all kinds of extras. The new VanMoof V will hit the road later this year, a kind of Max Verstappen bike that can reach speeds of about 50 kilometers per hour. A second reason is that the e-bike is doomed to become a cash cow for the government. The call for measures against the nuisance caused by e-bike use will lead to tax interventions.
With Gillian Tans, who joined Booking.com as operational director, VanMoof has recruited a crisis manager. The Carlier brothers continue to pull all the strings themselves, but she has to put the internal organization in order: reducing waiting times and repairing defects.
She must be a very impatient person.