What is a "market"? According to Marketing Management Analysis, Planning and Control by Philip Kotler, "The term market has acquired many usages over the years." One of the earliest usages is that a market is a physical place where buyers and sellers gather to exchange goods and services. Economists describe a market in terms of all the buyers and sellers involved in actual or potential transactions over some good or service, and they are interested in describing and evaluating the structure, conduct, and performance of the market.

A market is the set of all individuals and organizations that are actual or potential buyers of a product or service. To a marketer, "a market is the set of all individuals and organizations who are actual or potential buyers of a product or service. Thus the marketer limits market to mean the buyer side of the economist's definition of market; the seller side is called the industry or competition. The marketer wants to know several things about the market, such as its size, purchasing power, needs, and preferences."

The job of a marketer is to know the market. As basic as this may sound - the job of a marketer is to know the market. According to Philip Kotler, a marketer needs to "understand and have working knowledge of the operating characteristics of four generic types of markets: consumer market, producer market reseller market, and government market. These markets are essentially distinguished on the basis of the buyers' role and motives rather than the characteristics of the purchased product."

• Producers are individuals and organizations buying for the purpose of producing. This is also called the OEM or original equipment market.
• Resellers are individuals and organizations buying for the purpose of reselling. These are the Wholesale Distributors and Specialty Bicycle Retailers in our channel of trade.
• Governments are government units buying for the purpose of carrying out government functions.
• Consumers are individuals and households buying for personal use - and they are often overlooked in our industry because of the focus on producers and resellers, or worse yet, we mistakenly believe that consumers, producers and resellers are collectively the market.

Markets are complex. Reality and many of the problems we have seen and experienced lately in the bicycle industry are proof that markets are complex, and it is vitally important to separate the four generic types of markets, and additionally clearly understand and distinguish the buyer's role and motives for each of the four generic types of markets. However, consumers are the overriding and driving force.

Consumers are the driving force in the U.S. economy and they are the driving force in the bicycle industry and the Specialty Bicycle Retail channel of trade. Therefore, all of our efforts should be focused on gathering, analyzing, understanding and utilizing factual and timely information about consumers. It is possible to develop the required data and information by asking the following questions.

• Who is in the consumer market?
• What do consumers buy?
• When do consumers buy?
• Who participates in and influences the consumer buying decision?
• What are consumers seeking?
• How do consumers buy?

Asking the questions is easy. Getting the answers is the hard part! Over the last decade we have had available little or no consumer research to help our understanding of the Who, What, When - Who, What, How questions, much less answers in the form of hard data or information. But, the long dry spell has ended and the void has been filled by the biggest and best consumer research report produced since way back in 1990!

Cycling Consumer of the New Millennium is a comprehensive report on the U.S. Adult Cycling Market with key market trends for the next decade. The Executive Summary contains over 50 tables and charts along with an in-depth analysis by Brad Edmondson, Senior Fellow for Demographic Research, Center for the New West.

Who is in the U.S. adult consumer market for bicycles? Cycling Consumer of the New Millennium accurately represents the U.S. adult bicycle market. This outstanding research, conducted in partnership with NBDA and Rodale Inc., accurately represents the U.S. adult bicycle market in the year 2000, and compares it with the adult bicycle market in 1990. Who is in the U.S. adult consumer market for bicycles? The following excerpt from Table 51 of the Executive Summary compares selected Bicycling Demographics between 1990 and 2000.

Trendline: Bicycling Demographics

What do U.S. adult cyclists buy? The research was conducted during the summer of 2000, and covered U.S. adults (18 years or older), who own a bicycle they purchased new. The data was collected from a statistically significant and accurate national sample of U.S. consumers with a self-identified interest in cycling, and was projected to the U.S. population according to accepted research standards. Abacus Custom Research conducted the research, and Elliot Gluskin, research director for Bicycling and Mountain Bike magazines, managed the project with funding from the NBDA. What do U.S. adult cyclists buy? The following is an excerpt from Table 3 of the Executive Summary and reports on adults who own a bicycle bought new by types of bikes owned.

Types of Bicycles Owned 2000

Who influences the consumer buying decision? This consumer research addresses the strategic positioning of cycling products manufacturers, suppliers and brands in today's U.S. consumer marketplace by providing data and answers to the six Who, What, When - Who, What, How questions. The following is an excerpt from Table 11 of the Executive Summary, and reports on adults who own a bicycle bought new by the influences on their purchase decision.

Influence on Purchase Decision 2000

How do adult cyclists in the U.S. buy? This consumer research addresses the strategic question of strengthening the branding and positioning of U.S. specialty bicycle dealers as the channel of choice among consumers who buy cycling products and the impact of the Internet on the consumer purchasing process as it relates to cycling products. The following is an excerpt from Table 7 of the Executive Summary, and reports on adults who own a bicycle bought new by where their last bike was purchased.

Where Last Bike Was Purchased 2000

The Goal is to make this valuable consumer research affordable for as many bicycle industry suppliers as possible! To make the extensive Cycling Consumer of the New Millennium database, analysis and trend analysis available to as many suppliers and specialty bicycle retailers as possible the NBDA and Rodale Inc. have created the following series of Full reports and Executive Summary reports.

Full reports, including the complete database and Executive Summary are now available for $2,995, or $2,495 for NBDA members - an absolute bargain when you compare this extensive research study to other similar studies selling for thousands of dollars more! In fact, check out the price for this same Full report package for non-bicycle industry companies.

Full report for bicycle industry suppliers
Includes: complete database, printed report, and CD-ROM.
Item number CC1: Price $2,995, or $2,495 for NBDA members

Full report for non-bicycle industry companies
Includes complete database, printed report and CD-ROM.
Item number CC2: Price $3,495

An Executive Summary for suppliers has been created that includes a printed report, CD-ROM and a users' guide for only $399, or $299 for NBDA members.

Executive Summary for suppliers
Includes: printed report, user guide and CD-ROM.
Item number CC4: Price $399, or $299 for NBDA members

Executive Summary for non-industry companies
Includes: printed report, user guide and CD-ROM.
Item number CC5: Price $499

You can place your order, request a catalog or ask for more information about The Cycling Consumer of the New Millennium by contacting Jay Townley & Associates, LLC, E-mail: jay@nbda.com.

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