Modular, sustainable portfolio

Context

E-bikes are taking over bike lanes, with their sales set to outpace regular bikes in Europe in the next few years. This rapid growth in the e-bike market has been driving increased interest and investments from many companies, both new and established. With this increasingly fragmented and growing market and a consolidated fixed supply chain, pressure has been building.  Even though QWIC has grown together with the overall market in the last 15 years, the premium e-bike brand was looking for ways to continue their growth. Turning their eye on the future, QWIC partnered up with Qindle to define a scalable and sustainable strategy for their future e-bikes.

The opportunity

One of QWIC’s strengths lies in their presence across a broad set of (customer segments), yet also lengthened the overall product development cycle as resources are spread across segments. The “one bike” e-bike startups, developed with more focus and introduce new innovations faster and set new standards for sustainability. The market giants like Gazelle on the other hand, leveraged their size to their advantage in the supply chain, pushing out timelines and squeezing capacity for every bike player smaller than them. Creating  a tangible vision and strategy that facilitates QWICs growth ambitions in the current competitive and supply landscape was the big opportunity.

Our approach

Through deep collaboration with QWIC across all functions, a clear strategic focus and future scenario was established. It embodied a clear vision for the companies’ future ambitions in context of all market relevant aspects from supply chain, to consumers, to design and brand.  The future scenario was brought to life by a modular portfolio strategy; a single bike geometry and frame that could cater for many segments, from compact to adventure. It allows QWIC to stay true to their broad segment coverage, whilst drastically shortening the product development lifecycle. As a litmus test for the portfolio strategy, a scalable tech platform was developed. A smart construction approach that combined all elements from upgradeability, sustainability, manufacturing flexibility and even late customization to take back full control over QWICs supply chain.