Supply Chain Issues Weaken Success of Booming Kross Sales

According to recent reports, Kross, Poland’s largest bicycle manufacturer, resolved to keep its factory running throughout both March and April despite staff layoffs and ongo-ing supply chain issues. According to Kross President Zbigniew Sosnowski, sales are currently “booming,” but the company is yet to make up for earlier losses triggered by the arrival of the coronavirus.

Most industry insiders already know that both March and April resulted in bicycle sales barely 30% of the average. Understandably, this caused quite a bit of concern among members of the Polish Bicycle Association (PSR). Immediately, networks were put into place to share information about what was happening with sales, manufacturing, and importing.

In May, Kross reported sales that were roughly 30% higher than expected, a trend that carried on through June. Still, as the company has not yet made up for earlier losses, the company is still expecting to come in short of its yearly goals, despite being prepared for the impact of the pandemic.

In fact, most bicycle companies in Europe completely abandoned production during the onset of the pandemic. While Kross did have to lay off around 25% of its workforce, they made a choice to continue production. According to company heads, this turned out to be a “good decision.”

Supply Chain Problems

Kross management notes that the biggest hurdle since the pandemic has been supply chain deliveries. For instance, many of the Asian-produced parts the manufacturer relies on to produce the bicycles were stalled, back ordered, or unavailable. Fortunately, Kross was still able to enter the Spring and Summer seasons with a large supply of bicycles to offer their customers.

This is important, as Poland is currently seeing a renewed interest in cycling, particularly in response to the pandemic. In fact, about one-quarter of the population reports that they are cycling more often, be it for fun or as a means of travel. Though e-bikes are still catching on, Kross reports they plan to sell around 5,000 models this year.
Kross is celebrating its 30th anniversary and boasts a total of three brands: Kross, Le Grand, and Multicycle, the latter of which was acquired two years ago due to the bank-ruptcy of the Dutch manufacturer.
 
 Currently, Kross has a yearly production capacity of around 400,000 bicycles and e-bikes.