Brompton Bicycle is to open a new flagship store in Westfield London as part of the global expansion of its network of Brompton Junction retail stores, providing Brompton’s range of bicycles and accessories direct to customer through state-of-the-art retail facilities.
The new store in Europe’s largest shopping centre which recently launched its £600m expansion, will represent the culmination of Brompton’s most popular and effective in-store retail concepts, including interactive bike build facilities and live demo area housed along with the brand’s first electric bike hire scheme in the UK.
The store design is to be based on a functioning workshop, designed to represent “the movement of a modern city that never stops”, as well as offering a range of aftersales and servicing facilities. Harnessing the sense of community, trained experts will be on hand within the store to offer technical advice and help with interactive bike builds and fittings to ensure customers are getting the Brompton that’s right for them. Brompton say the entire store will focus on the experience, with a digitally connected retail environment offering a customer-centric purchase and ownership experience, whilst remaining primarily all about the bike.
To commemorate the opening of the new store and to mark the next chapter for Brompton in the company’s home city of London, a new special edition Brompton W12 edition will be launched. With the name taken from the Shepherd’s Bush postcode, home of Westfield London and featuring a tessellated triangle pattern on the frame plate – inspired by the glass roof structure of Westfield London’s atrium, it signifies Brompton’s commitment to the area and the future of West London, home of Brompton for over 40 years. The new special edition model features an exclusive colour, Matt Metallic Blue, combined with black componentry and a black Brooks Cambium saddle and will be available only from the Westfield London store.
Set to open in April 2019, the new Brompton Junction store in Westfield London is the brand’s second in the UK and fifteenth in the world. The new unit is part of a broader brand partnership with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield that will see Brompton access Westfield London’s digital media screen network and provide content for the destination’s social media platforms, to promote the brand and the flagship store to a wider audience.
The new store opening is in response to increased customer demand and a growing sales volume globally but specifically within the UK. Brompton currently holds a 12% share of the hybrid/commuter sector of the bicycle market, up by 0.7% in 2018 and has seen a 7% sales increase from 2017 to 2018. These figures do not include E-bike, a sector Brompton has recently joined, launching the Brompton Electric in the middle of last year.
E-bikes are forecast to be the biggest growth sector of the market through 2019 and with the Brompton Electric, Brompton believe they are perfectly positioned to cater for this consumer appetite with a product that provides a portable, rechargeable e-bike for the urban environment.
The Brompton Electric will be available to hire from Brompton Junction at Westfield London, with the launch of the first electric folding bike hire scheme in the UK. There will also be a Drop and Shop scheme, allowing registered Brompton owners to leave their Brompton’s securely in store whilst they shop. Westfield London has welcomed more than 270m visitors since 2008, generating over £9.2bn in sales. With four in five of the 27.5+ million annual visitors arriving by sustainable transport, the parallels with Brompton’s vision to encourage cycling around the city are clear.
Will Butler-Adams, CEO, Brompton Bicycle, said: “At Brompton we want to get more people cycling in and around cities and find way to get the vast majority who know how to ride a bike, but continue to pay to go down a hole in the ground or sit frustrated in a metal box, to remember the freedom and fun of cycling. To do this we need to take the Brompton to the customer. This has been the philosophy with our Brompton Junction stores across the world; beautiful stores in great cities, inspiring a lifestyle change to a broad spectrum of urbanites. In opening a store in Westfield London, we are taking this to a new level, operating in one of the largest retail extravaganzas’ in Europe, with an opportunity to engage with a huge audience. We see genuine value in a partnership with Westfield beyond simply renting retail space. We want to work together to deliver an integrated experience for customers that also really influences how people think about mobility within an urban city space.”
Paul Buttigieg, Director of Commercial Partnerships, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, adds: “We’re thrilled to be welcoming Brompton Bicycle to Westfield London in the Spring this year. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield centres pride themselves on bringing new experiences to our shoppers first, and this well-loved UK brand’s new flagship store will offer Brompton’s first ever electric folding-bike hire scheme anywhere in the UK. What’s exciting is the focus Brompton is placing on forming a broader brand partnership, creating an integrated 360 experience for our customers who will receive content through our social and digital media platforms, as well as access to seasonal events allowing them to engage with its fantastic products. With this full brand integration approach and ’Rental Retail’ on the up as seen through URW research, we have no doubt the store will be a huge success.”
