What’s new: Chinese bike-sharing startup Hello Inc. is pushing ahead with an expansion of electric bicycle manufacturing in a search for a new growth driver.
Hello, which counts Alibaba Group and its financial arm Ant Group as investors, has opened 3,563 electric bicycle retail shops across the country since announcing the new business initiative in late 2020, Cheng Liang, a senior executive of Hello, said Thursday.
Hello’s sales of two-wheel electric bicycles have grown at a pace of 1,023% year-on-year over the period, Cheng said, without giving an exact sales figure. Cheng said Hello sold 35,000 electric bikes through major e-commerce platforms during this year’s Double 11 shopping event last month.
Hello launched its first three electric bike models in early April. The company runs a production facility in Wuxi and plans to build a new factory in Tianjin, bringing total annual capacity to 4 million bicycles, according to Cheng.
Why it matters: Starting as a bike-sharing service provider in 2016, Hello later expanded its business into ride-hailing, hotels and travel reservations. Bike-sharing remains its biggest revenue source, accounting for nearly 90%.
But the company has been running at a loss and is in urgent need to find new profit sources, especially after it abandoned a U.S. initial share sale in July.
China in 2018 adopted new national technology and safety standards for electric bicycles, a move expected to trigger a sales surge due to replacement demand.
Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (hello@caixin.com)
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