LAKEWOOD, Calif. (BRAIN) — Tern recently sucessfully concluded a Kickstarter.com campaign for a folding e-bike, raising $92,430 from 89 backers, surpassing the campaign's $60,000 goal.
The Vektron model bikes will be delivered to Kickstarter backers via brick-and-morter retailers, the company said. The company has about 150 U.S. dealers. According to the campaign's Kickstarter campaign page, backers pledged to buy 26 of the bikes, with pledges starting at $2,917 eligible to get a bike. The Vektron will eventually retail for $3,400.
"Local bike shops are the keystone of cycling in communities, but as we all know, consumer buying behavior is changing," said Josh Hon, the founder and team captain of Tern. "We've spent a lot of time discussing how to adapt to new consumer behaviors, while growing and supporting local shops. With our latest Kickstarter campaign, we're pioneering a hybrid sales model that offers the product exploration and discovery that consumers are increasingly looking for online, combined with the local service and support that are essential to growing cycling in cities. Our dealers are happy, Tern riders are happy, and we're happy too."
The company said Kickstarter is ideal for e-bike, which are a developing product category in the U.S. "Compared with traditional bike sales channels, Kickstarter offers unprecedented access to a nation-wide community of early tech adopters, making it an ideal platform to grow a new category," the company said. "Beyond wider market exposure, Kickstarter is optimized to introduce new concepts and products to audiences. Potential consumers on Kickstarter could learn about the Vektron through product videos and early rider testimony. Likewise, visitors could ask questions to the Tern community, and explore the features and benefits of the product, before committing to a purchase."
The company said bikes will be shipped to the dealer closest to the consumers who bought them, for assembly and delivery.
"By establishing a local relationship, Tern's hybrid model ensures that riders are supported throughout the lifetime of the product. In exchange, Tern's dealers receive virtually the same margin they would on a conventional walk-in sale, and exposure to a much wider digital audience. Ultimately, Tern's model delivers more business for shops, and a better experience to Tern's customers," the company said.
The new model has a Bosch motor. It will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2017. Interested U.S. dealers can contact dale.aguas@ternbicycles.com.
