One of our core business units is mobility IoT. This goes back to the early days of this company when one of our first large scale contracts was tracking stolen luxury vehicles. A recent Van Moof newsletter stated that the S6 is “10x less likely to be stolen” than other bikes in the Netherlands. It definitely piqued interest.
First, a little backstory….
An e-bike manufacturer normally wants to sell a badge, a bike, a frame, and a battery. They know their industry is driven by novelty and rapid change. Many prefer to leave the rest as an upsell or to mitigate risk by using add-ons from 3rd party suppliers. This is pragmatic; 24/7 monitored security is a different job to light engineering or sales. But, there is also crossover; battery monitoring tools can aid in theft detection. GPS can provide user related features. A bike is a platform. An e-bike is a platform with a power source.
When you go beyond the headline, what is Van Moof selling? They are offering a 2 (or 3) year package covering a layered set of theft deterrents. Some of it is physical security, some is external monitoring, some of it is insurance. Overall the concept is that you will not be without a bike when you need it. The package is not cheap. There is a value proposition for the company.
Does this kind of package apply across the range? No, the concept is directed at the premium end. This makes sense in terms of selling insurance; risk decreases the higher up the social ladder you go (secure storage, exclusive suburban neighborhoods, weekend recreational use, etc.). Premium e-bikes (retailing at over 3000 euros) are not used as daily drivers in Utrecht or Rotterdam by students or commuters, to be chained to a rack outside the train station.
So, is this good business or just good marketing? Using a value-added subscription service is something we know that many vendors in the e-bike industry have an issue with. Importing a container from Taipei is the work of 50% of hipster bike “manufacturers.” They want to sell inventory and be done with it.
The core idea of a “lifestyle” brand like Van Moof is different. “*Brand identity” has value to their customer profiles. That brand proposition often translates into lifetime customers. In this scenario service quality matters. Business propositions are different for this segment. Better margins allow for customization, so that becomes the expectation.
*There is a wrinkle though: VanMoof went bankrupt in 2023. The brand is now backed by investment from McLaren; rescued and relaunched. So the “brand identity as insurance against churn” story has an asterisk. The protected assets are the IP and design language, not the original company or the customer base. This is why the product is more insurance than “security.” Profitably selling anxiety reduction on a discretionary luxury purchase – fully insured rich people.
It is a beautifully packaged insurance product – moral hazard is suppressed by the fact that the “insurer” also controls the loss-prevention hardware. Kick lock, alarm, GPS aren’t separate from the policy. They’re underwriting inputs the manufacturer designed and can tune. Best of all, they control the claims verification layer. The telemetry that proves theft happened is generated by their own device. A normal insurer takes your word plus a police report. VanMoof has GPS logs. That’s a fraud detection tool no third-party insurer gets near.
