When Strategy Stalls, Alignment Is the Missing Variable
The cycling industry has spent the last several years shifting from unprecedented demand to widespread correction. Inventory piled up, margins tightened and consumer excitement cooled. Yet the most significant pressure on brands did not come from the market itself. It came from inside the organization. Strategy breaks down when teams interpret the future differently, and in cycling this misalignment has become the rule rather than the exception.
The Observable Shift
Through 2020 and 2021, demand surged beyond anything the industry had seen. Brands scaled production aggressively, expanded assortments and accelerated channel strategies. When demand normalized, the structure underneath was exposed.
The data is sharp.
Circana reports that cycling unit sales dropped more than 20 percent from pandemic highs, while inventory across major brands remained significantly elevated.
PeopleForBikes BPSA data shows that retailers carried an average of 6 to 9 months of excess product through 2023 and 2024.
At the same time, consumer purchase behavior shifted toward value and away from innovation, with newness failing to convert at historical levels.
The industry believes the market is uncertain.
The deeper truth is that alignment inside many brands never caught up with the new environment.
The Underlying Pattern
Cycling companies often operate with three competing agendas.
• Product wants to push new platforms to stay competitive.
• Sales wants to clear existing inventory and support retailers.
• Marketing wants to defend brand positioning while also driving D2C performance.
All of these priorities are rational.
They are rarely unified.
As a result:
• Assortments expand even when demand softens.
• Discounts run deeper than intended because sales and marketing lack a shared strategy.
• Retail partners struggle when brands push heavily into D2C without an integrated plan.
• Roadmaps shift constantly as teams react to market pressure from different directions.
None of this is caused by lack of talent.
It is the predictable outcome of strategic misalignment.
When every team inside the brand holds a different interpretation of what matters most, the business begins to drift in subtle but compounding ways.
The Scenario
Inside many cycling companies today, leadership believes they are aligned because they share the same long term goals. Sell through inventory. Protect the brand. Support dealers. Grow D2C. Improve margins.
But when each team is asked what the next six months should prioritize, the answers vary widely.
Product pushes for new launches to stay competitive.
Sales pushes for promotions to move aging stock.
Marketing pushes for campaigns the inventory cannot fully support.
D2C pushes for margin while wholesale pushes for volume.
Each decision makes sense in isolation.
Together they weaken the company’s forward motion.
The brand ends up with:
• too much carryover product
• too little differentiation between seasons
• promotional cycles that confuse the customer
• frustrated retailers
• and inconsistent cash flow
The strategy has not failed.
The alignment has.
The Intervention
Cycling brands regain momentum when they simplify and realign. Not around vision. Around sequence.
The turning point happens when leadership commits to one shared definition of what matters right now, then builds the entire operating plan around that choice.
The structure is clear.
• Align product, sales, marketing and operations around a single near term priority.
• Clarify which channels absorb which parts of the inventory burden.
• Reset launch calendars according to real demand, not legacy cycles.
• Build cross team decision rhythms so product, marketing and sales move together.
• Protect the brand from deep discounting by aligning messaging, promotions and inventory strategy.
When cycling brands make this shift, the effect is immediate.
Inventory stabilizes.
Promotions become intentional rather than reactive.
Teams stop working against each other.
Retailers regain confidence.
The story becomes consistent again.
The organization does not need new ideas.
It needs shared clarity.
What This Means
When a cycling brand slows down, the issue is rarely the market alone. It is the lack of a unified direction that forces each team to interpret the strategy in their own way. Once alignment returns, execution sharpens and the business moves with purpose instead of pressure.
How Oktos Helps
We help cycling brands uncover where interpretations diverge and rebuild a shared definition of direction across product, sales, marketing and operations. Our work creates a unified sequence that reduces friction, aligns channels and restores momentum. The result is a brand that moves confidently in a market that rewards clarity and punishes inconsistency.
