In many Northern European urban areas, the bicycle is considered a serious mode of transport. Not just by fitness freaks or teenagers: in cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen you can expect to see little old ladies in fur coats and career professionals in suits on a bicycle. Not only does this mean that there are many bicycles everywhere, it also means that many bicycles get stolen (every year 80,000 bicycles get stolen in Amsterdam alone). A good bike may set you back around 500 for a standard bike, or around 1000 for a premium bike brand. When it gets broken or needs to be serviced, you can try to fix it yourself, whether it just needs oil or a full repair, or you can pay a bicycle repair shop to do it. For some consumers, their bike is their pride and joy. Some keen cyclists may even own several: one for long sports tours, a mountain bike for more challenging terrain, and a more mundane, simple bike for commuting and getting around. They might enjoy taking care of the bikes themselves, just as some car owners enjoy 'fixing' or 'pimping' their car. Other consumers have different, more simple needs: they just want a good, no-nonsense bike. They hate bikes with broken brakes and chains that fall off, and they also hate the oily fingers that come from fixing them. They simply can't afford, or refuse to buy, a new bike when theirs gets stolen. In these cities where bicycles are a common form of transport, there are many places to rent bikes for a few days, but this is very likely too expensive in the long run, and therefore a service mainly used by tourists.

This is why three students in Delft founded Swapfiets, a moniker combining the English term 'swap' with the Dutch word 'fiet', meaning bicycle. Swapfiets offers a simple, affordable plan to rent a bike on a monthly basis, which includes on-site repair and replacement bikes within twelve hours. The monthly fee of 16.5 covers any service and repair, and if the bike is stolen, a new one is delivered (for a 40 fee, though). They offer student discounts, and introduction promotions for new customers (25 per cent discount for the first six months). As the name suggests, you may 'swap' the bike anytime you like for another colour or model, or even opt for a 'Deluxe' model or an e-bike, which are also available for a higher fee. Information and customer service are provided via the Swapfiets app, or on their website.

A unique and recognizable feature of the Swapfiets bicycles is their blue front tyre (yes, only the front tyre is blue). This special feature makes every new Swapfiets bike on the street a new mobile advert for the brand. The highly conspicuous design of the Swapfiets bike made it possible to launch Swapfiets with very little paid media, simply using word-of-mouth, and social and owned media. The blue front tyre also has the effect of communicating to other riders that you, too, belong to the Swapfiets community, and recognize their 'sustainable, carefree, and healthy' vision of transport. The approach has been very successful, and Swapfiets has grown from a modest fleet of forty bikes in the first two weeks to more than 50,000 users, across fifty cities, in just five years. Swapfiets received the Dutch Design Award and Start-up of the Year 2018.

Swapfiets claims that their service is very sustainable, as their customers take pride in, and therefore good care of, Swapfietsbikes, and because Swapfiets (collaborating with local authorities) takes care to retrieve and repair stolen bikes so they are not simply left to rust in the street. The combination of user benefits, services, and affordable prices seems to allow more market expansion, as co-founder Richard Burger states: 'everything comes back to the fact that you get the advantages of a bicycle, and as soon as there are disadvantages, we will take care of them for you'.

Written by Lars Pynt Andersen, Associate Professor at Dept. of Communication and Psychology, University of Aalborg.

Discussion Questions

1. How can Swapfiets define their target audience?

2. Which awareness and attitude considerations for the non-users of Swapfiets may be important to address to attract new users?

3. Which communication and promotion activities would you advise for Swapfiets in order to maintain and increase brand loyalty?