John Lewis launches bike subscription service with Bike Club

John Lewis & Partners has teamed up with kids bike subscription service Bike Club to offer its first kids’ bike subscription offering – just in time for Christmas.

The service is the first time John Lewis & Partners has ventured into a subscription service model and aims to give parents a hassle-free option in the build up to, and beyond getting new or refurbished bikes for Christmas. 

Founded in 2016 by Alexandra Rico-Lloyd and James Symes, Bike Club is the UK’s first kids bike subscription service and to date has succeeded in getting over 40,000 young cyclists pedalling. Bike Club makes high quality kids bikes and scooters more accessible to parents through an easy to manage monthly subscription, starting from as little as £3.99. 

To ensure a child experiences the benefits of riding the perfect-sized bike, a parent would need to buy eight different bikes before their child has turned 12 years old. Bike Club aims to make this a seamless experience, saving them both time and money. The service also eliminates the throw-away culture that is commonplace within the existing kids bike market. Those who sign up and become a member can select a convenient date for the bike to be delivered direct to their door. This can then be exchanged at any time as their child grows.

From today onwards, John Lewis customers at the Stratford City store – nestled within the busy London Westfield shopping centre – can try a selection of high-quality brands before choosing the model and size they’d like to begin their subscription with. 

John Lewis customers will be able to choose from a selection of the best bike brands including Frog, Forme, Strider and Woom. Their children can try these out for size, and even peddle, in store on the innovative roller system. The Bike Club bespoke sizing system will ensure children always have the correct sized bike. Parents can join Bike Club there and then, before arranging delivery of the bike through an interactive store tablet.

When Bike Club members are ready to exchange their bike, they simply arrange collection via the Bike Club website. These are collected at the same time as the next sized bike is delivered to their door. The collected bike then heads back to the Bike Club state of the art production facility where it gets refurbished by an expert team of technicians and offered to a new family to ride and love for a reduced monthly fee. Directly contributing to a circular economy that is reducing the millions of bikes that are sitting unused and wasted across the UK.

Commenting on the new partnership Alan Wright, Category Lead at John Lewis, said: 

“We are delighted to be partnering with Bike Club and offering our Stratford customers the opportunity to – sustainably – always have the right sized bike for their children. We know there are many young families in and around Stratford and we expect Bike Club to be very popular as customers look to make the most of the local amenities such as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.”

James Symes, CEO and co-founder of Bike Club, added: “We are thrilled to announce our new partnership with John Lewis & Partners marking our first-ever physical retail presence. It is great to be able to offer John Lewis customers a sustainable alternative for their children’s Christmas presents.  As society faces climate change, we should work together not to consume less, but consume better, meaning we should rent better things and refurbish them. This is exactly the option Bike Club gives tens of thousands of families across the UK.”