Portfolio strategy for Hungary’s traditional bicycle brand: Csepel

The Client

Csepel is Hungary’s oldest bicycle brand and production house dating back to 1928. It was nationalized during the Socialist Era, in 1990 it regained its private equity status and today it is a fully Hungarian-owned company, which is a rarity on the local market.

East Europe’s favorite foldable bicycle, “the camping bike” hails from this house along with other legendary models. A traditionally conservative brand today houses an extensive product portfolio: a mix of old-fashioned style bicycles to new-age, high-quality top-of-the-line hobby bikes for a variety of purposes.

The Challenge

The brand is known in one particular segment while its product portfolio extends across a variety of market segments. This contradiction was reflected in their performance posing as a gap in their market relationships. Through a service design approach, the company took a look at how to make a place for its new-age models next to its more traditional models and have their whole commercial activity, touchpoints, and services reflected in that within their market presence.

Industry

Mobility, Leasure, Sport

Market

Country-wide in Hungary operating both a B2C and with a B2B2C model

Client

formerly American-owned Hungarian company with assembly facilities in Budapest

SME, 100 ppl

Team&Location

local, Budapest, Hungary

Process Overview

YEAR 1

Discovery

Q1 —
Foundational Work
Qualitative + Quantitative + Co-creative

Stakeholder interviews
Process Mapping
Product portfolio analysis via Business Canvas work

Output Chosen area of improvement

Commercial touchpoints and activities

YEAR 2

Q2 —
Discovery I
Qualitative + Quantitative

Sales interviews
Data collection + analysis on sales performance. Competitor Analysis

Output

Initial quantitative research on operations.

Implementation

Q1 —
Discovery
Qualitative + Quantitative

Stakeholder interviews
Process Mapping
Product portfolio analysis via Business Canvas work

Q2 —
Discovery
Qualitative + Quantitative

Partner interviews
Data collection + analysis on sales performance

Q3 —
Define
Co-Creation

Insight based strategy work
Priorisation

Q3 —
Define
Qualitative + Quantitative

Quantitative Research work
Priorisation

Q3 —
Define
Qualitative + Quantitative

Insight based strategy work
Priorisation

Q3 —
Define
Qualitative + Quantitative

Insight based strategy work
Priorisation

Background

Beginnings + Duration

Small and Medium Sized Businesses could benefit greatly from applying Service Design Principles yet they have fewer resources and opportunities to do so.

This project was made possible due to a subsidy provided by a foundation-funded initiative. It was a program designed to bring together designers and producers to explore what innovation / improvement they could initiate had they had the opportunity to collaborate.

This project made it possible for this company to start exploring what service design could do for a company of this size and profile.

One month was funded by this project. Csepel decided to continue with the collaboration but due to their SME profile, their resources allowed only limited time/week for our collaboration which determined the framework and the speed with which the project could be developed.

Given the industry, speed was not as much a priority as in the tech industry, so having this cover a 2-year spam was less of a priority than having it done.

Step 1 — Main directions from business to product level

First phase was dedicated to finding the scope of the collaboration - where service design might have the biggest impact on the company’s current operations.

Mapped the 5 main activities the company is in business with together with leadership stakeholder involvement to identify challenges and opportunities along.

  • Design

  • Procurement

  • Assembly

  • Storage

  • Sales + Marketing

The main challenge identified was: the company has a wide range of product groups positioned vertically across the market. The question was: howcome the high end bicycles do not sell as well as the lower end models despite of their quality?

Analyzed the current product portfolio using a Business Model Canvas framework

Identified customer types and mapped the customer journey / product family

Identified customer types and mapped the customer journey / product family

The focus was to understand and fix this issue - so the next steps were focused on Sales Processes: first understanding the B2B experience and then the customer opinion.

Step 2 — Research

Qualitative Leg

As a B2B model Research partner

Decided to focus on Sales Processes

Analyzed the current product portfolio using a Business Model Canvas framework

Identified customer types and mapped the customer journey / product family