Knowing to
Redefine

We identified a strategic opportunity at the intersection of the luxury market and cycling through deep research in ChatGPT and NotebookLM. The overall luxury market grew from roughly €1.0 trillion in 2014 to €1.5 trillion in 2023 (Bain–Altagamma), while the global bicycle market grew from about $26 billion to $62 billion in the same period — including a +42% surge in 2020, when luxury dipped and cycling boomed. Two growth curves that reveal how cycling is evolving from a sport to a symbol of status, style, and well-being.

We analysed the leading brands in the sector: MAAP, Pas Normal Studios, Assos, Q36.5, Rapha, and Rubber N' Road NYC. While they stand out for their visual identity, their websites are confusing and display too many options, leading to user frustration.

The common failure pattern across all competitors: aesthetic ambition without UX rigour. Premium pricing paired with confusing information architecture destroys the luxury experience before the product is even seen.

During research we mapped the elements that turn a website into a curated experience, closer to a product than a sales floor. Three reference categories from outside cycling shaped our standard.

Within cycling, the brands carrying any luxury perception are MAAP, Pas Normal Studios, Pinarello (frames), Assos, Rapha and Q36.5. Below, the four most relevant to our positioning, broken down one by one. MAAP and Pas Normal both run on customised Shopify templates, which already secures a baseline UI quality, but each still surfaces friction.

From this research we extracted the takeaways, covering opportunities, decisions to copy, and decisions to avoid, then translated them directly into the UI principles you'll see in the next chapter.

VELOQUE's strategy is based on scarcity, exclusivity, and belonging. Inspired by luxury and streetwear brands, it seeks to generate desire and loyalty through limited drops, aspirational pricing, and an exclusive community.

Our research also revealed the importance of a subscription system, one of the greatest opportunities identified to foster loyalty and generate recurring revenue. This model allows users to receive seasonal kits for a monthly fee, strengthening their connection to the brand and ensuring a continuous and personalised experience.

The financial model projects gross margins of 40–75% per product sold, based on actual costs analysed. The strategy broadens the focus to include experiences, accessories, and lifestyle, consolidating VELOQUE as a complete and sustainable luxury ecosystem.

To clearly define our users, the team (Jorge, the manufacturer, and I) conducted an empathy mapping exercise. This allowed us to categorise our audience into five distinct personas, each with different motivations, purchasing behaviours, and pain points.

The research behind these personas combined four methods. We ran 100+ interviews of 30 minutes each, structured around four recurring topics: online purchase experience, brand experience and perception, and garment fit, features and design. We complemented this with shadowing sessions inside cyclist groups, cycling cafés, and cycling shops, observing real behaviour rather than self-reported preference. In parallel, 50+ surveys covered the same four topics at scale. Every response was then categorised into behavioural clusters, which is how we arrived at the five personas below.

Once the research phase was completed, a detailed study of user interactions with both the brand and the website was conducted. This process led to the creation of comprehensive user flows and storyboards, essential tools to visualise every touchpoint of the VELOQUE experience.

The flows were built in FigJam, mapping five entry points: direct brand discovery, social media, search, referral, and club membership. Each flow terminates at a different conversion goal, from first purchase to recurring subscription.