Why Rapha is the new Harley-Davidson
The British company grew their community of cycling enthusiasts from 600 members in 2014 to over 10,000 today. Here’s what makes them the new community case study.
When people talk about brands that have cultivated thriving communities, it seems all roads lead back to Harley-Davidson. Facing extinction in 1983, the motorcycle company turned their business around by refocusing on their core: “a group of ardent consumers organized around the lifestyle, activities, and ethos of the brand.”
I’ve always appreciated the Harley story, but it feels outdated. I wanted something fresh. Who is today’s Harley-Davidson?
My guess: Rapha.
One of Rapha’s 20 Clubhouses
Rapha is a sleek, premium cycling company based in London. The founder Simon Mottram sees Rapha as a “global lifestyle brand” — something previously unheard of in cycling. Rapha produces content, hosts events, and has 20 Clubhouses around the world that serve as physical hubs for its Rapha Cycling Clubs (RCC).
When Mottram launched the company in 2004, cycling was in a different place in the UK. Lance Armstrong was at his peak. The Brits hadn’t yet established their dominance at the Olympics or the Tour de France. Cycling in London was 71% lower than it is now.
As cycling grew, so did Rapha. Earlier this year, they released their financials, showing a 30% increase of year-on-year revenue led by a 35% lift in online sales and 24 % growth in their global Clubhouses.
But you don’t hear Simon Mottram talk much about the numbers. Instead, his 2016 highlight was “getting up to 10,000 members [in the Rapha Cycling Club], and seeing it firsthand around the world.” So, what’s the Rapha Cycling Club?
Rapha Cycling Club
Rapha’s company mantra is “putting the customer at the centre of everything we do.” CEO Simon Mottram explained what that means in practice:
For us it’s about building relationships over time. Encouraging that person to come back. Helping them to fall in love with the product through contact, before they place the transaction.
The Rapha Cycling Club (RCC) is Rapha’s deepest investment in its direct-to-consumer business model, which has been key to the company’s success. The RCC is how they create and sustain deep relationships with their core: serious cyclists who wear Rapha on the roads every day.
And it’s been successful so far. The RCC launched in December 2014, with local chapters based out of Clubhouses around the world. By April 2015, the RCC reported 600 paying members. In October 2016, the number had grown to 7,600 members. Today, it’s at 10,000+.
Here are some of the things that impressed me most about these clubs.
They Overdeliver.
In exchange for a $200 yearly fee, members get a slew of benefits:
Rides with friends. Weekly ones for members at local chapters and less frequent excursions and races.
Exclusive Gear. Special access to RCC gear, new products, complimentary shipping upgrades, and a biannual magazine.
Tools to Connect. An RCC app connecting members for rides and conversations. Private RCC members club on Strava.
Clubhouse VIP Access. Road bike rentals, free coffees, monthly member social gatherings in 20 cities and growing.
Annual Summits. Organized by Rapha twice a year and held in key cycling destinations.
VIP Support. Full-time RCC team to assist with all aspects of cycling.
Rapha has invested in benefits big and small that encompass the cyclist experience. From what they wear to who they ride with to how they plan trips, RCC goes well beyond a simple loyalty program. For the right audience, the value exchange is clear.
An RCC Welcome Pack unboxing video, made by a fan and posted to YouTube.
Details matter to enthusiasts (left: customized caps for handlebars). So does local pride (right: limited edition gear for NYC members).
Details matter to enthusiasts (left: customized caps for handlebars).
So does local pride (right: limited edition gear for NYC members).
A Daily Ritual: Coffee
As you can see in the list of perks, Rapha has committed to connecting their brand with coffee culture. If you’ve ever been to a Rapha Clubhouse, you know they always have a top of the line espresso machine.
An RCC membership card gets you free coffee at any clubhouse in the world. Those cups of coffee give people a reason to seek out the stores more regularly than they normally would. (Note: Harley-Davidson also has cafes in their dealerships.)
“The Clubhouse is simple. It’s an easy regroup spot, rallying place, and a reliable snack stop when you need to answer a few emails, too. Whether I’m in LA, Boulder, New York, or Amsterdam, I know I can get a coffee and a bike, but I also know I can easily make ride plans and new friends. The RCC has made it easy for me to enjoy my passion all over the world.” — Kelton Wright, RCC member
Coffee also offers a light, social activity to club members. It doesn’t take training to sip coffee, and it doesn’t require setting aside hours of your time. You can spend as long as you like lingering over a good cup and conversation.
The Club’s Impact Can Be Measured.
By charging members an annual fee, Rapha has a clear data point to evaluate their investment against and the CEO can make statements like this:
“We have seen exceptional growth to date, with thousands of club members now cycling and socialising together, connecting with the sport through Rapha. This membership model is profitable and extremely successful for us, contributing to our growth and providing a strong community platform for the future of the brand and business.” — Rapha CEO Simon Mottram
Beyond the profits, the RCC provides Rapha with a way to check on the health of their community.
When asked what the future holds for Rapha in this interview, Mottram shared that they had “185,000 customers around the world and 10,000 of those are members of the Rapha Cycling Club.”
That means for every 18.5 Rapha customers, there’s 1 RCC member.
That’s a pretty incredible stat. It gives Rapha a benchmark for the health of the brand — how engaged and passionate is Rapha’s customer base? Rapha can aim to keep the core community growing at a similar rate (or faster!) than its total customer base.
It’s Not For Everyone.
Part of cultivating any community is delineating who and what doesn’t belong in the community. To do that, Rapha sets minimum speeds for its rides. If you aren’t a competent enough cyclist, you can’t attend that event. There’s a baseline.
The RCC also has a set of rules for members. There are standards about the roles that need to be filled by chapter leaders in each location (i.e. a ride coordinator at every Clubhouse). Members are encouraged, sometimes required, to wear RCC gear on rides. Rider etiquette is made clear: they must “greet other riders on the road, wait for dropped riders, and help those in need.” And there’s even an official latin motto: ex duris gloria (‘glory through suffering’).
Because the Rapha brand has a certain point of view and price associated with it, there are those who don’t fit the bill or resonate with it. This article sums it up best:
Whether you will like the idea of the RCC probably depends on your philosophy of what cycling should be. For those who dislike Rapha’s black and white homages to the pain and suffering of the pro peloton and their constant referencing of cycling’s history then the Rapha Cycling Club will almost certainly wind them up even more. But for those who care about what they look like on the bike (not wanting to be covered in neon yellow logos of some French plumbing supplies company) and see cycling as part of a holistic explanation of their existence then the RCC is absolutely made for them.
Whispering, Not Shouting.
Rapha focuses their energy on providing a quality service, not tooting their own horn. You can tell that by their approach to publicizing RCC’s events.
When they first launched the clubs, they did so quietly, without a bunch of fanfare. To find out about it and be a part of the early community, you had to really give a damn. Here’s one blogger on what it was like in 2015:
The first rule of Rapha Cycling Club is you do not talk about Rapha Cycling Club. Or something. And it is actually quite surprisingly difficult to find out about The RCC, as I am told the members are asked to call it. There’s very little on the Rapha website about the club and you can’t just sign up, pay the fee and become a member.
Even in 2016, some of the events and store openings remain secrets to the general public:
Cycling clothes horses had been whispering about this [Pop-up Clubhouse in Los Angeles] since Rapha disappeared from its former retail location. After months of guessing, about 600 followers were asked to show up on Abbot Kinney for a Saturday night affair.
For Rapha, these aren’t mass marketing opportunities — they’re for the people who care about them most. You have to be in the circle of trust to get the invite.
Conclusion
Rapha understands that the community doesn’t serve the brand. The brand serves the community. People don’t join the RCC to profess their love for Rapha but rather to do more of what they love — cycling with friends. Rapha’s role is to enable that.
By holding fast to their role, Rapha gains not only the trust and support of avid customers but also a direct, consistent touch point with them. The RCC helps Rapha keep a finger on the pulse of both their brand’s health as well as the cycling community at large.
This case study was produced by the team at People & Company.
We published a book, host a podcast, and we work with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities.
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