Cesano
Cesano is a European e-bike company active in the Benelux and France. The company focuses on rental and leasing of electric bicycles for hotels and businesses, with packages that include maintenance and support.
The project in overview
Focus first on B2B, or B2C?
Before launch, Cesano had to make a major choice: focus first on B2B or B2C.
Both options looked possible, but they would lead to very different launches. Pricing, sales, support and communication would all change depending on the choice.
B2C offered a larger audience, but also brought more price comparison, more individual questions and a stronger comparison with simply buying a bike. B2B looked more aligned with the offer, because hotels and companies often need the service around the bikes just as much as the bikes themselves.
A wrong choice would affect pricing, sales, communication and operations from day one.
Decide who the offer was really for.
Cesano was not ready to build campaigns yet. The company first had to decide who the offer was really for.
A consumer-focused model would mean explaining why someone should rent or lease an e-bike instead of buying one. That brings price comparison, ownership questions and a lot of individual decision-making into the sales process.
A B2B model worked differently. Hotels and companies were less focused on owning the bike and more focused on availability, maintenance, guest experience, employee mobility and support.
That made the choice important. Cesano had to know where the offer matched how people or organisations would actually use the bikes.
Away from opinions and assumptions.
Cesano needed to move away from opinions and assumptions.
The team needed a better grip on the market before choosing where to start. Who was already active? How were similar offers priced? Which competitors were actually relevant? When does renting make sense? Where does maintenance and support create enough value?
This mattered because B2B and B2C would require different messaging, pricing and sales logic. Preparing for both would make the launch broader, slower and less focused.
The work had to help Cesano choose one audience before building the launch around the wrong one.
Understand how the offer would work in real situations.
The research started in the regions where Cesano wanted to launch first.
I mapped companies active in e-bike rental, leasing, bike dealerships and shared-bike concepts. Their offers, prices, positioning and target audiences were compared to see where Cesano would actually compete.
This helped separate real competitors from companies that only looked similar. Some businesses were active in bikes, but served another use case, another type of customer or another buying moment.
I also looked at behaviour. When does renting feel logical? When does buying feel easier? Which prices create hesitation? How would a hotel use bikes for guests? How would a company manage bikes for employees?
The goal was to understand how the offer would work in real situations, not just which market looked attractive.
Why B2B made more sense
One important finding was that B2C created more friction than expected.
For consumers, renting or leasing an e-bike is quickly compared with buying one. That makes the decision more sensitive to price, ownership and long-term value. A consumer has to understand why paying monthly or temporarily is better than owning the bike.
For hotels and companies, the decision was different.
A hotel does not only need bikes. It needs bikes that are available, maintained and easy to offer to guests. A company does not only need mobility. It needs a setup that does not become extra work for the internal team.
That made Cesano's package stronger in a B2B context.
Focus the offer around hotels and companies.
The research helped Cesano choose where to start.
It mapped the competitive field across the Benelux and France, compared the B2B and B2C options, looked at pricing expectations and showed where renting or leasing made more sense than buying.
It also made the competitor set more concrete. Some companies looked relevant at first because they were active in bikes, but served a different use case, customer type or buying moment.
Cesano no longer had to prepare for two different markets at the same time. The team could focus the offer, communication and launch around hotels and companies.
B2B stood out as the stronger first audience.
Rental and leasing for hotels and companies matched the offer better than going directly after individual consumers. Demand was easier to identify, budgets were more realistic and the service package made more sense in daily use.
Cesano also got a better view of which players actually mattered. Some seemed close at first, but served another use case, customer type or buying moment.
Pricing, usage and expectations became easier to manage. The team could stop switching between broad possibilities and prepare the launch around one market.
Instead of targeting everyone who might want an e-bike, Cesano could start with organisations that needed bikes as a managed service.
This case was about choosing a market before the launch was built around the wrong one.
When several markets look possible, keeping every option open can feel safe, but it creates confusion.
Pricing becomes harder, messaging becomes broader, sales becomes less focused and operations become harder to plan.
For Cesano, the research made the trade-off easier to see. B2C had a larger audience, but also more price pressure and more explanation needed.
B2B matched the offer better because service, maintenance and support were part of the reason to choose Cesano. Cesano could start with one market instead of preparing for two different launches.
Clearer positioning, built around the real reason people choose you.
If you have a strong offer but people don’t see the value behind it, it’s time to change how it is presented. Let’s make it clear what your offer does, who it is for and why people should choose you.