The Challenge: Forging a Business Through Adversity

The initial concept for Pitcrew involved merging a niche performance car parts business (from my work with Platinum Wheels) with a $20,000 failing bicycle shop with a very small budget. The venture faced a critical, near-fatal setback just eight months in when a fire wiped out the entire business, a week before Christmas. This event forced a complete strategic rethink and a pivot from a position of total loss. Turned out the landlord had no insurance and the building was full of asbestos. As a result we had to find a new building in a hurry.

The Solution: Strategic Pivot to a High-Growth Niche

Instead of rebuilding the original concept, I made the strategic decision to pivot solely into bicycles, with a high-emphasis focus on the newly emerging eBike market. This involved abandoning the car parts division entirely and repositioning the brand to capitalize on this nascent technology. This is when Pitcrew Bike Co. was born. I managed to negotiate a 3 month rent holiday and great rental rates for the building next door and set about a full 3 mo th reclad and fitout of the building.

The new strategy was to build the business not just as a retailer, but as a centre of excellence, specializing in high-end mountain bikes, eBikes, and complex servicing. This focus on technical expertise, client education, and industry-leading knowledge became the core business driver.

Key Achievements & Impact

• Scalability: Grew the business from zero post-fire to become Auckland's largest independent bicycle retailer with $3m+ turnover, 1100sqm of retail space and 400+ bikes on display. This included scaling operations to two major retail locations and developing a loyal 15,000+ customer database.

• Team Leadership: I personally managed all aspects of human resources, including hiring, and continuous education for a peak team of 16 staff (and several dozen over the years), fostering a high-performance culture. We had regular group ride days, I offered the staff full access to our demo bike fleet and had regular training sessions. I considered one of my biggest roles to be ensuring the crew had all the resources they need to perform at their bests and enjoy the roles.

• Hands-on Retail Design & Optimisation: I personally designed and executed all 5 shop fitouts, from layout to construction. This involved continuously studying client behaviour and traffic patterns to regularly reorganise the store, improving customer flow, introducing new products effectively, and managing in-store safety (e.g., test rides, workshop traffic). I also designed and applied all vehicle signage (10 vehicles) to manage costs and ensure brand consistency.

• Strategic COVID-19 Response: Navigated extreme market disruption just three months after opening the flagship store. While competitors panicked and cancelled forward orders during Auckland's extended lockdowns, I studied international trends and identified an impending global bike boom. I doubled down, securing all available stock, which eventually resulted in massive company growth. During the multiple lockdown periods, all staff were retained on 100% of their wages, focusing on online training during lockdowns to upskill the team.

• Strategic Inventory Advantage: Identifying widespread customer frustration with product scarcity, misleading "available" statuses from drop-shipping competitors, and people being left unable to ride for weeks or months, I implemented a "stock-on-hand" strategy. This involved carrying around 10,000 unique SKUs in our bricks-and-mortar stores. This was supported by strategic bulk buying and early payments to ensure product availability and secure discounts on costs. This approach ensured our clients had 7-day-a-week access to the parts they needed to get riding and built huge trust in our e-commerce platform, as customers knew online orders were shipping immediately from our own stock, not from an overseas supplier.

• Market Creation & Leadership: Helped spearhead the growth and popular acceptance of eBikes in New Zealand. This was driven by establishing New Zealand's largest demo eBike fleet (up to 35 eBikes retailing from $8,500 to $25,000) for customer education and hands-on trial, alongside unique customer experiences and industry-leading knowledge.

• Brand Building & Community Engagement: Created the Pitcrew brand from scratch, developing a nationally recognised identity through cohesive social media, vehicle fleet branding, and building signage. I also founded and ran the Pitcrew riders group, which grew to 500+ members at its peak, with regular group rides of up to 50 people. We sponsored the local BMX club, supplying free new race BMX bikes for new riders to use, along with parts, riding gear and servicing. We often gave away bikes and offered free servicing to people in need. We worked with local schools and community groups to provide low cost or free bikes and servicing to help encourage young riders. We arranged bike and accessory giveaways in conjunction with suppliers.

• Industry Influence & Collaboration: My expertise was sought at dealer conferences, where I was often called upon to provide deep product knowledge, ideal client use-cases, and tailored sales techniques that went beyond wholesaler information. I actively advised other stores (even competitors) on product, sales, and marketing, and initiated bike/sale sharing with stores outside my area to grow the entire industry. We did in the field product testing, photography and bike reviews.

• Reputation as Technical & Client-Centric Experts: We built a reputation based on unparalleled technical capability and a relentless focus on the customer:

  • State-of-the-Art Facilities: Both stores were equipped with New Zealand's most extensive bike shop workshops and tool setups, enabling us to handle any job.

  • High-End Custom Bike Builds: For the more discerning riders, racers and pros, we did ground up custom builds. Supplying installing and developing cutting edge bikes for all conditions.

  • The Go-To for Complex Repairs: Our technical expertise made us the industry's "go-to" for complex issues. Suppliers would bring us bikes their own teams couldn't fix and refer clients with "oddball" repairs, especially complex e-bike diagnostics.

  • Wholesaler Partnerships: We also managed "warranty bike" repairs for wholesalers, selling the refurbished bikes at discounted rates with a full new bike warranty.

  • Consultative Sales: Prioritised matching the correct product to each client's specific needs—not just what they read online.

  • Holistic Education: Every sale included education on why it was the right bike, proper care, and riding tips for all levels (including pro riders).

  • Advanced Setup: We performed advanced bicycle setup for every customer of all ages and abilities, from beginners to pro riders, to ensure the best possible experience, driven by a desire for our clients to love cycling as much as we did.

• Full-Stack E-commerce & Digital Marketing: From the ground up, I built and managed the entire digital presence. This involved hands-on execution of:

  • Platform Management: All product loading, POS-to-website integration, and third-party app integrations.

  • Digital Marketing: Running all Google Ads campaigns, managing Google Analytics, and optimising Google Business listings.

  • SEO Dominance: Personally executing an SEO strategy that achieved a top-5 Google ranking for most products and services on our site.

  • Results: This comprehensive management grew the site to attract an average of 10,000 monthly unique visitors and, at its peak, generated over a million dollars in annual revenue.