CEO interview: Andy Smallwood of Pashley Cycles
When walking into the workshops of Pashley Cycles in Stratford-upon-Avon the smell of the metal being worked on to create the bespoke frames was part of the attraction of joining the company to its new chief executive who is overseeing a strategy for growth at the firm.
Andy Smallwood, CEO of Pashley Cycles, says: “As soon as I walked into the building I got a sense of something happening here. The brazers were brazing and it was the smell you get at an old school engineering firm. It was a super-experienced team, with the tubes coming in and the completed bikes going out.”
Focused on premium cycles
Having played a major part in the turnaround at Ribble Cycles where he was CEO, which took the company from a discount retailer of bikes and clothing to a focused premium British cycling brand, Smallwood recognises the opportunity at Pashley Cycles where he can leverage its in-house design and manufacturing.
The almost 100 year-old business (it was founded in 1926) is something of a rarity within the UK in hand-crafting its bike frames onto which it attaches the various components. This vertically-integrated model has lots of advantages and Smallwood wants to use these to build-out the brand on multiple fronts.
Supply chain control
The key upside is control over the supply chain and the management of the stockholdings. This is particularly helpful as the majority of the output is bespoke. Also advantageous is having the design function in-house because the components can often be used across multiple models of cycles. This provides great flexibility and reduces the number of SKUs flowing through the supply chain and helps avoid delays on specific models due to certain component shortages.
Adding to the agility of the business is its increasing use of 3D printing for some stainless steel components. Although this is outsourced at present Smallwood says he can envisage bringing this in-house in the future. There is also a focus on sourcing as local as possible although the reality is that for many components such as those from Shimano in Japan this is not feasible.
Rapid product development
Its model enables Pashley to be fleet-of-foot in its development of new products including the recently launched Pathfinder range of cycles. “This showed the benefits of our vertical integration. I’d only been at the company four months and we were able to launch a new range. It was done very quickly, from early prototypes, testing, starting pre-manufacturing, and bringing to market as electric and non-electric,” says Smallwood.
The Pathfinders range fit into the company’s consumer cycles division that encompasses regular cycles, electric models and tricycles, of which it is a leading player. The other two arms are: its bike share that includes providing the bikes to Transport for London in the capital and the West Midlands Cycle Hire scheme; and its cargo bikes division that includes old-school butcher’s-type bikes to state-of-the-art electric cargo trikes that can tilt at the front to help the smooth carrying of loads but still have the ride of a bike.
The Pashley range has historically been sold through third-party retailers in the UK and internationally but recently the company has explored direct-to-consumer (DTC) using its website and shop in Stratford-upon-Avon that is located in the town centre two miles away from the workshop.
Maintaining personal interactions
“We’re at an early stage of DTC but we’ve not gone out to do it by switching off the dealers. We have a relationship with the dealers and we value dealer interactions so we’ve taken a blended approach. We put click & collect on our website for collection at dealers’ stores where the customer gets the dealers experience. We sell a high quality bicycle and customers value one-to-one personal interactions. It’s a careful balance,” he explains.
Smallwood’s focus is on re-invigorating and elevating the brand that involves pushing it out to a broader audience. The strategy also encompasses investment in developing the range that balances the brand’s heritage with the latest technologies. This obviously includes electrics that Smallwood says they will play an increasingly outsized role within the company and within the wider trend for micro-mobility.
Electric powers ahead
Early sales of the Pathfinder range are evenly divided between electric and non-electric and Smallwood predicts this even-split will be reflected across the whole company very soon. “The transition to electric has been across 10 years and in the past three to five years it has taken off. Electric will continue to grow in the UK where there is a long way to go, especially as we’re lagging behind the rest of Europe,” he says.
Much of the strategic initiatives at Pashley will be underpinned by its in-house design and manufacturing that Smallwood says will play a vital role in the company being able to differentiate itself from the pack and help it build-out its presence in the UK and further afield.
