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I've always been great at coming up with ideas and plans (thankfully most of them stayed in my head and never passed my lips) but I may also have been guilty of starting plenty of "projects" that weren't quite seen through to completion. As my brother once said, when I get an idea about something I'm 110% into it but then find something else to be 110% into a while later. The "hobbies" cupboard is a chronological testament to this. 

Sometimes you need to look in the mirror (literally and metaphorically) and if you don't like the reflection (literally and/or metaphorically) just sort your sh*t out and figure out how to be better. But that's a whole other lecture/blog post (which I'm not qualified to write) and a complete tangent from this one.

Anyway, back on track................ I will reluctantly, and with a slightly awkward feeling, accept the title of entrepreneur. But I'll happily and willingly admit that I'm an idealist. When relaunching Mango Bikes, the latter of these (along with being a consumer myself) meant I was adamant about price stability within the bike range. As well as being as open and transparent as possible, Mango Bikes also wants to build a reputation for being fair. 

If you buy a bike from us, then see it £100 less the following week it's not great. It's also not consistent with the direct to consumer (D2C) model everyone likes to wax lyrical about ("yadda-yadda-yadda, we cut out the middlemen, yadda-yadda-yadda, go direct to the factory, yadda-yadda-yadda, keep our margins low, yadda-yadda-yadda and offer you great prices"...............you know the story).
If that is the case how can a selling price go up and down like an.................ermmmmm.........Yo-Yo?

Either the margin is sitting pretty fat to start with and the "we keep our margins low" bit isn't quite true or else the goods are discounted and sold at a loss. Don't get me wrong, there are bigger and more successful brands and retailers than Mango Bikes doing very well like this, but it's just not going to be the Mango way. 

(NB. I'm all for businesses making some profit and, unsurprisingly, have made turning Mango Bikes back into a profitable company a top priority. There, I've said it............Mango makes money on the bikes we sell) 

Of course, there's always the exception-which-proves the rule. We will offer a discount on the bikes at 2 stages. 

When we launch a new bike it will be previewed, some prelaunch info released and then set live on site. Before the first delivery of stock, we will offer a pre-order discount of 10%. Probably for 2-3 weeks before we expect to launch. This helps us plan a bit further ahead and know what's coming as well as allowing customers the opportunity to secure the very first bikes we produce. 

Mango doesn't run in seasons. The bikes are launched, sold and continue on as long as there is demand for them. Simple. Just like our bikes. We may revamp the models every now and again, offer them with a choice of specifications and colourways or in limited edition runs should the opportunity or demand arise. Simply speaking, the price at launch will be the same price we maintain throughout the lifecycle (pun intended/not intended) until it's time to say goodbye. Then, if there are bikes left, we'll offer them with a discount to shift through quickly, clear space and get ready for new bikes to launch. 

We're not claiming to have created some genius new marketing or selling technique but just want to reward the early adopters who are prepared to back us and then have a final hurrah for the last few bikes in a discontinued line and send some customers away with a cheeky grin on their face. 

Whilst we'll never please everyone, it's a pretty fair, open and honest way to work. We hope so anyway. 

Week 2 Blog Complete. Genuinely really appreciate everyone who took the time to get in contact after the first blog last week. Feel free to drop a line if you want - sales@mangobikes.com

Happy Cycling, Mango Bikes // Andrew "