How Mango Bikes Pedaled Past Growth Limits with BigCommerce

Background

In late 2017, entrepreneur Andrew Hassard unexpectedly acquired Mango Bikes, a British bicycle brand in administration. Relocating operations to Ballyclare, Northern Ireland, he stripped out inefficiencies and proved that a lean, customer-focused cycling company could thrive. By mid-2019 the catalog was refreshed, sales stabilized, and the team looked ahead to an aggressive growth phase.

The Challenge

When the pandemic spurred a boom in bike demand, Mango Bikes’ legacy WooCommerce headless site began to crack under pressure. Frequent outages, sluggish loading times, and mobile funcionality issues frustrated shoppers. A tangle of approximately 60 plugins meant that turning one off could break half the site, and repeated hacks forced constant security patches. The team needed a secure, scalable, and user-friendly platform that eliminated developer bottlenecks.

Evaluating Solutions

Mango Bikes vetted Shopify, GoDaddy, Magento, WooCommerce, Craft, and BigCommerce. While some solutions proved cost-prohibitive or lacked code access, Craft initially won the build contract. Midway through development, however, Andrew realized only BigCommerce would deliver the flexible foundation, out-of-the-box performance, and open API to power a one-of-a-kind bike customizer.

Implementation

In April 2021, Mango Bikes went live on BigCommerce with the help of agencies Mellor & Smith and the RANDEM Group. Building on BigCommerce’s robust storefront, they developed a bespoke customizer app offering over six million unique frame and component combinations. The brand also integrated Codisto for omnichannel listings, Klaviyo for personalized email journeys, and Glew for unified reporting.

Results

Post-migration, Mango Bikes enjoyed reliable uptime, auto-scaling capacity, and a seamless admin experience with no need to check site health every 15 minutes. By September 2021, conversion rates jumped 70%, average order value climbed 46%, and overall revenue rose 36% compared to April. With less time spent firefighting tech, the team focused on delighting customers and exploring new markets.

Looking Ahead

Armed with BigCommerce University training, Mango Bikes is expanding beyond the UK into Germany, Scandinavia, the US, and eyeing Australia and Japan. The scalable platform and low-code environment will support multi-region inventory, tailored promotions, and advanced B2C features as the brand gears up for its next ride.