KORE Outdoors Podcast

Greg McDonald is the General Manager of Ridley’s Cycle, an independent bike retailer with three locations in Calgary and a very successful online store. Greg is also a board member of the National Bike Dealer’s Association and, prior to Ridley’s, he was a sales rep in the outdoor and bike industry.In this episode we discuss the current situation in the bike industry and the challenges many retailers and brands are facing. We learn about some of the issues that led to the situation as well as some potential solutions. We also get into the details about how brands can better support retailers through improved sales programs and partnerships that create win-win situations at every level of the industry.

Eleven years ago Ryan Popov began Popov Leather as a passion project, hand-crafting wallets on his dining room table during nights and weekends. Since then, his company has shipped over 120,000 orders through Shopify and it now employs over 20 people at a workshop in Nelson, British Columbia. The latest episode of the KORE Outdoors Podcast is a deep dive into e-commerce and digital marketing. Ryan has turned his focus on learning as much as he can about running a successful e-commerce business and he’s a wealth of knowledge. With host Christian Rawles of Ambler, he discuss digital ads, where to start with email marketing, the importance of customer reviews, and the most important hire he made that helped fuel his growth.

Louis-Julien Roy, Founder and President of Mountain Exposure and Canadian distributor of Ibis Bikes, shares his insights from the outdoor sales industry. He discusses the critical role of independent sales reps and the evolution of his agency. Hear him explain the importance of relational selling over transactional methods. He provides actionable strategies for startups to connect with retailers and navigate the competitive bike market. Discover how building genuine relationships can drive significant business growth!

Carina Hamel and Robby Ringer are the wife and husband partners behind Bivo, the performance hydration company that hit the market in 2020 with the first-of-its-kind stainless steel water bottle built specifically for cycling. Hosted by Christian Rawles, co-owner of Ambler Mountain Works, this episode of the podcast touches on the R&D that went into creating a stainless steel bottle which outperforms a plastic squeeze bottle, their grassroots tactics to build a following before even creating a product, the heartbreak of a faulty first production run, the power of live events to find your customers and much more.For more about the KORE Outdoors Podcast, visit https://koreoutdoors.org/kore-outdoor...