Fully Charged: ‘It’s about change and being part of something great’

Rebecca Morley chats to Fully Charged founder Ben Jaconelli on its stores, investing in online, and winning Micromobility Retailer of the Year at the 2023 BikeBiz Awards

This piece first appeared in the December edition of BikeBiz magazine – get your free subscription here

Established in 2014, e-bike retailer Fully Charged has spent almost a decade dedicating itself to helping individuals, families, and businesses with their electric journeys, earning a stellar reputation in the industry for doing so. 

And now, Fully Charged has been crowned BikeBiz’s Micromobility Retailer of the Year – making this the second year in a row the retailer has won this BikeBiz Award, which was introduced last year as part of a brand new category to recognise the best in the innovative micromobility sector.

BikeBiz caught up with founder Ben Jaconelli to discuss its recent win and what else it’s been up to recently: “We’ve been renovating our [London Bridge] HQ to incorporate more of a cargo bike showroom,” Jaconelli told BikeBiz. “Cargo has been our fastest growing, most successful part of our business over the last three years or so. 

“So we’ve basically built a cargo bike showroom now, which we’re really proud of, which is in our HQ which is great. We’ve also opened and closed a pop-up in West London, which we learnt a lot from.” 

Fully Charged opened the store in Chiswick in May, which was located at 147 Chiswick High Road and boasted 5,000 sq/ft of retail space. 

Jaconelli continued: “The main thing that we learnt was that you’ve got to have a service centre twice as big as your showroom to be able to do anything in this space. And ultimately Chiswick was just a showroom with a very small workshop for basic repairs.” 

The retailer also has a store in the New Forest and one in Liskeard, Cornwall, the latter of which was opened in April this year after a successful year-long soft-launch. Its new permanent residency serves to get individuals, families and businesses within the Southwest on electric bikes and electric cargo bikes, as well as offering servicing and expertise. 

Both New Forest and Cornwall are two places Jaconelli said he is “extremely fond of” and wanted to open in – which is the same with the retailer’s store in Guildford. 

“I’ve chosen places that I have some kind of attachment to and vision there, so that’s been great,” said Jaconelli.

“And then Silverstone as well – they’re great spots.”

Customer journey 

Speaking of physical retail, many businesses will have observed a trend of customers moving their buying habits from the high street to online, particularly over the last few years and in multiple other industries as well as bikes and micromobility. 

“I think one of the reasons for our success is that we’re not on the high street,” said Jaconelli. “And again, that was a bit of a problem with Chiswick. And I think that the high streets are quiet and people are not going out and spending in those environments. 

“People are going down content funnels and going online and enjoying the research, getting their knowledge up and then wanting to go to a destination, and ideally not the high street. We find we have a very informed buyer that’s highly enjoyed our YouTube videos and our educational content. And we’re seeing vast increases in online business.” 

Fully Charged has invested heavily in online and heavily in content, Jaconelli continued. “And we believe that whether the purchase is actually made online or not is irrelevant. It’s the journey and then winning the customer’s loyalty because of how much detail and fun that we put into that journey.”

Micromobility Retailer of the Year 

Fully Charged won Micromobility Retailer of the Year the BikeBiz Awards 2023, with this and the majority of other winners decided by an expert judging panel. There were 15 awards in total, split across five different categories: Brands, Distributors, Retailers, Inclusivity, and Micromobility.

Other winners for retailer awards included Rockets and Rascals for IBD of the Year and Cycle Revolution for Omnichannel Retailer of the Year, and Fully Charged was joined in the Micromobility category by Best Shared Transport Provider winner Beryl and Micromobility Brand of the Year Volt. 

On what it meant to win the award, Jaconelli said: “BikeBiz is the Oscars of the British cycling world. There’s nothing else really. We have utmost respect for the BikeBiz Awards. 

“It’s the most well known and prestigious award you can win in this industry, and this is a massively up and coming industry.” 

On recognising and celebrating businesses across the cycling sector, Jaconelli added: “It’s really important. My team is amazing, and they work seriously hard. They make massive sacrifices because we not only enjoy working together in a company but because we believe that it’s so important for e-biking to revolutionise our cities. 

“Getting diesel vans out of the city for cargo bikes and getting people to ditch their cars, and look after their mental health – there’s so many different reasons why we’re so empowered to do this.

“It’s not about money and success. It’s about change and being part of something great. And that’s awesome, and to be recognised for it is even more awesome.”

Looking to the future 

So what does Fully Charged have planned for the future? “Just more of what we’re doing really,” Jaconelli said. 

“Online is a huge area of investment for us. And mobile and at home servicing – although only basic because warranty and any complex servicing, or gold servicing as we call it, needs to be done with several thousand square feet of support. 

“Little things to keep customers happy and on the road, quick fixes like mobile and at home is another part of the business that we’re focusing on. And then just growing – growing our team and content and physical experience in London is a huge part of it that we seem to have got really right, so some more of that.”