Entrepreneurs Week: Losses, learnings and leaps of faith

On being asked what she’d do differently, Sharon said, “Maybe I would have created more technology products first. Community is core to everything we do as a brand and we have a vision to create a digital course or some kind of events system – in hindsight, we could have perhaps started with that. But, I honestly have no regrets. A lot of our failures were huge lessons, even during the six weeks of hell following the Dragons’ Den airing.

“We started with very little money but we scaled very, very quickly. There are some days when our success could’ve ultimately been our failure because we were running out of cash which is always such an issue for start-ups. You can only do what you can do with what you have.”

Quick-fire Masterclass: Global Ambition

• When it comes to selecting the right manufacturing partners to work with, or any other global partner for that matter, it’s important to do your research. Network and ask other brand founders if they have any recommended contacts – they’ve been in your shoes and are usually willing to help. Sharon mentioned ISPO is a great trade show to attend for sussing out great apparel manufacturers specifically.
• Having separate eCommerce storefronts, for example .co.uk vs .com, for different markets can be beneficial for SEO purposes. Bear in mind that this takes time and investment to do, particularly if translations are needed, so you’ll need to weigh this up against how profitable those locales are for your business.
• When looking to expand your business in new territories, it’s a good idea to be partnered with a fulfilment company who offer technology that enables you to sync inventory with multiple store fronts by warehouse. With data, you can choose where’s best to ship from in the most cost-effective way, for both you and your end consumer.
• There are numerous levers you can pull from a marketing perspective to drive traffic to the products which you have surplus stock of. Follow the data. Where is the product selling organically? How much traffic/revenue are you receiving from each location? Google Analytics is your best friend.
• When you’re starting out it’s about getting the product in front of different consumer groups, testing and validating. You can use social media without spending masses on marketing in the early days to find your community, your consumer, your avatar – whoever that may be.
• Identifying global influencers to promote your products in different regions is straightforward (and easy if they’re already advocates of your product type!) Try engaging with micro-influencers, not the huge influencers asking 10k for one post and three stories. Not everyone can afford this when starting out. Micro-influencers are the ambitious, creative types who are very active – they’re ‘The Builder’, the person who wants to be a huge influencer one day.
• You’ll find there’ll be lots of tweaking along your scale up journey. You’ll come across a lot of intricacies, especially when it comes to regulations, customs and duty per country. That said, with the right partners and a great marketing team, you can scale very, very quickly and it is manageable. Don’t be afraid of ‘going global’. Just do it.

This is the first year we’ve been involved in Global Entrepreneurship Week, but it won’t be the last. Through The Scale Up, we’re championing the sharing of good practice across all areas for retail businesses - not just order fulfilment.

- James Hyde, Founder - James and James Fulfilment

“We’re always delighted to welcome entrepreneurs like Sharon Keegan and Tref Griffiths to our event panels – these are the inspiring individuals who’ve started with very little and faced huge personal battles, yet made huge successes of their visions. Sharon in particular was very transparent about the challenges she’s faced and there’s nothing more invaluable than real-talk when you’re starting out.”