Although I didn’t
realise at the time, the foundations of Shophoppingmap were laid in a conversation
I had with my uncle when I was 22. I had just returned to Ireland after
finishing my first year studying the foundation year at London College of
Fashion. My uncle had popped in for a coffee to break his Saturday morning jog
and broke my Saturday morning lull with a barrage of questions; so, what
exactly had I learnt during my Fashion year in London? What was I going to sell
and where was my target market? Where was my business plan? These questions were answered with a blank
stare of dismay. Was he joking? No, he wasn’t.
I felt no more ready to start a Fashion business than fly a spaceship!
Sure I was only 22 and had much more to learn. In fact, my plan was to further
my skills in Fashion design with a degree course over the following few
years. My uncle shook his head at these
protests but and urged it was very important to start something of my own as
soon as I could. And he reminded me of
his own story. He himself broke away
from a prestigious career path early on and took some huge financial risks to
do so. Everybody thought he was crazy
but he pushed forward with his plan in frantic blind faith. It took years of
hard work to reach even ground but when he did, his business success rocketed. And those who had shaken their heads at the
beginning were left staring on from the sidelines in awe.
My uncle warned that
if I were to start a business at 25, I might spend the following few years
watching my friends with their good jobs go on their ski holidays while I’ll
still be broke but by the time I’m 35, they’ll still be working in someone
else’s castle while I’ll be sitting on my own.
These words made an
impact but I continued going about my business (although not a business) and
graduated from Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication after a couple
of sleepless years with a degree in Fashion Design. I was now 25. So, what was I going to do?
I still loved fashion
but was quite disillusioned with the industry. After seven years of university,
I could not afford to work for free and influenced by the Green movement which,
pre-recession, was in full swing, did not want to add any more products to the
cycle of senseless fast-consumerism. But maybe I could add some directions to
the process, so at least when people went shopping, they’d be buying tasteful
high quality goods from a carefully chosen selection of retailers. Internet shopping was at the time, in 2007,
making the transgression from something some people did on Amazon to a
mainstream activity and many shops and brands were opening their virtual
doors. However, not all of them were and
I thought, wouldn’t it be great to build a sort of online shopping portal, not
only pointing to the best quality retailers but also filtering out the brands that
weren’t selling online yet? A kind of
simple timesaving signpost map for the discerning shopper… And that’s how the
idea (and name) for Shophoppingmap was born!
Of course, as with
all business ventures, the idea is only the tiny first step of the journey and
it took a year and a half of research and feeling around in the dark to build
the site. It didn’t go online until
January 2009. When I showed it to a
computer programmer cousin for a professional opinion, he said he liked the way
the site looked “homemade”. This was not quite the reaction I had had in mind
but it did not stop me presenting it to CEO’s and head offices of top brands
and retailers around the world. I laugh
when I think back to that “vintage” original version of Shophoppingmap but in
fact companies reacted very positively, and many complimented it for its
simplicity. Simplicity is the key factor
behind Shophoppingmap. It is a location-neutral, gender-neutral and
interest-neutral shopping guide, with quality tasteful online shopping being
the common denominator under all its different categories.
The biggest
challenges about running an online business are the time it takes and the lack
of immediate turnover. We’ve all heard
the enticing stories about many a multi-million pound Internet company starting
in the garden shed but mine is very much still in the garden shed on a
financial level. Since the start, I have
had to make ends meet with other work such as English teaching and freelance
design. It has been frustrating
sometimes, not having the full time or financial backing to really push things
forward. On the other hand, when you are
doing everything on your own, you really feel each step forward and there is
nothing more rewarding than hearing from friends and acquaintances, (men and
women) who tell me that they bought their shoes for their wedding/all their
babies’ clothes/bedding for the new home/the perfect pair of jeans etc. through
Shophoppingmap. It is hard work and
costly getting a site out there but it is good to know that the people who know
about it use it and I believe that if you build a product that is genuinely
useful and timesaving, success will follow. Eventually!
In the meantime, I am
developing the site and will be running an offshoot shopping tour business in
London this summer. Certainly being an entrepreneur isn’t easy but then again,
what path is? You have to start somewhere and as my uncle said, you may as well
start with something of your own. And
whenever I watch my friends go off on their ski holidays and I still can’t join
them, I just remind myself, even castles start with a wheelbarrow and a pile of
bricks!
Elizabeth Gaffney is a freelance stylist, designer, writer and communications consultant living in London. Having grown up between England, Canada and Ireland, she loves travelling and discovering exciting new places and pieces. As well as directing Shophoppingmap, she is currently working on opening an online boutique for her finds and accessories designs. When she is not working, she can be found rummaging around a market, in an art gallery or on a beach.
She can be contacted at elizabeth@shophoppingmap.com
