I hate the high street.co.uk
Client: Kate Towns
Kate Towns decided to set up her own business after she had her first child. Kate says, "I had previously worked in the film industry as a freelance costumier. I went from one job to the next doing six days a week of long filming hours and spent much of my time away from home. It was great fun but not a job that goes very well with having a family and I soon realised I needed to do something else."
"When my daughter was little I found that I could no longer get to the shops. I found that the High Street with a pram is a nightmare and suddenly I hated shopping. And so I used all my savings and set up ‘I hate the High Street .co.uk’ which is an internet boutique selling high quality clothing for women and children. I realised there were lots of women like me who were interested in clothing but finding that going shopping was no longer enjoyable. I was spending more time buying on the internet and so were all the other mums I met."
Kate went to fashion trade shows and picked out all the styles she wanted to stock.. When the clothing arrives she takes them to a photographers studio and get friends to model.
Kate says, "I heard about the LDA Business London Programme from a friend and rang up and booked myself onto a course run by Innovative Enterprise Action (IEA): the enterprise awareness course. I had several follow up one-to-one appointments to discuss how to target customers more effectively, promote the website and finance my idea."
"The business advice I received has been a huge help and source of support. I have also had help with setting up a Google Ad Campaign which is currently running and drives a lot more traffic to the site. By sending out press releases I got some PR in local magazines but I am yet to have got anything into one of the larger fashion magazines but I’m still trying!"
"In 12 months time I would like to have improved the site's photography, be featured in a magazine and increased my sales."
Kate says one of the main obstacles in growing her business has been cash flow problems. "As I have to pay for everything up front it can get quite tight at times. I plan to overcome this by finding more short order suppliers and working on a more ‘cash and carry’ basis."
"The other obstacle is marketing the site, getting people to know it’s there. I had not realised just how difficult and competitive this would be. I have started doing market stalls because obviously it’s great to sell some stuff but also it’s a way of showing people what you’ve got, they can take a card and you can chat with them and it gives the site a personal side."
"My advice to other entrepreneurs would be to do as much research as possible into your idea before you launch into it. But don’t be afraid of making mistakes because that is the way you learn."
