My biggest mistake: Jane Lu, founder of Showpo
How do you know when inspiration has turned into distraction, and what should you do about it?
Showpo founder Jane Lu learnt an important lesson after moving her fast-growing e-commerce business to a new location closer to her competitors.
Lu shares what happened, how it affected sales and what she did next.
The mistake
Six years ago, Lu and her team moved into new offices in Surry Hills in Sydney’s ragtrader district. The new location seemed like it would be an “obvious win”, says the founder, as the idea was to be closer to some of Showpo’s suppliers and in the mix with other retailers.
But Lu soon found this proximity made her look too much at the competition, to the point that she became distracted by what other brands and retailers were doing.
While it’s essential to stay up-to-date with what’s happening in your industry, Lu admits she “started chasing new shiny things and lost focus on what we were and what we set out to do”.
The context
Lu founded Showpo in 2010 after famously leaving her corporate career to sell clothing and accessories via pop-up stalls at markets.
Showpo quickly carved out a strong position in the fashion retail space, growing from $2.6 million in annual turnover in 2014, to more than $30 million in 2018.
There were 12 people working for the business when it moved to its new office and the business was on an upward trajectory.
“We had just experienced tremendous growth and felt we were well and truly past being a startup,” says Lu.
The impact
This focus on what others were doing translated into confusion for everyone in the Showpo business, says Lu.
Strategy and goals took a backseat and instead, the company kept changing what it was doing. Not only were customers confused about what to expect from the brand, Lu says it was confusing for her team too.
“How could our team know what they needed to do when it seemed like we as a business didn’t know what direction we were going in?” she asks.
Crucially, this confusion started to affect sales, which notably slowed down that year.
Jane Lu, Showpo. Source: Supplied
The fix
For Lu, correcting this mistake — and making sure it didn’t happen again — involved hitting the pause button. The team took the time needed to slow down and properly map out the brand’s strategy.
“We reset with a focus on what we wanted for Showpo because it was best for our business, our customers and our vision, not guided by what others were doing,” she says.
Now, it’s about striking the right balance between being “dynamic and nimble”, something that is essential in an industry like e-commerce, and staying true to Lu and Showpo’s vision.
The experience taught Lu that there will always be tradeoffs in business.
“We made the conscious effort to understand what the opportunity cost was when something new came up, versus focusing and delivering on strategy,” she says.
