Jane Lu on what retailers should focus on when money is tight for consumers

Jane Lu started Showpo in 2010 in her parents’ garage. With neither the funds nor the experience, she began with a laptop and two shelves of clothes, and grew Showpo into a fashion brand that sells to customers around the world.

Lu is also a massive advocate for small business and women in business. She started the group Like Minded Bitches Drinking Wine which now reaches more than 165,000 women globally.

Showpo appeared in the Smart50 list in 2014, claiming the Top Retailer award as it was then known, and this year joins the program again, as a guest judge in the Retail Champion category.

Here, she fills us in on staying ahead of the game in retail, and how storytelling and social media savvy will see retailers through more than the latest tech talk.

How much of a challenge is it to stay ahead of the game in retail? What new trends and systems are you leveraging to ensure an up-to-date experience?

It’s definitely very challenging, but that’s what makes it exciting, as well. Advances in technology have made starting a business easier, so competition is definitely increasing — but the difficulty now is scaling a business for success.

I honestly think the biggest trend isn’t in tech, despite the industry always talking about tech; it’s really the ability to effectively storytell about your brand and your products. It’s through understanding the latest social media trends that retail brands are best placed to do this.

How should business leaders and e-commerce platforms think about — and offer better products and experiences for — consumers in times when money is tight?

Focus on margins and cashflow. Unless you are fortunate enough to have a recession-proof product, don’t burn through cash trying to grow in a down market. 

If you have a growth strategy that’s working? Great. Otherwise, use this time to focus on margin. Through COVID-19, we focused on cost cutting, we re-branded the business and we worked hard on improving the quality and fit of the product, meaning as we came out of lockdowns, we were in a much better position to ride the growth wave.

What excites you about the future of retail? Are there any vendors, sites, products or trends that stand out for you? 

I’m excited about connecting more with our customers, nurturing our community more effectively and improving our customer experience. 

We’re quite late to a loyalty program — it’s something we’ve always talked about, but other priorities got in the way — so we’re very excited about the upcoming launch of our loyalty program with Yotpo. We’re also launching with Refundid soon, to offer our customers instantaneous cash refunds, which will alleviate another important customer pain point.

Jane Lu joins the Smart50 program again in 2022 as a guest judge for the Retail Champion category.