Initially, it was very difficult as suppliers were reluctant. We met with each supplier and pitched them the concept, including mocking up their brand in the site and showing off the key features.
It was very time consuming, but well worth it in the end. We have been quite selective in the brands we stock. We don’t stock brands that are over-distributed or cannot hold their respective RRPs.
We want to build long-term relationships with brands that represent the very best quality and value to our consumers. We see our role as being ‘curators’ and putting together edited ranges from each season.
Our target market is the 18 to 25-year-old female and male footwear consumer who need cool stuff pronto and follow seasonal trends closely.
Our core customer appreciates a personal element to online shopping, with customer service given priority status.
We have been reaching this customer through a variety of digital marketing channels including targeted adwords, fashion bloggers and focused PR.
Our marketing strategy is primarily digital for its cost efficiencies and reach, but we run this in parallel with good, old-fashioned word of mouth.
If we impress the pants off a customer, they are likely to tell others in their network. So we put a lot off effort into the customer experience.
Raising capital at Shooii has been the most difficult and time consuming task. Australian VCs are very risk adverse and we didn’t tick all the investment criteria boxes.
So we had to hustle quickly and found funding via the Australian small scale offerings board (ASSOB), which connects investors with primarily early stage start-ups.
We have been fortunate to raise almost three rounds of funding and now we are looking to close round three shortly and open up our final round.
On the whole, capital raising is a tough game and consumes almost 60% of every week. I’d much prefer to spend this time working on the business but, hey, it’s a necessary evil if you want to build a web platform to a high level.
That’s an endless piece of string! But if I had to point to one item then it would be capital raising.
Having not raised funding before, I wish I’d been more realistic about how much time it would take up and that, short term, it can be a disadvantage. What I mean by that is it can slow your progress. You can only go as fast as your bank account will allow and that can be frustrating for young companies.
If we could have done it without funding, our speed could have been greater. But, in saying that, I don’t think we could have built a site like Shooii without the right funding in place.
Short term, we’d like to close out our capital raising with a cornerstone investor to invest further into inventory, marketing and our team.
Long term, I’d like to see Shooii grow into a great Australian brand that builds a community of people united by the love of shoes and, by doing so, become a major player in the online footwear space.
