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JUMPSTART
JUMPSTART
INTERVIEW WITH FIONA LAU
WHAT ARE SOME TIPS FOR
HOMECOOKS WHO WANT TO SUCCEED
IN PROMOTING THEIR CREATIONS?
THE COFOUNDER OF SHOPLINE
From our experience, to generate more
foodie demand and buzz, there are three
aspects that homecooks should look
into. First, foodies generally react better
to food creations that are more unique
(not commonly seen in the commercial
space). It could be unique in terms of
a special recipe, food from another
country, specific dietary preferences
(vegan, organic, etc.) and new ways of
combining of ingredients.
Second, photos make a huge
difference in foodies’ perception. It’s
worth investing in cooking a meal for
the purpose of taking photos. All the
small details matter, such as using the
right plate for different foods, the photo
lighting, portion size, the mix and match
of colors of the ingredients and the
background. It’s also a must to arrange
the ingredients in a more tidy way rather
than mixing all of them together.
Third, prepare a short but sweet
description about your creation.
This is information that could not be
conveyed through photos and needs to
be conveyed through text. Homecooks
should highlight the specialty points
about their food and which sorts of
tastes are best for which types of
foodies, as everyone has their own
preference.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR COMPANY!
Shopline is a shop creation platform to help merchants in Asia sell and
market their products. We provide the easiest no-coding-needed way
of creating a beautiful self-branded e-commerce web and mobile site
within minutes. There is a huge opportunity in this market as many
businesses are just starting to utilize the Internet and do not have the
technical know-how to get their brand online.
WHO ARE THE BRAINS BEHIND THIS
BUSINESS? WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO
START THIS COMPANY?
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES
HOW HAVE YOU BEEN PROMOTING YOUR WEBSITE/
TO RUNNING THIS BUSINESS?
BUSINESS IN HK?
We are an O2O (online to offline)
business and one of our main challenges
is the offline logistics of delivering
the products to foodies from the
homecooks. The scalable way of doing
it would be hiring our own driver and
using our own transportation, however,
as we aren’t at that stage yet, we are
currently doing a lot of things in a
manual way until we have a steady flow
of business.
As we are a tech-based business, most of our buzz
is generated online through Facebook and search
engines. Constant updates of our new products
through various social media are how we keep our
communication with all our users. Additionally, as we
are a location-based service, we are also increasing
our offline marketing by partnering with different
events as one of their event caterers and setting up a
booth at a community carnival to increase exposure.
Feature Your
Story In Our
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Contact Our
Editorial Team:
editors@
jumpstartmag.com
We have a great team of three at
Shopline – Raymond Yip, Tony Wong
and Fiona Lau, who cover design,
development and business. We met
at Startup Weekend back in April 2013
while working on different projects.
We share the same passion and vision
in e-commerce, particularly mobile
commerce. We all feel that online
commerce will be a big growth area
for Asia in the coming years. Small- to
medium-sized businesses are on the rise
and are looking to expand quickly on
the web. In the meantime, traditional
businesses are beginning to see the
real value of having an online presence
and are yearning for the same type of
expansion.
HOW HAS THE PROGRESS BEEN
SO FAR?
After our beta launch in November,
we now have over 500 shops on our
platform, mostly Hong Kong and
Taiwanese merchants. Since our
product is in English and Chinese,
we plan on aggressively growing
our network of shops in Hong Kong,
Taiwan and Singapore, before we
enter other countries in Asia.
WHAT KINDS OF COMPANIES USE
YOUR SERVICE?
Our early adopters are extremely
diverse, ranging from brick and mortar
stores aiming to reach more customers
via their own online shop, to entrepreneurs
launching purely online businesses. We also
have a nice mix of industries represented in
our network – everything from accessories
to clothing brands, to electronics and
watches and even food!
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