Steve McCormick
To find out more about ShopHub visit : www . tryshophub . com
IN PROFILE
Steve McCormick
Co-Founder & CEO , ShopHub
Last year , ShopHub was crowned winner of the Techies Awards Swindon & Wiltshire 2021 Best Tech Start-Up category .
Founded in Cricklade in 2020 , ShopHub is a loyalty app that enables e-commerce stores to easily create their own loyalty programme directly to their store .
Steve Co-Founded the business straight out of university . He graduated in 2020 with a First- Class Honours from Cardiff University in Management . After graduating , Steve was offered his dream job working as a technology consultant in London but declined the offer to follow his ShopHub dream and the chance to impact hundreds of millions of people .
We met with Steve to find out more about him , ShopHub and how the business is evolving since its big Techies Award win .
How did you come up with the ShopHub idea ? ShopHub was born after running my own e-commerce store . I noticed how few loyalty solutions were available for small online businesses . After doing some market research with my co-founders Josh Sparkes and Tom Poynor , we found that only 1 per cent of the 10 million online businesses available today have a loyalty program . There ' s a huge gap in the market , especially when you see the popularity of loyalty systems in brick-and-mortar businesses , with 90 per cent choosing to include one .
How does the app help retailers ? ShopHub enables online retailers to reward their customers in their own way . Whether they offer rewards through purchases , sharing their experience on social media , or referring friends , businesses can tailor custom rewards like discounts to maintain brand engagement and create a following like never before .
It must have been a difficult decision turning down your dream job to pursue ShopHub . Did you have much support ? While this was a hugely difficult decision to make , I have had support the whole way . I receive close support from Cardiff University which has helped me substantially during this journey . I actually met my co-founder Josh Sparkes who was assigned as my mentor when I was due to start my job at Deloitte ; his mentoring , support , and commitment to our vision was a major reason why I was able to make the decision .
How did you prove the ShopHub idea was viable ? I saw the scarcity of customer retention tools first-hand whilst running my own online business . After identifying the issue , we interviewed dozens of small online business owners , trying to understand the scale of the issue and whether our solution was viable . The feedback we got was overwhelmingly strong , and it continues to drive every decision we make on the ground . Our customer-oriented philosophy is a core approach to our work .
How did it feel to win Best Tech Start-up at the Techies 2021 ? Winning the Best Tech Start-up Award was such an honour . The consideration alone was an achievement in itself when you look at the other fantastic nominees . Creating a new business is a difficult and uncertain road , as I ’ m sure many founders can appreciate , but to win an award like Best Tech Start-up is a wonderful indicator that we ’ re on the right track .
Has winning a Techies Award opened up new doors for you ? Winning a Techies Award was a great opportunity to expand our network . For example , we were introduced to CEO of the Swindon and Wiltshire LEP Paddy Bradley who kindly offered support for our organisation .
What have you been up to in the last six months and how is the business developing ? We have gained fantastic growth over the last six months – including the app ' s release , and have grown our team with four incredibly talented people , Naomi , Amelia , Lucy , and Abbie , through the Kickstart Scheme . They have already blown us away with their skills , and they will be fundamental to the rapid growth we expect this year .
How does ESG fit into your business plan ? Sustainability and social responsibility are core to ShopHub . After speaking to our customers , we found that small businesses strive to be more sustainable but are limited by the tools and support that is available . This is why we are planning to release sustainable and socially focused rewards to our app , which lets small businesses reward their customers with planting trees and charity donations to ensure that their business is making a net positive impact on the environment and society .
What are your aspirations for ShopHub ? We have big aspirations for ShopHub . Our vision is to make ShopHub a global loyalty platform for independent online retailers , connecting hundreds of thousands of businesses with billions of shoppers worldwide . It ’ s incredibly hard for small online businesses to get discovered . Unlike brick-and-mortar businesses , online stores get no natural traffic and are forced to spend huge amounts of money and time on advertising . This is why we aim to build ShopHub to counteract the sting of online advertising and find a new solution to establishing their customer base .
What are your biggest challenges ? Our biggest challenge is reaching online stores that benefit the most from our product . We decided to bootstrap our business as we knew this would help us understand our customers by ensuring that every decision we make creates the most value for them . However , with such a low budget , we need to find alternative ways to grow that don ’ t require significant funds . This is why things like the Kickstart Scheme has been hugely impactful for us , enabling us to work with talented individuals who can help us create our vision , whilst benefiting from experience in the working world .
Do you think there is enough support out there for start-ups ? While there is a lot of support around for start-ups , support grants are incredibly rare . As we work in software , we are not a capital-intensive business ; we have no raw materials and require no physical premises or equipment . However , it has been a huge challenge to bootstrap our company , and I cannot imagine how it would even be possible to bootstrap a start-up that isn ’ t software-based . The only realistic options of acquiring capital for a start-up is through private equity investment or debt-financing , both of which are difficult to acquire and have lots of strings attached . Of the grants available , they are either reserved for large organisations , are extremely specific in scope , or are match-funded where the founders need to have the cash available in the first place .
What advice would you give to anyone else looking to set up their own business ? Read The Lean Startup by Eric Ries and apply this methodology to everything you do . This is effectively a cheat code on how to build a successful start-up , and it has been the biggest factor in how we have gotten as far as we have .
The most important thing we have learnt from this book is that customer engagement is paramount . You need to understand your customer ’ s problems so that your concept will provide them value , ensuring your success . I cannot stress this point enough – you must speak to customers !
What advice would you give anyone thinking of entering the Techies Awards 2022 ? I would say be sure to clearly demonstrate your motivations behind the business . One of the biggest reasons for our nomination is because we have a story that many of those who are just starting out in a competitive industry like our own sympathise with . It ' s not easy to go out on a limb with nothing but a concept and indicative research , but leaps like that are why businesses work , and we took that leap .
To find out more about ShopHub visit : www . tryshophub . com
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