We thought we'd through some questions at the team behind the cutting-edge app that is at the forefront of e-commerce.
Why did you start Shop By Me?
Before we developed our Sales Alerts, we launched a product that offered users fashion recommendations based on their browsing history. One of the most requested features for this product was the ability to filter these recommendations to show only on-sale items. When we probed deeper, we found that what our users really wanted was to be the first to find out about on-sale items. And so our Sales Alerts were born.
How did it begin?
The three co-founders of Shop of Me met at Startup Weekend – a not-for-profit organisation that organises weekend events during which groups of developers, designers, business managers etc. meet, form teams and try to kick-start a business in 48 hours.
What is your background?
There are three co-founders of Shop of Me:
Travis Street – Travis has been a professional SEO and Social Media Manager since 2009. He’s also the current Editor of fashion and culture website COMEINTOLAND.com He has a degree in Social Sciences from Richmond, The American International University in London.
Ben Dixon – Ben is a developer with over eight years experience building web and mobile apps. He is a named author on the patent for a medical force measurement device used by vets internationally. He has a degree in Law from Kings College London.
Huw Walters - Huw has a background as a software Product Manager, having previously worked for four years at Vodafone Group. Most notably he launched the very successful Vodafone Guardian child protection App. He has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Oxford
What are the future plans?
One future enhancement we’re planning is that we’ll only alert users about sale items that are still available in their size.
How did you choose the brands to work with? Did they need much persuasion? Do you have more to target?
We chose the current brands simply because these were the most popular among the users of our fashion recommendation product. We don’t actually need partnerships to work with these brands – we’ve developed software that automatically check this information on their websites. When we first started work on Shop of Me, we realised it would take about 3 years if we tried to get sales data via partnerships and 3 months if we didn’t. We definitely have a long list of brands to target (both in the UK and internationally).
Do you shop exclusively online or are you a fan of the street still?
Online commerce is impacting my offline experiences all the time and I’m adapting the same as everyone. Nothing beats trying on a pair of jeans in the store, but I'll often take a picture of the tag and then go online and try to find a discount for it or wait for it to go on sale.
Where do you see e-commerce heading next?
One of most interesting challenges in e-commerce is the sizing problem – knowing that clothes you’re thinking of ordering will fit. We believe there are going to be lots of interesting innovations in this space. One of our favourites is Jeanography.com. They’ve developed technology that learns your perfect jeans fit by looking at what styles and sizes of jeans you buy, which you keep and which you return.
Who are your go to brands?
Honestly, you can't go wrong with anything from ASOS or TopShop but for the more semi-formal days and nights out in London I always turn to COS.
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