Laura’s love for fashion began 10 years ago; she was intrigued by the influence that technology and changing consumer attitudes had on the retail industry. Her new brand, ‘Peek Boutique’ began as a concept of pop-up shops, and has since transformed into a successful retail venture. She would use the £5,000 grant to help develop the online side of her business, offering customers a unique mobile and web shopping experience.
Outline your business and entrepreneurial skills, including your relative achievements to date in running a business
In October 2012 I founded my company Peek. Having studied fashion and worked in boutiques since I was 16, I was curious about the way retail was changing with technology and consumer attitudes. With a £2,500 loan from my brother I started a string of pop up shops that aimed to test new retail concepts by collaborating with other new businesses. Each unique collaborative Pop Up held it’s own feature, we collaborated with a cafe and dj, and also a hair and beauty stylist. The aim was to offer an experience that was friendly, unique and personal. The Pop ups were a great opportunity to meet customers and get thoughts on future ideas. The biggest positive was people liked the product and service but the Pop Up feature meant I limited my revenue, and whilst I was working on a website I noticed that people still wanted to shop as an experience, with a service and for enjoyment. I then opened a store on a 6 month rental basis and am still here 1 year later! I now have a website that ships internationally and am working on a collaborative Christmas Pop Up in central London for 2014.
Why do you have the ability to be an inspiring role model? Provide examples to illustrate:
have founded a brand that is pushing new retail concepts. within 17months I have created a business that last year turned over £150,00 and this year is set to turn over around £300,00. I believe we can be anybody we want to be and with the right guidance and attitude you can make any dream a reality. I have been very fortunate to have had very inspirational women in my life and I would like to inspire others to grab there dreams with two hands and drive it into reality. There is no point in waiting until tomorrow, make a start and learn as you go that’s certainly what I did and am still doing. I listen to others and believe everybody has something to give.
What is your business / idea and what would you use the £5,000 towards if you were to win
I would like to develop the online side of my business. I would like to invest in a system that will allow me to make the online experience more personable. So the customer can receive personal styling tips with all items. Allowing customers to create accounts to save looks to and share via social media. I am interested in adapting this into an app and onto mobile technology so people can shop in the easiest format.
