The e-commerce sisters doing it for themselves
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Version 0 of 1. Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish, the co-founders of notonthehighstreet.com, are gearing up for Christmas: Tucker has just fashioned a trendy wreath out of chilli peppers for her front door while Cornish dusted down her sewing machine to help her teenage daughter with a festive sewing project. Their activities are not dissimilar to those under way in homes all over the country as Christmas looms. But Tucker and Cornish have quite a track record on kitchen-table projects – because that is where their gift website Notonthehighstreet.com got started. The pair later wrote a book about it called Build a Business from Your Kitchen Table and it might be worth reading – because nearly a decade later their online marketplace is closing in on sales of £100m, with annual growth running at more than 150%. Tucker says the website is a virtual take on quirky shopping destinations like Brighton’s Lanes. “NOTHS is the online equivalent of the little alleyway that has all those independent shops,” she says. It sells goods made by 5,000 small businesses around the country and charges commission per transaction. But whatever you do, don’t use the c-word to describe its 250,000 products. “We’ve never been about craft,” continues Tucker, who is no stranger to church hall stalls, having founded Your Local Fair, a precursor to NOTHS, which staged events in affluent parts of London. “It has always been about unique and quality products that are hard to find – hence the name. The high street would love to get their hands on these products. It’s not something that is beneath them.” From realistic-looking chocolate Brussels sprouts to DIY Christmas jumper sets and festive pinecone place settings, the website provides a rich seam for people who want to buy something a little different but can’t be bothered to trawl the shops. Christmas accounts for just over half of NOTHS’s annual sales, which reached £83m last year. Cornish says popular gifts this year include jewellery and prints carrying secret messages to loved ones: “Personalisation is a huge trend for us, and we do it in a way that we think is special and original.” After five years as chief executive, Tucker recently moved to the newly created role of president but she insists that as a director and shareholder the change does not mean she is any less involved: “With these hours?” she says. Cornish, who started her career as a beauty writer on Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, is also on the board in the role of director and co-founder. The arrangement leaves the day-to-day to the new management team – there are now 200 staff based at its open-plan head office in Richmond, south-west London – while they concentrate on strategy. Back in 2006 they spent what little money they had buying up the worldwide domain names for the brand and they are now deploying them, with a recent push into Germany. “We sat in the freezing cold because we had decided that was the most important thing to spend money on,” explains Cornish. “This year we launched in Germany and it is showing encouraging signs of success.” The pair, who met while working at advertising group Publicis, say they make good partners despite a 12-year age gap. Cornish, 49, told one interviewer: “Holly is bold, fearless and unafraid to reach for the stars, whereas I’m careful and thoughtful, so we bring out the best in each other.” Both had set up their own companies before joining forces so were prepared for the challenges ahead. Thus far the company has raised around £27m from investors, most recently in 2012, when it attracted £10m from a consortium that included Fidelity, Index Ventures and Greylock Partners. The duo have previously said female entrepreneurs struggle to win backing from venture capitalists, but Cornish now says: “We were very determined and had a good pitch and after kissing a few frogs we found the right investor.” To ensure all its products are of a professional standard, the site turns away 80% of potential sellers. “We make sure they can scale with us and the products have a point of difference,” explains Tucker. The site’s success has created a league of “power partners”, with a dozen expected to turn over more than £1m this year, and several at the £2m mark. NOTHS is also a powerful sisterhood. The entrepreneurs are both working mothers, and are proud of the fact that 80% of their sellers are female-run and have predominantly female workforces. “When we founded the business we were very aware of the fact that you had a career, then you had a family and found it very difficult to do both of those things well,” says Tucker. “We have created this ecosystem of women now able to work around their families and have a career. By the end of this year we will have pumped in £250m into this hidden female army.” |