Online Shopping is broken, forcing Shoppers to spend hours opening multiple tabs and checking a myriad of retailers just to make a purchase. I'm not prepared to accept or adapt to that experience.
We’ve needed to check lots of sites to find the best deal since way before my journey in ecommerce began as part of a small team building the UK marketplace on Amazon. I loved the idea of a single detail page in the 'Everything Store' – but in 2023 this is still hampered by commercial models, platforms pushing own-brand items and poor data quality.
As a long-serving member of Merchant Services, I was involved, at a leadership level, in launching new categories, new sellers, new initiatives and products - such as FBA, Amazon Pay, Product Ads and Webstore. I personally closed deals generating over half a billion in sales (GMV) for Amazon and for thousands of retailers and sellers.
After cutting my teeth at Amazon, I moved to a more senior role leading blue-chip engagements at Tesco’s marketplace. During a period of change in the business, I led retailer recruitment on their nascent marketplace alongside the founding team.
Their outgoing director headhunted me into last-mile delivery logistics – where I launched InPost UK’s locker solution to their first outbound retailer, as part of the European senior team.
My first startup role came as Retail Director at Pricesearcher, and saw me close deals with retailers and brands including Amazon, IKEA, Argos, Tesco, Gucci, Nike, Farfetch and PC World. I also led the agency and partnership department in delivering new revenue and marketing opportunities - successfully launched their Ads and Data services.
In three years, under my leadership, the business raised over £4m and became one of Europe’s largest and most disruptive comparison sites. I delivered over 44,000 online retailers to a catalogue that amassed a product-count 15-times greater than Google Shopping across 180m SKUs and 3.8Bn data points.
In March 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak, I created the pioneering opt-out marketplace aisle 3® (a3.co) - using AI to streamline shopping. As CEO, I quickly gained support from some of the biggest brands/retailers such as Nike, Adidas and Schuh for our Sneaker MVP.
Our proprietary tech includes AI/ML models to classify and aggregate products without GTINs or Barcodes; a digital wallet that pays cashback with every purchase; Cloud Basket® for convenient 1-click checkout with any retailer; and a Web3 enabled smart contract – which won ‘Most Innovative Tech’ at 2022 UK Startup Magazine Awards.
In around six months from launch, we scaled aisle 3® (a3.co) to 21,000+ product sign-ups and 740+ Orders worth over £60k - with a return rate of 15% within 90 days.
Leading the marketing and PR function I gained coverage in WWD.com, Business Leader and EU Startups. Despite a minuscule marketing budget, I grew our TikTok account to over 30k+ followers - including celebrity endorsements from ‘Ex on the beach’, an Olympian, and the winner of BBC’s 'The Apprentice'.
Working alongside a CTO co-founder, we screened over 1,000 candidates to build a world-class, international team including 4x PhDs; created an Indian company; and took to the stage at leading events – TEDx (Oxford University), PI Live (London) and NRF (NYC).
We raised over £1.2m in Venture Capital from FJ Labs, Hedosophia and angel investment from leaders at Snap, Catch, MoneySupermarket, BigCommerce, HSBC, and Pentagon. We also completed the sale of our CSS business which was amongst the largest in Europe.
I prefer to wear t-shirts to work and believe people should always be judged on their ability and honesty first. I'm appreciative when people work hard and make quick, decisive decisions - I strive to do the same.
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I am proud to be CEO & co-founder of aisle 3, which is using AI to streamline shopping. We save you time and money when you shop privately with any retailer using our Cloud Basket®
