Jane Lu
2017 Hall of Fame Inductee
Showpo
- CEO
About Me - My Biography
Jane founded online fashion clothing store Showpo in 2010 from her parent’s garage. Before that, she had worked in accounting and corporate finance but decided to ditch cubicle life and start her own business when she realised that, compared to fashion and social media, the corporate world had very little to offer her. Though her first business failed to take off, Jane picked herself up off the ground and got Showpo running the following month.
What started with a laptop and a few shelves of clothing is now a global fashion empire. Showpo ships to 45 countries and its social media sites boast over 1.6 million followers.
With Showpo, Jane captured a niche in the market. When ecommerce shopping was still weak, Showpo offered affordable fashion with next-day delivery. With no prior experience in fashion, she was able to model her business knowing exactly what a typical customer would want, instead of bogging it down with overly-specific fashion styles and tastes. For a few years, Showpo had a notable and lucrative brick-and-mortar presence, but Jane has decided to focus solely on online sales. Today, the company takes and delivers over 30,000 orders every month.
Showpo is currently a $30 million business, with 35% of sales coming from international markets. Jane is looking to build Showpo into a $100 million business by 2020 with no external funding.
Jane is passionate about promoting entrepreneurship and women in business. She co-founded the Facebook group “Like Minded Bitches Drinking Wine”, which has over 30,000 members and promotes and encourages women bosses around the world. The group has meet-up events in Sydney, Brisbane, LA, Melbourne and San Francisco.
Jane is also a public speaker and is heavily involved in Australia’s start-up scene. She has been nominated for numerous awards and has received Cosmopolitan’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2015, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2016 and many more.
Strategies for Success
- Know your numbers – Stats might not seem that exciting, but you need to understand what’s going on in your business.
- Hire the right people and trust that they can do what you’ve hired them for – Showpo wouldn’t be where it is today without such an incredible team!
- Social media should take up a large portion of your time and marketing budget – It is the best form of (somewhat) free advertising!
- Know who your customers are and what they want – There’s no point selling something if you have no idea what your target market thinks, wants and loves.
- Work hard and play hard – Give everything you’ve got, always.