Member Article

North West Startup Season: UniBulkBuy

The bulk buying essentials website for students, started by a student, has proved an instant hit.

UniBulkBuy has brought in revenue of £1k a month since it was set up in October 2014.

Founder Craig Lappin-Smith began the company, which is now based in Manchester, at the beginning his second year of university when he realised how quickly the essentials for a student house were used up.

Studying business at Durham university and with limited funding available, he used earnings from a part time job, savings and his student loan to invest in his idea.

He saw the ‘Pitch to Rich’ competition as a fantastic opportunity to create brand awareness and gain publicity for the company. He is currently shortlisted in the competition and says Richard Branson is a role model of his.

Speaking to Bdaily he said: “It would mean big things for the company, winning the competition would mean a huge amount of funding available for marketing.

“The biggest challenge is convincing students that bulk is better, that parting with an initial larger sum is beneficial to them.

“We also have issues with shipping and the supply chain that I hope to simplofy as the business gets bigger.

“The easiest thing has been support for the idea, the support and belief in the idea has always been very easy, the positive feedback has given me a lot of confidence.”

If given more investment Craig would love to be able to hire others to help with his company and own more of the supply chain in the business.

Craig is hoping that the hard work he is planning for the summer will result in a fivefold increase in turnover by the end of the year.

Winning ‘Pitch to Rich’ would mean a great deal for the brand, bringing in much needed marketing money to get his idea out and across the country.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .