The golden boy of Midland retail is making a return with two online ventures which are set to create jobs in the region.
Steve Smith, who founded Poundland in 1990, is targeting the web market by launching an online store where everything costs £1 after buying the domain Poundshop.com.
The entrepreneur, who sold his share of Poundland for £50 million in 2002, is understood to be in talks for a distribution hub, likely to be in the West Midlands.
Meanwhile, he is launching a new deals website focused on the region. Bluesdeals.com – launched at St Andrew’s, the home of Birmingham City, last weekend, aims to give businesses in the city an online portal to offer deals.
Mr Smith told the Post he believes Poundshop.com occupied a niche with few rivals, however, he may face competition from Willenhall-based Poundland, which is also reportedly preparing to launch an online store.
He said: “The pound shop is something they can trust and there are four or five million through the doors every week. Everyone is now shopping online, but there isn’t a pound shop there.
“It is very difficult to put in place but with partners getting in touch there have been 50,000 people contact us in the last few days.
“There seems to be a big demand there and we are trying to get it in place.”
Mr Smith negotiated a substantial fee for the Poundshop.com domain, and is in the late stages of talks over a distribution base. He plans to have the operation up and running in the next six months.
It will offer a similar range of single-price goods to Poundland including toys, beauty products, stationery, tools, food, drink and home and garden items with a minimum spend about £20, with a delivery charge of £3.
A click and collect service to allow customers to pick up their purchases from shops and shopping centres near their home is also being considered,
Mr Smith has accepted the business may not immediately turn a profit, but is confident about the marketplace.
“It is something I tried quite a few years ago,” he said.
“I was the guy who brought the pound concept to the UK in 1990. The idea was to turn over more than £1 billion, and they will do a lot more than that next year.
“I still get a lot of people contacting me about a pound shop online. It has been the same for the last 10 of 15 years.”
Referring to plans for a distribution base, he added: “We are pretty close to signing a contract. We have got quite a lot of people committing to do it.
“What is difficult is the delivery cost to the customer. We are looking at a minimum spend of around £20.
“We are looking at starting with about 1,000 products.”
Meanwhile, Mr Smith launched his new deals website at Birmingham City’s home fixture against Derby County last weekend.
With the likes of Groupon and Wowcher, he accepts it is a crowded marketplace, but says there is little that is catering for small and fledgling businesses.
He said: “There are a lot of people in Birmingham city centre who haven’t been able to make the most of the internet, and Blues Deals is a central place for them to go. And everyone knows the football club.
“Someone like a mobile hairdresser or small independent shop – they might have a great deal to offer to people in the area, but they can’t spend thousands of pounds on a website.
“For example, if you are a hotel, you might have ten rooms available, so you can put them on the site to offer people a bargain.”
He added: “Nobody is just allowing people to put their own deals out there at the moment.
“By background is in big value, with Poundland, and it is the same thing – if we can get the volumes through we can earn money.”
