{"id":4989,"date":"2010-11-11T15:01:26","date_gmt":"2010-11-11T15:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2010\/11\/11\/99-problemsbut-shopping-aint-one\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T12:49:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T12:49:19","slug":"99-problemsbut-shopping-aint-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2010\/11\/11\/99-problemsbut-shopping-aint-one\/","title":{"rendered":"99 problems\u2026but shopping ain\u2019t one!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

How student Suleman Sacranie quit his studies to become 99p entrepreneur!<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

A YOUNG Leicester entrepreneur is becoming a household name \u2013 thanks to his budget online shopping website!<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Discount shopping website 99pShopper.com caused a sensation when it launched on the web in August, offering popular brand-name items at just 99p or less. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The site was launched by 21 year old Suleman Sacranie who is already hoping to franchise the concept and expand into shops across the UK and Europe.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The site is proving to be a hit with ex-pats eager to snap-up their favourite British food brands online and is also already popular with UK based bargain hunters with an amazing 12,000 orders taken in the first two weeks of trading.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Suleman said the idea for 99pShopper.com was inspired by his father Aziz, a former shopkeeper from Leicester.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up above a small supermarket so it’s fair to say retail is in my blood,\u201d Suleman told The Asian Today. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Dad opened the shop on the day I was born \u2013 dashing out of the hospital to sign a contract and then dashing back again to be at my mother’s side.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Grandad also has a string of shops in Leicester so I grew up around business and that certainly rubbed off on me.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But despite this family background in retail when it came to launching his own business Suleman said he faced some opposition from his family.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cMy parents urged me to go into one of the professions rather than go down the business road. So I ended up studying chemistry at Leicester University but the academic life just wasn’t for me.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

He was so unhappy that he decided to launch his own business and has now placed his chemistry studies on indefinite hold while he concentrates solely on 99pShopper.com.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe idea came to me last summer. I was lying in the bath racking my brains. I knew I didn’t want to return to university where I was bored and unfulfilled. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking about my Dad’s shop and the rise of discount stores such as Poundland during the recession. It hit me like a bolt of lightning. Why don’t I build an online discount store? A shop that sells everything you can get in a supermarket but all for 99p or less.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI jumped out of the bath and ran to tell my dad. He immediately said, ‘Brilliant idea let\u2019s make it happen.’ His support was really fantastic.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Family connections helped when it came to sourcing suppliers but turning his business dream into a reality wasn’t all plain sailing. Suleman had problems with web developers before finally finding the right company to build his site.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe one piece of advice I would give to any other entrepreneurs is don’t outsource your web development outside the UK. I tried and it was a terrible experience. It’s taken every ounce of my determination and self belief, to come back from that and make the site a success. I finally found a great UK based developer who has helped me to create a site I’m very proud of.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Suleman’s web developers have helped him create an easy to use site which presents his bargains well and which has already had a huge impact with British shoppers. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

A return to chemistry studies looks unlikely. <\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How student Suleman Sacranie quit his studies to become 99p entrepreneur! A YOUNG Leicester entrepreneur is becoming a household name \u2013 thanks to his budget online shopping website! Discount shopping website 99pShopper.com caused a sensation when it launched on the web in August, offering popular brand-name items at just 99p or less. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}