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Although Snappy Shopper is challenging the status quo, Mike Callachan says the business was born not from a desire to disrupt, but from his passion for technology.

Having spent hours surfing the internet on his family’s PC growing up, Mike’s technology journey began at an early age. Fascinated by the opportunities technology could create, he went on to complete a degree in Computer Science at St Andrews University to fully immerse himself in the space.   

Snappy Shopper was not Mike’s first entrepreneurial endeavor, however. Previously, he had founded MTC Media in Dundee, a large e-commerce consultancy. MTC built technology for other businesses, helping them to get online. However, Mike’s ambition was always to eventually build a product he could scale and control himself.  

He was working on a hot food delivery app, Hungrr, until he was approached with the idea to use this technology for local convenience stores. Mike instantly saw the value in helping these stores get online because, as a busy working parent himself, he knew it would save him from having to pop in to do ‘top-up shops’ on his way home from work.

The start of Snappy

During the pandemic there was a huge spike in online shopping. So much revenue being driven online, however, was causing a demise in local high streets. Mike felt this was a negative byproduct of the move online so wanted to enable convenience stores to compete in the modern age.

Currently there are around 50,000 convenience stores in the UK, over 70% of which are independent and family-run.

Due to the longevity of the pandemic, people have retained online shopping habits. When people shop online, Mike explains, they don’t spot additional items on the shelves so end up needing to do little local ‘top-up’ shops throughout the week at convenience stores. As a result, these stores are actually growing alongside the rise in online grocery shopping. Snappy Shopper therefore sits in the ‘sweet spot’, covering both online and convenience.

By enabling convenience stores to meet demand for delivery, Snappy Shopper has been able to add double digit percentage growth, and at times double sales, for convenience stores.

Transparency is key

A real draw of Snappy Shopper, particularly in the context of the cost-of-living crisis in the UK, is that items retain their on-the-shelf prices.

Mike explains that typically when you pay for delivery of food, you pay an inflated price compared to what you would pay in store. These inflated prices not only penalise the customer, but the business providing the goods, as the additional cost goes to the app provider.

For Mike, it was really important that Snappy Shopper was transparent and ensured customers were paying the same price they would in store. On top of the on-the-shelf price, Snappy Shopper charges a delivery fee which local shops use to fund delivery drivers plus a service fee which goes to Snappy Shopper for providing the technology. This transparent breakdown ensures both local stores and Snappy Shopper can make money while keeping customers happy.

David and Goliath

It is no surprise that Snappy Shopper attracted a lot of interest from investors. 

Although dark stores had raised billions of pounds as another alternative to solving increased demand for grocery home delivery, Mike explains that rather than hiring a warehouse and stocking it, Snappy Shopper was simply enabling something that already existed: the high street. As well as being far less capital-intensive, Snappy Shopper’s investors believed it provided the more effective way to meet the demand.

The existence of dark stores actually allowed Mike to use a ‘David and Goliath’ comparison to demonstrate that Snappy Shopper could win in the market with far less money.

Despite Snappy Shopper’s success, Mike explains that culture is still ‘right at the top of the list’ when it comes to priorities for the business. This way, the company can attract exceptional employees who believe in the business’s purpose.

Last year, Mike was named as a Regional Winner in EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year programme. As well as providing a much-needed opportunity to reflect on his own journey, Mike explains the process allowed him to meet and connect with founders from fantastic businesses – some he had never even heard of before.

Determined that more grass-roots companies should be encouraged to dream big, Mike shares that his ambition is for Snappy Shopper to become a tech unicorn.