Leeds entrepreneur sets sights on dominating online trainer resale market

Oli Macer began buying, selling and trading trainers when only 16, and founded QOPPD in 2020, after starting out with only £3,000 from childhood savings.

Earlier this year, the business secured a six-figure investment deal after a backer offered to match any investment Mr Macer put in.

“There's a few competitors out there, but I think given what we’ve got we can definitely compete with them,” said Mr Macer.

“So that's our next step, to dominate the UK and be the number one market place.”

Mr Macer notes that the global resale market for trainers is worth around $30bn.

The first pair of shoes Mr Macer bought to sell were a white pair of Vans, which he sold for £20, making £10 in profit.

His initial idea was to buy and sell shoes in order to be able to afford the more expensive pairs which he really wanted.

“I remember I made £80 and I thought: ‘this is great,’” he said.

“When I was starting out, I wanted to buy shoes for myself, but as time went on I wanted them less for myself and focussed more on business.

“I was quite young to be honest – still in school – I didn't really know what or where I wanted to go, so I kind of just did what I enjoyed.

“I started selling with about £3,000 I had saved up from my childhood, and I was limiting myself on only spending £200 on a pair of shoes.

“I didn't want to spend loads, because £200 is a lot of money when you're 16.

“And then I guess it turned into a business so here we are.”

Mr Macer’s biggest sale to date has been a pair of trainers which sold for £10,000. At first, Mr Macer noted how he would find trainers by looking on Facebook selling pages for ones he knew were rare or knew he could make a profit on.

As well as its online selling platform, QOPPD has also set up a number of pop-up stalls at events across the UK.

After a series of interviews for funding, Mr Macer found success with Mark Ambler, director at Blue Digital Ltd and Juno IT Software Ltd, who has worked on sales and marketing within technology for 40 years.

Mr Macer noted how Mr Ambler’s focus on building websites and marketing meant the pair were well matched, as this was what QOPPD required.

He added that the company is now looking for the next round of funding to take his business to the “next level”.

Speaking on how far the business has come, Mr Macer noted that he never expected to reach this scale.

"At first it very much was just a hobby, buying some old shoes online then selling them on and trying to make a profit,” he said.

“But I always always want more when i'm doing stuff - I always push it to more and more as much as I can.

“But some of the stuff that we do nowI just did not expect, or I didn't even know it was possible before.

“It wasn't always that I necessarily knew the market that well, but I started in the right place and it took me to this market and then here we are now, people have paid me £10,000 for a pair of shoes before.

" And I think it's a market everyone enjoys to an extent.”