Going the extra mile
Having been heavily involved with triathlon and the retail industry, Mark Horan felt that the Irish market lacked a specialist online running retailer. Horan created a one-stop shop for hobbyist runners and competitive athletes to browse a vast product range. The Run Hub stocks the broadest range of premium running brands, covering footwear, clothing, nutrition, accessories, watches, etc.
Not only did Mark Horan's offering fill a space in the Irish sportswear market, but the company values are second-to-none. The tagline 'Going the extra mile' is reflected in three of The Run Hub’s business pillars; the people, the technical expertise and the product range. With this, the MD is confident that The Run Hub "far exceeds everything else out there".
With the fast growth of the business, it soon became apparent that, according to Horan, "the site that we were using at the time couldn't necessarily meet the requirements and demands that we were asking of it, and more importantly our own customer’s user experience expectations.. The choice of e-comm platform initially came down to what would integrate best with their POS software, RMH. Mark admits to spending countless hours listening to various podcasts to help steer his own decision-making process, finally deciding on a move to Shopify - a comprehensive platform for omnichannel commerce, growth and scaling.
Switching ecommerce platforms comes with challenges; The MD foresaw this and decided to work with a Shopify expert from the get-go. The new Shopify store launched in November of 2021, and the migration had its fair share of complications which the team faced proactively.