I ran eBay from a room over a furniture shop (From Worcester News)

I ran eBay from a room over a furniture shop

9:21am Monday 11th January 2010 in

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AS far as High Street retailers are concerned, Jen Mowat is probably the Devil Incarnate.

Pointy tail, horns on her head and breathing fire and brimstone that would burn their shops down.

On the other hand, for consumers Jen is more the Fairy Godmother, waving her magic wand over their purchases and sprinkling glittering signs everywhere which say: “BARGAIN”.

OK, so I know it’s been Christmas and now we’ve done the panto bit – Oh, yes we have – let’s cut to the chase.

Jen Mowat, born in Australia, raised in New Zealand and now a resident of the Worcestershire village of Broughton Hackett, is quite possibly the UK’s internet shopping queen.

I don’t mean as a customer, but as a facilitator; ie, a person who provides the service.

In fact, Jen has probably touched millions of people’s lives without them even knowing it.

She was the UK’s first managing director of eBay, which she describes rather delightfully as “an online flea market”, albeit one that now turns over £250 million worth of goods every year, and she has held senior director roles with Yahoo Europe and Amazon, and she’s not even 40 yet.

In fact, her first child, a strapping son called Ryley, arrived only a few weeks ago.

So when someone with that pedigree decides to set up a website linking potential customers with the best bargains around, you know she’ll be running not only on the inside track, but probably across the infield too.

It’s called frugalcrew.com and it aims to make every day a new year sales day for consumers.

The mechanics are basically quite simple. Log on to the site, name your wanted item and you will be directed to the supplier offering the best price, which could be in Portsmouth, Peterborough or Pitlochry. All without leaving home.

However, before the local chamber of commerce puts in a call to the men with the violin cases who can’t play a note, this is not an attack on high street trade, because many of the bargains highlighted by frugalcrew simply aren’t available in the shops.

You could wander around a shopping mall for days and not find them.

Jen said: “Most major retailers have websites and run cut price offers that are only available online. These are what we concentrate on. You can save a lot of money if you know where to look.”

It’s a system that’s grown out of the IT and computer industry strangely enough. Being in the know and using the internet like a third hand, many modern technology specialists have long traded on screen. It’s their world.

Jen said: “The geeks have always been very well served. Now’s the time for the rest out there to catch up.”

She arrived in the UK in 1992, after a spell working in the ski resorts of Canada, with just £60 to her name. She went into sales and marketing for car parts manufacturers and had the distinction of shutting down the Ford Escort assembly line when one of her “just in time”

consignments wasn’t.

She said: “At 22 years of age I learned a very valuable lesson.”

Jen was working for electronics giant Thorn when the internet started in 1994 and adapted to the new order like a duck to water, quickly making a name for herself and being headhunted as the first managing director of eBay when it began operating in the UK in 2003.

She said: “That probably sounds rather grand. The reality was there were four of us and we started from an office above a furniture shop in Fulham.”

A directorship at Amazon followed, but then, almost inevitably, Jen wanted to go it alone.

This she has now done with the launch of frugalcrew.com, which she runs from her home using a “virtual office” to communicate with her business partner Lynn McClelland, who is based in Surrey. The pair spend up to 12 hours a day each scouring their computer screens for the best deals.

Jen said: “Between us we have discovered some superb businesses that have started up in the current recession and we aim to feature these products and sites alongside established retailers, so the public are given a choice of how and who they spend their money with.

“I feel strongly that the internet is the perfect way for small businesses to showcase themselves and achieve their potential.”

As well as sharing tips and deals, promotions and discounts, her website gives the consumer information and recommendations on a range of products from everyday brands to unique finds.

She said: “The idea is to show people how to spend less and save more in order to spend on the things they really want.”

Are we going to argue with that?

Oh, no we’re not.