Dot-com seeks share of Passover shopping rush

By Andrew Morris · November 30, 1999

Photos

LONDON, April 13 (JTA) — For many, the last few days before Passover are not synonymous with relaxation. The annual scramble for kosher for Passover food and products leaves many an exhausted shopper, when the festival finally comes around. But in the United Kingdom, at least, two entrepreneurial students have vowed to make life a little easier, by introducing a one-stop online Passover service. Named Passovershop.com, the service offers rabbinically certified kosher products and promises the weary shopper “Passover – the easy way.” The site, developed and run by a pair of 20-year-old business students, Mordechai Calvert and Daniel Wosner, offers a full range of kosher products delivered to any address in the UK. Calvert explains that“People in outlying communities have great difficulty obtaining their Passover food and there is also a market for those who don’t like the trouble of shops.” The two students, who developed the idea after they returned from yeshiva in Israel last year, are entering a multi-million pound market for Passover goods. However, the founders say it was not solely for financial gain that Passovershop.com was established. As Wosner says: “The aim was to ensure no one has an excuse for not making Passover.” In fact, the online service which closed its cyber-doors to new orders last Thursday, has been something of a grueling business experience for the two Londoners. Adds Calvert: “I think it’s one thing talking about doing something like this but it’s quite another actually getting up and achieving it.” After spending nearly a year developing the concept and many a late night finding suppliers and delivery systems between their studies, Calvert and Wosner can be content that their commitment and hard work on the Web site has come to fruition. For Jewish families in places as isolated as the Isle of Mann – where there are very few Jews – the opportunity for a kosher Passover delivered to their door makes passovershop.com a unique service in the UK. Even in those areas where there are sizeable communities, such as Manchester, the dot-com shop has won orders, thanks, say the pair, to the large selection of products – both food and Judaica – which often outstrips what is available in the offline kosher world. Judging by the reaction of one bedraggled customer at one of North London’s foremost, and somewhat manic, kosher-for-Passover supermarkets, the venture is one to be applauded. “I wish I had known about it, this place is killing me,” said mother of three, Sharon Shuman, who admits to always leaving her Passover shopping to the last minute, despite the horrendous lines and parking mayhem. Calvert knows he and his business partner cannot yet rely on the Jewish community, giving up the Passover rush and logging on for their supplies. “There are plenty of people who are still not into Internet shopping and like to see what they are buying for real and not on a screen.” The Web site’s novelty and limited exposure have meant market share has been limited - a spokesman for the Kosher division of the London Beth Din (the UK’s Orthodox religious court) admits he personally had not heard of the service. Though the pair expect to take a loss this year, with the UK’s e-retail industry grossing �1billion last year – six percent of the total retail market – and growing three times faster than in the US, the omens for next Passover are good as long as they can deliver the right products and on time. For the e-kosher entrepreneurs, the hope must be, next year in profitability.

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Dot-com seeks share of Passover shopping rush

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