In 2000, Jesper Buch, a 25-year-old Dane studying in Norway, craved a midnight pizza, but didn’t know the area’s takeaways. He searched the internet, couldn’t find what he was looking for and saw a gap in the market. He launched what would become Just Eat the following year, got it profitable in 2004 and sold his shares in 2008. Today the business is worth £1.5bn.

The world is full of young entrepreneurs like Jesper Buch who are changing the way things work and using technology to open up the sales potential of markets which have worked in a certain way for decades.

A story in RN two weeks ago reported a developer as saying there was an opportunity for independent retailers to grow their business and win customer loyalty by creating their own bespoke store apps.

My first instinct was that it was a nice idea, but should probably be left to the experts, because it is outside my sphere of knowledge. I can’t imagine I was alone.

Simple ideas that take a matter of hours to work up can have a big impact

But in this week’s issue we show what’s possible. Londis retailer Sandip Kotecha’s 14-year-old son took just one day to build an app with online ordering and loyalty card functionality which he is using to open up his customer base.

He recently signed up with Just Eat and delivered £400 worth of hot and cold food in his first week.

There is a generation of young developers, like Sandip’s son, learning their trade and dreaming big. They are your customers, relatives and staff and they could revolutionise your business. And simple ideas that take a matter of hours to work up can have a big impact.