Providing local businesses with the means to reinvent themselves
Ankorstore is a BtoB marketplace that facilitates exchange between brands and physical points of sale, created by 4 entrepreneurs specialising in retail and marketplaces: Pierre-Louis Lacoste, former Etsy country manager, Nicolas d’Audiffret and Nicolas Cohen, founders of the handmade marketplace A Little Market, and Mathieu Alengrin, former Head of Engineering for the Vestiaire Collective marketplace.
Ankorstore allows on-trend brands to grow their sales to local businesses, and retailers to sell products that cannot usually be found on major e-commerce sites or in large retail chains.
The 4 entrepreneurs aim to provide these local points of sale with technological tools to meet their needs. Although e-commerce responds well to the need for commodity products, consumers are also looking for authentic products and personalised services.
“Local businesses are in the best position to meet these needs as thousands of new, differentiating brands are emerging, driven in particular by social media. Unfortunately today, these two worlds struggle to meet due to insufficient technological tools. Our mission is to overcome this issue by responding to the needs of both local businesses and brands, while allowing consumers to discover unique products on their doorstep!” Nicolas d’Audiffret explains, co-founder of Ankorstore.
Ankorstore offers unprecedented benefits for both retailers and brands:
For retailers, the possibility to discover and select from thousand of brands in just a few clicks, benefit from 60 day payment terms, test sales with a very low minimum order quantity, and take advantage of the constantly evolving tools offered by the platform.
As for brands and creators, Ankorstore allows them to sell their products to stores all around Europe in just a few clicks, benefitting from direct contact and returns with retailers, and payment upon delivery, solving any cash flow issues.
Rapid international expansion
Currently present in France, the platform already accepts brands from all over Europe and plans to rapidly expand internationally over the next few weeks (Germany, Spain), targeting a 2,200 billion euro market in Europe (source: Insee).
“It is very complicated today for a brand to distribute products offline throughout Europe, but it is also very difficult for brick-and-mortar stores to quickly find a selection of differentiating brands to compete with e-commerce. We wanted to simplify this experience, make it more virtuous and accessible to all, by allowing both brands and stores to gain in flexibility and efficiency,” Pierre-Louise Lacoste explains, co-founder of Ankorstore.
The startup has already attracted close to 1000 retailers and more than 300 brands have placed their trust in Ankorstore, which currently employs 10 people in Paris. Over the next few months, Ankorstore plans to triple its workforce, by hiring developers, business developers and customer support.