Sometime in the month of May 2020 , I saw a tweet that was pretty inviting . It was about a new eCommerce marketplace that claimed that it had a waitlist of people who wanted to set up online stores. The company was based out of New York and had a twitter handle @hello_iamelliot .The message , colors , and presentation were quite impressive and I got in touch with their founder Sergio Villasenor in May 12,2020 . Take a look at their video.
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/dbf5d2ba-a40c-4276-9d5a-ee7be8f18d73/Elliot_2.0_Launch_Video_LFG.mp4
Started checking them and connected with the team on Linkedin.com and also found that they were a venture backed company who were trying to take on the might of eCommerce players like shopify.com and others . I had proposed to one of my portfolio companies that they should look at setting up a store in Elliot.store . The justification to setup in Elliot.store was quite simple. They stated that they have arrangements to deliver to 200 countries . They also said that they have a special arrangement with stripe.com ( the payment company) which would enable merchants from other parts of the world to take payments in their site and link it with their respective bank accounts. There was no fixed monthly payment for the store . It was only a small commission . Moreover there was a subtle hype in whatever they were posting in the social media platforms. It looked quite good and exciting . Their claim "Elliot is a global commerce platform where merchants from all 200+ countries can sell, ship, and get paid out. Instantly. No add-ons or credit card required."
The teams got connected . We were welcomed by the elliot.store co-Founder Clayton Chambers who was pretty impressed with the technology and products that our startup had demonstrated. Over a zoom call , we interacted with Clayton and got all the credentials to build the store and test the platform. We also were invited to join the Discord Community group with the message "Get exclusive access to the Elliot team, learn about new product drops before anyone else, and meet and share ideas with sellers from around the globe". The Discord community was quite active with several live streams etc which were done regularly . Every one was looking forward in anticipation to the launch date of 18 June , 2020.
Earlier I had asked for some references of businesses who had set up stores in Elliot. I got a few names like :
PPE Wholesale USA - PPE Wholesale USA
Illuminating designs that speak to the soul - Elevated
<aside> đź’ˇ The links provided were genuine businesses operating in the USA and everything looked right for a grand launch of the elliot.store 2.0
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On June 10, 2020 we get a email announcing several events scheduled for the launch date. In my enthusiasm , I asked the startup company that was to launch in elliot.store to make a press release such that they could also announce their launch as well and do some social media promotions . I asked the elliot team to share their press release which they duly forwarded . Here goes the press release
Elliot, the new e-commerce platform for creators, is now available to the public. It’s the only platform in the world that enables anyone to sell, ship & fulfill orders in 200+ countries, and get paid out in their local currency. Selling on Elliot’s no-code platform is free, with no monthly fees or credit card required.
Selling on social media is the new norm, it’s where consumers discover and make purchasing decisions. For fashion and lifestyle brands who have a global audience, Elliot allows those sellers from anywhere to sell products & ship to anyone in their local language, currency, and shipping provider.
“At Elliot, we believe that the future of commerce will center around communities that advocate for products and their lifestyles. However, the existing incentives in the commerce ecosystem don’t converge on simplicity and power for sellers,” said Sergio Villaseñor, Founder and CEO of Elliot. “Global-first shouldn’t be a unique or revolutionary idea, but the fact stands, that in the current system there is still a lot of potential to meet the underserved needs of sellers around the world.”
Consolidating what’s hard about commerce is what Elliot is focused on. For the lifestyle brand, maker, creator, and influencer with an international audience, everything is taken care of. You can focus on building their brand, creating products, and connecting with their audience, while Elliot manages the boring, tedious back-office logistics.
“Borderless commerce really wasn’t a thing ten years ago, and ten years ago - I’d argue that we didn’t have the ability to reach global audiences either,” says Marco Marandiz, Elliot cofounder, “Now, we have not only the naturally global audiences spurred by the mass adoption of social media but also global demand. A huge frustration of scaling brands is being limited to domestic sales when their audience is global.”
Elliot makes it easy for consumers to checkout, and share their products, bringing the social element to shopping online. Leveraging the power of payment partners like Apple Pay, Google Pay, AliPay, Klarna, and WeChat ties into the ways that these brands already do business. From day one, Elliot has store builders, cashless registers for your popups, and the ability to run marketplaces from the same admin. There is a 2.9% processing fee per transaction, which is taken from each order.
For software developers and brands who want to take the reigns of their own design, Elliot allows anyone to go beyond no-code and design fully customized websites for their audiences.