aim.store, ecommerce for SMEs in Russia and Italy
To find out what aim.store is all about we interviewed Evgeny Kaplin CEO & co-founder. This is what he told us
What aim.store does and to whom it is addressed?
aim.store is an e-commerce platform with an online shop as a service, addressed to small local businesses and to people looking for original local products worldwide.
With our solution, people will spend less time to find the unique original products they need globally, to select them like a local would do, and to buy them with free delivery and guarantee. At the same time, local small businesses will be able to sell online globally without fixed costs or dedicated resources needed.
We are currently focused on Europe and Russia, where there’s a strong interest for high-quality premium foods, beverages and fashion accessories made by small local producers across the Mediterrenean, in particular from Italy.
Our proposition is particularly attractive to small family-run Italian businesses, who are willing to open a new online sales channel, although they often lack the required time and resources to do that successfully. With a ready-to-sell shop on our platform, with AI-driven digital marketing to reach customers globally and personally and with integrated logistics, they can start selling online right away without any fixed cost or complex setup.
As a result, our solution is gaining traction on the market, with a significant increase in the number of shops opening on our platform, of engaged users and of returning buyers.
What stage are you in (seed, round a,…)?
We are currently in a pre-seed stage and we are planning a seed financing for the second half of the current year.
Have you done open banking projects or would like to do them and with whom?
We haven’t done open banking projects yet, while we believe that being in a bank’s ecosystem would be a win-win scenario for addressing the evolving needs of SMEs. In particular, we believe such a proposition would be of massive interest in Italy, where banks have a large number of SME clients willing to open a new online sales channel flexibly and cost-effectively. And where common SMEs’ pain points, like the lack of resources for online sales and marketing, or Italian sounding and product counterfeiting can be easily addressed with technological solutions.
Your team?
We are a multicultural team of professionals spread across Europe, Russia & CIS and South America, with the average age of 43 years and extensive experience in e-commerce, digital marketing, technological solutions, trade and finance. Many of us already successfully launched their ventures.
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