Amazon dominates the online marketplace, where many merchants post items on its platform for billions of customers to see and buy them. Today, a London startup, Trouva, that has applied this concept to specific retailers and goods has raised funding to help its growth.
Trouva is an online marketplace for brick-and-mortar independent boutiques selling amazing pieces. Today, the company has raised $21.8 million, which it will use to move out of the U.K. and into the international markets. The company will also use the funding to develop more technology on its platform for logistics and inventory management.
Octopus Ventures is leading the current funding round. However, other investors are also participating, like Downing Ventures, BGF, Local Globe, and C4 Ventures. This brings the total raised money to $36 million. Mandeep Singh co-founded the company with Glen Walker and Alex Loizou. Singh declined to disclose the current valuation of the startup.
Amazon dominates the online marketplace when it comes to browsing goods, buying them, and getting them delivered to us. However, Amazon leaves many things out of the equation. For example, it doesn’t provide retailers a lot of freedom to present items, and they need to compete with thousands of other offers so that people see their products.
To put it more generally, Amazon offers the selling and buying of anything and everything. Thus, there isn’t much focus. You can buy a book, buy food, buy a vase, watch movies or music and so on. Therefore, the experience isn’t pleasurable.
This has started an opportunity for a variety of competitors, and that’s where Trouva comes in. The startup has effectively developed a focus on specific things, rather than making everything available, like Amazon. Singh said in a statement, “We choose our sellers very carefully. Since our inception, we have turned down many applications for stores that want to sell from our site. We aren’t concerned with having every single movie or vase in the world. We are looking for the best products on our site.”
Although people are continuously seeing a lot purchasing through apps and the web, analytics have shown that 85% of retail happens offline. In this group, there are independent brick-and-mortar shops. At a time when Amazon is selling everything in the market, there remain a large number of independent sellers or curators. These shops target consumers with a good income, who look for unique things to buy with their money.
Singh notes that there are over 20,000 independent shops in the whole U.K. He added, “We are working with 500 of the very best.”
Moreover, the biggest competition is the companies that target the same kind of online shoppers. For example, another UK site, Etsy or Not On The High Street, target the same type of retailers. Similarly, stores build their sites; however, it comes with its problems. Singh said, “It’s easy for shops to build their websites. However, building a site doesn’t get customers. There are many back-end technologies that we have to care for, like handling the logistics of shipping and software management. It’s quite easy to sell online. However, you need someone with economies of scales to deliver.”
Currently, Trouva doesn’t have any plans to sell its goods or work with online retailers. However, it might consider later on how it could help retailers with inventory management. Singh clarified, “Hundred percent of our supply comes from our brick-and-mortar shop partners.”
Singh observes that there is “exclusivity” for shops that are on Trouva. However, it is by default because these are small businesses that are unlikely to build their online presence.
Amazon has been working to improve how it curates items on its site to give products. Amazon also introduces Amazon Prime Day every year to attract more customers. Moreover, now, Amazon is also targeting the same demographics that Trouva targets, and that won’t disappear over time because Amazon plays a long game. Singh commented on this and said, “eBay and Amazon have tried to make a better marketing experience. However, it’s quite difficult for a business to change its DNA.”
