Stockly is a French start-up that keeps the inventory of various e-commerce websites in co-ordination and sync. Whenever a situation occurs like when a customer sees an out-of-stock item on an e-commerce website, chances are that the shopper will leave that website and try to find the same item on another site. E-retailers that form a part of the Stockly network have solved this issue. They share their inventories with each other, so if anybody is searching on a Stockly partnered e-retailer, they are sure to find what they are looking for. And if not, they will know for certain that their desired product is not available online.
Hence, if you operate an e-commerce website, Stockly lets you sell items even when they’re currently out of stock. As a retailer, you can sell your inventory through Stockly, use the power of the network to fill your own out-of-stocks, or do both! This startup automatically finds a third-party Stockly supplier with that specific item.
However, the order must be sent by that supplier directly. Consequently, Stockly tells its partners to make use of neutral packaging so that the end consumer isn’t confused.
This provision could be particularly useful for small-scale e-commerce companies that don’t have a healthy marketplace of third-party retailers. For instance, Amazon can already sell you an out-of-stock item if a supplier has listed that specific item on Amazon’s own marketplace. But that’s not the case for most e-commerce websites.
The most prominent hurdle for Stockly is that it has to sort through various catalog formats and match the different inventories of different retailers. Initially, it is focusing on clothing items. When an order is routed through Stockly, it selects a specific supplier based on different criteria, such as logistics, delivery time, and historical data.
The company has been currently working with Galeries Lafayette, Go Sport, Foot Shop, and others. The startup has recently raised a $6 million (€5.1 million) funding round from Idinvest Partners, Daphni, Techstars, Checkout.com CEO Guillaume Pousaz, and various business angels.
It has managed to raise funds and to allocate them in hiring and expanding its team to a count of 20 people, add new clients and also iterate on its products.