by G.B. Oliver

You know Etsy, Artfire, Lilyshop, Fab, but do you know Storenvy?

Storenvy touts itself as the only store builder and marketplace in one. They allow merchants to create an online storefront, for free, and then uses their social marketplace to reach customers. It is hoping to be the Tumblr for e-commerce.

Storenvy started in 2008, and in the last two years has grown from 2,800 stores to over 30,000.

Online Sellers Can Get a Customized Storefront for Free at Storenvy

The Facts about Storenvy:

• Free – no listing fees, no commissions on sales, no monthly fees (however, on the site they talk about introducing a “Market Revenue Share” in the future, so not sure what that entails).
• Independence – Here you can have a customized Storefront as well as a Storenvy store, so you have more control over the look and feel of your store.
• Community – The Storenvy community promotes your products by “envying” them or buying them.
• Promotion – Products appear on the front page in real-time based on their popularity (“Envys” and purchases).
• Email Promotion – Storenvy emails their customers regularly with picks based on their likes, previous purchases, etc.
• Connected – Storefronts include direct hyperlinks to a seller’s website, Pinterest, Wanelo, Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter pages.
• Social Media – The Storenvy Facebook app gives merchants a free store on their Facebook page.
• Followers – People can become a “Watcher” of your store. Basically this means they will get instant updates when you add new things to your store.
• Extras – For $4.99 you can secure your own domain name, and there are fees such as $2.99 to use discount codes, but they do promote your discounts for you.
• One Checkout – Customers can buy from a variety of stores on the Marketplace and they all appear in one shopping cart and one checkout.

As the online marketplace continues to be a billion dollar one, you will see more players and eventually it will shake out who stays and who goes. But, as as online seller, you have a lot of options!