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Launch HN: Convictional (YC W19) – Supplier Network for Retailers

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Re: Launch HN: Convictional (YC W19) – Supplier Network for Retailers

#11

Post by ChrisGrouchy »

ignoramous wrote: post #6

Congratulations on the launch. Would it be fair to say Convictional operates in a similar domain as https://supplier.meesho.com does in India? If not, what are the differences? Is EDI specific to North America or a global phenomenon? --- The hamburger-menu doesn't work when I block google-analytics and hs-scripts domains. The links in the footer viz Retailers -> Marketplace Platform and Brands & Suppliers -> Brands s…

EDI is a global phenomenon. There are different standards and it applies across industries. For example, X12 is the North American standard of EDI. It's used in B2B trade, banking, health care, insurance, etc.

Meesho is interesting. It's like an ecommerce store in a box.

We aren't a conventional marketplace ourselves and we integrate with the systems that both the sellers and buyers are using. On the network side, we make introductions to buyers and sellers in our network rather than listing products from sellers on a mass marketplace (like AliExpress). We basically vet each retailer to see which suppliers in our network would make sense for them then make introductions if there's a fit. We also tend to be focused on larger retailers and distributors rather than people who are just getting started in ecommerce.

Thanks for the feedback on the site. Will fix the hamburger menu too. Good catch.

I like your copy suggestion. It makes sense for people who might be new to dropship. The "digital destination" line came from larger retailers we talked to that wanted to expand their existing product catalog, so we aimed that at them. They tend to already do dropship today with larger suppliers, but they struggle with onboarding smaller ones. The thought of having a wider assortment of products is usually what initially piques their interest. That starts a conversation around new tools that they could use.

Re: Launch HN: Convictional (YC W19) – Supplier Network for Retailers

#12

Post by swalsh »

I think as trade tensions increase with China, there is going to be a huge market opportunity for people in the US to start overtaking some of that business that AliBaba currently owns. As a US based solution, you guys are tapping into a real opportunity here. Good luck.

* Quick idea, you guys should buy a warehouse, stick it in the middle of Odgan Kansas, and charge suppliers to store their stuff there, than ship it for them. With that location you can send almost anything to almost anywhere in the US in 2 days on ground as long as you get it out quickly, and you directly inject it into the carriers hub.

Re: Launch HN: Convictional (YC W19) – Supplier Network for Retailers

#13

Post by rogerkirkness »

clashmeifyoucan wrote: post #9

Minor nitpick but: your logo seems to blend into the background because there's not enough contrast. Also, seems like the top is cut off if you zoom enough (it's also very tiny) https://imgur.com/a/gIgGpRp Congratulations on the launch and best of luck for the road ahead!

Our logo is not great and also a carryover from a prior startup one of us had. We should definitely update it...

Re: Launch HN: Convictional (YC W19) – Supplier Network for Retailers

#14

Post by ChrisGrouchy »

jaxsonkhan wrote: post #7

Looks awesome Chris... what do you think your moat/defensible advantage is though? Can't Amazon or Shopify just replicate what you do with their network of retailers/sellers?

It would be unlikely for Shopify to build integrations with other back office systems that compete directly with Shopify (e.g. BigCommerce), so there'd be a cap on the amount of integrated trade that could happen. A defensible trade network would need to be independent and connect to any system that buyers and sellers use. We'll just keep making it easier for businesses to trade irrespective of the systems they use and their preferred sales channels (e.g. dropship, wholesale, etc.).

Re: Launch HN: Convictional (YC W19) – Supplier Network for Retailers

#15

Post by rogerkirkness »

gremlinsinc wrote: post #10

Is this more for established retailers or mom/pop shops who are wanting to get into shopify? Is this similar to Oberlo except not 100% reliant on aliexpress and more cross-platform support? Have you thought about creating retailer plans for hobbyists/new entrepreneurs who want to just test a few ads/products on fb, then signup for bigger plans later on, or maybe a freemium/pay-per-sale model? I ask as a developer, wh…

The Shopify/Oberlo buyers only sometimes end up being durable. For the ones that are, they come to expect better in terms of ship times, terms and other business things that aren't well handled by Aliexpress dropship. So generally speaking, buyers would graduate to us after they get to six figures. For sellers it's free so they can be big or small.

Re: Launch HN: Convictional (YC W19) – Supplier Network for Retailers

#16

Post by rogerkirkness »

frankdenbow wrote: post #8

This looks cool and can see many use cases. Hingeto I believe is also in the space. How do you deal with shipping multiple items in an order from different suppliers?

We can split and route orders to various suppliers. One of our first orders was 20 items from 19 different suppliers, so through that experience and much pain we made it seemless for the consumer. One page for order updates, unlimited different vendors. That ended up not being as hard as making the experience on the consumer side good, so that they didn't get 20 different update emails.

Re: Launch HN: Convictional (YC W19) – Supplier Network for Retailers

#17

Post by rogerkirkness »

swalsh wrote: post #12

I think as trade tensions increase with China, there is going to be a huge market opportunity for people in the US to start overtaking some of that business that AliBaba currently owns. As a US based solution, you guys are tapping into a real opportunity here. Good luck. * Quick idea, you guys should buy a warehouse, stick it in the middle of Odgan Kansas, and charge suppliers to store their stuff there, than ship it…

It's funny you say that because some of the largest distributors in the world are basically what we have + a 3PL facility attached to it. Our hope is to partner with distributors who do the physical stuff and provide better software, which so far is working pretty well. We would be really out of our depth on the physical side of things at this point. Shopify just waded into their own 3PLs though which is interesting. Shipbob also does this quite well.

Re: Launch HN: Convictional (YC W19) – Supplier Network for Retailers

#20

Post by frankdenbow »

rogerkirkness wrote: post #16
frankdenbow wrote: post #8

This looks cool and can see many use cases. Hingeto I believe is also in the space. How do you deal with shipping multiple items in an order from different suppliers?

We can split and route orders to various suppliers. One of our first orders was 20 items from 19 different suppliers, so through that experience and much pain we made it seemless for the consumer. One page for order updates, unlimited different vendors. That ended up not being as hard as making the experience on the consumer side good, so that they didn't get 20 different update emails.

I meant more on the shipping side. It must be more expensive to ship 19 different shipments?
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