BROOKLYN, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, CropUp, Inc. launched the first public version of their social commerce solution to merchants looking to sell physical goods via social channels and across the mobile and desktop web.
CropUp offers a fully responsive transaction tool that gives merchants the advantage of selling directly to their fans within the social stream. This simple selling process provides small businesses and corporate brands with the capability to forgo cumbersome storefronts and highlight specific products with a frictionless, high-conversion checkout experience -- increasing merchants’ chances of capitalizing on the $25 billion and growing mobile market.
How it works: 1. Merchants register on CropUp.com 2. They add the product’s name/description/photos 3. A unique URL to the product’s location on CropUp’s platform is provided 4. The merchant posts their inventory to the social network(s) appropriate via provided share buttons 5. A customer responds by purchasing said item in his/her social stream 5. The merchant uses CropUp’s interface to manage orders and track analytics.
“CropUp is engineered to accommodate real-time social commerce marketing,” says Alec Coughlin, CEO of CropUp. “With the most advanced mobile offering in this space, individual merchants can provide their social audiences with products directly within social applications that would otherwise be lost in a marketplace, and larger brands can test products, provide a pop-up experience and offer limited quantities to social fans.”
While in private beta, CropUp partnered with lifestyle brand Holstee to sell its world famous Manifesto Poster, which was also featured in marketplaces such as Fab.com. CropUp enabled the brand to leverage its social community to increase sales; Holstee saw a 12% conversion rate - six times the ecommerce average, and its engagement across social networks was 60% higher than the its average promotional posts.
As part of the public release, CropUp has added international payment processing and the ability for merchants to embed their purchase link as a button on blogs and websites. In the coming months, the company plans to release a digital goods component and an enhanced analytics solution for merchants.
CropUp was developed at and spun out of Carrot Creative, the first social media agency, in October 2012, and has raised a seed round of $1M from the Toronto private equity firm, Quorum Group.
Based in Dumbo, New York’s Digital District, CropUp is led by CEO Alec Coughlin, formerly the youngest VP in NFL history. The startup’s founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Robert Gaafar, formerly co-founder of Carrot Creative, is joined by team members including Paul Fredrich, Director of Product and a veteran of PayPal and Zong, as well as Jack Chu, Tech Lead and former head of development at Big Fuel.
About CropUp, Inc.
CropUp is the simpler way to sell. The social commerce platform removes the headache of configuring complicated, expensive storefronts and eliminates the noise and competition of marketplaces. CropUp is focused on enabling merchants to sell directly to their customers anywhere online; social networks, blogs, websites and email, and functions responsively across all devices: mobile, tablet and desktop. The company is based in Brooklyn, NY and on the web at: www.cropup.com.