At the end of November, the e-commerce platform Szopi.pl was chosen for the Google Accelerator as the only Polish startup in the program. Now they’re ready to share their next success – Szopi.pl just got a new investor, Impera Alfa, who decided to support the company with 3 million zloty.
Szopi.pl enables its customers to shop online in large stores which don’t support online orders on their own, such as Biedronka or Lidl. Apart from delivering from large grocery chains, the startup has expanded its offer to also transporting items such as electronics, toys, and cosmetics.
The system is very simple – after a shopping list is submitted on the website, a “szoper” (as Szopi.pl calls the employees who fulfill their customers’ orders) goes to the requested store. In cases where a chosen item is unavailable, the customer gets a call directly from the szoper to solve the issue. Then, the customer pays for their items plus the delivery, and arranges a convenient pickup time. The system works much quicker than standard supermarket deliveries such as eTesco or Auchan Direct, which sometimes take days to fulfill their orders – the entire process can take as little as an hour altogether.
Growth and expansion
The financing from Impera Alfa will enable us to invest further in the technological growth, and in the expansion to more cities in Poland – says Zbigniew Płuciennik, the CEO and creator of Szopi.pl. He adds, that the 3 million zloty his company has gained will go towards the development of an algorythm able to generate tasks for szopers in real time.
According to Płuciennik, this solution will serve as an unique way of assigning tasks, similar to the ones used by logistics companies. The system will also simplify the process of servicing clients. The representatives of the Impera Alfa fund have stated that the decision to invest in the project came from Szopi.pl’s chances for commercialization, as well as their focus on research and development activities. We are hoping that Szopi.pl will continue its dynamic growth thanks to our support – said Andrzej Ziemiński, Member of the Board at Impera Alfa.
In their first year on the market, Szopi.pl has processed over 20 thousand orders. The startup has a yearly financial turnover of 5 million zloty, with a 10% monthly growth rate. Currently, Szopi.pl is available in Warsaw, Cracow, and Wroclaw. The company hopes to expand into more cities in the near future, as well as increase the number of stores where their customers will be able to shop remotely.
To learn more about the startup, feel free to head to their website.
