Bremen-based startup sets out to become Europe’s greatest B2B online retailer under new name – Plans for over 20 new job openings by mid-2018
Bremen-based startup Crowdshop GmbH, has changed the name of its successful B2B online shop from Crowdshop.eu to Profishop.de. Founded in 2012, the company hopes its new name will take it closer to its goal of becoming Europe’s greatest B2B online retailer without inventory. Product range is expected to widen up to 1 million products by the end of 2018. Profishop.de is one of the leading online retailers for trade and industry supplies. Its new name comes from the German „Profi“, an abbreviation equivalent to the English „pro“. This name will underline the business-to-business aspect of the business model. Aggressive growth should up employee numbers from ten currently to over 30 by mid-2018. Industrie-Contact (IC) is in charge of the start-up’s PR as of August 2017.
With a current range of 300,000 items, Profishop.de offers a wide portofolio of industrial consumer goods for all professional users in construction, craft and industry. Unlike with other retailers, products offered by Profishop.de are shipped directly from the manufacturer to the customers, saving on storage costs, which in turn allows products to be delivered at competitive prices and at the highest speed. Customers of Profishop.de chiefly comprise of small and medium-sized enterprises of the production industry, as well as freelancers such as craftsmen and public institutions, for example municipal and communal depots.
B2B e-commerce is booming
“Our business model is about functioning without intermediate trade and warehouse storage. This means no paying for storage costs, no fixed capital and most of all, being able to take on as many products as we like. Unlike with other online retailers, the goods are delivered directly from the manufacturers to our customers. This is because we always work with manufacturers and not – as other dealers do – with wholesalers and buying groups”, says Arasch Jalali, manager and co-founder of Profishop.de. “At the same time, we make it possible for the customer to find everything from a single source and to form a purchase relationship with only one supplier – which also means only one creditor.”
Investor-fuelled growth
A significant expansion of the product range is in the works in order to lead the digital competition. “Since we started out in 2012, we have been able to increase our portofolio step by step, up to 300,000 articles. We couldn’t have done it without our investors”, says Anna Hoffmann, co-founder and CTO. “Over the upcoming year, we want to take the biggest step yet in our young business’ history: widening our product range up to 1 million products. We would be reaching a milestone in our mission, which is becoming Europe’s greatest B2B online retailer without inventory. We are in advanced negotiations with other manufacturers.”
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