E-commerce is never going to look the same again, thanks to Elliot.
The e-comm startup is looking to take everything we hate about starting a business and flip the table. That’s pretty damn exciting. (Updated July 7, 2020)
At one point or another, we’ve all had that moment that we want to tell our bosses to shove it and start our own businesses. Everyone has a unique, great idea that they want to breathe fire into, putting everything they’ve got into their ideas. If you’re willing to sit down and learn how to do it over months or years, you might even turn that idea into a business. When that business takes off, you begin to feel mixed emotions: your dream of starting something and seeing it through is coming true, but with it comes the marathon of logistical obstacles that need to be tackled — one by one.
You’ll need a website, first of all. Then an online store to connect to that website. But the online store has to be just right, and that comes with a steep cost that’s going to eat into your profits. And if you’re saving money by hard coding your store, then that in itself is a headache that will only snag when it comes to shipping costs and options. Overall, the whole experience is daunting unless you already work in e-commerce. I’ve always been of the notion that making an online store was never worth the effort or the time… until I used Elliot.
The grass is always greener…
For the uninitiated, Elliot is an e-commerce platform ready to set the bar higher than what many think is currently possible. Take all the nit-picky stuff I listed above. Write those things down on individual pieces of paper. Put those pieces of paper on the nearest table. Now flip the table. That’s Elliot, and it’s fucking wonderful.
As a no-code, headless platform, Elliot offers something rare in the tech world: accessibility. If you’re a weekend warrior like me (or even an afternoon adventurer), you can set up a store on Elliot. And if you’re already an established business big or small, Elliot is ready for you too, by making the transition into the platform easy and seamless.
It starts with a dashboard that can tell you everything you would ever want to know about your brand new online store. You create “storefronts”, which act as the frame for what you’re selling. Your storefront defines the rules that tell Elliot to make a store instantaneously and apply basic rules like shipping (which is set to global by default and is a feat in itself…more on that later) and cashless point-of-sale (ahem… it accepts Apple Pay, WeChat Pay, and Google Pay — all natively).
With your storefront set up, you can now add products, which is deadpan simple. If you have products already, you can import your csv to bring up all the necessary product details like SKUs, price, and variations.
And once you have your product set up, you can go into the look and feel options (my personal favorite). Here, you can really get into the no-code portion of Elliot. Their visual builder allows you to create and design how you want your store to look and adds in your products seamlessly.
Neat! Now what’s all the hype about?
With these three simple components, Elliot provides an easy-to-use, versatile platform. It doesn’t claim to be the first, second, or even third platform to exist in the e-commerce space. The startup has no want or need to claim that title. Instead, it aims at providing the features that other platforms lack and streamline the process. It proves the early bird doesn’t always get the worm, but the smartest bird will. The two biggest game-changers Elliot presents are:
1. Global shipping — It seems like this wouldn’t be a huge deal, but it is. International shipping is a challenge for online retailers. Not only do sellers have to jump through hoops to make it happen, but there’s usually a myriad of fees and plug-ins involved that make it costly for the customer and the seller alike. By managing the shipping relationships, including duties and taxes, Elliot does away with all of that noise. You can ship from anywhere, to anywhere. Plain and simple.
2. Free to use — The biggest names in e-commerce make their money from the user. If you’re like me, they might go easy on you at $20–30 a month. But if you’re a fully formed enterprise, you’ll be paying $1,500+ just to use the platform! One of the biggest perks I’ve had with Elliot so far is that it’s completely free to use. Elliot makes its money with a flat shipping rate already incorporated in the cost of your product. So when you list something for sale, Elliot takes a percentage from the shipping cost, not from your payout. No hidden fees or monthly subscription plans for users.
These are BIG deals in the e-comm industry. By making deals with shipping companies all over the world, Elliot can provide a platform for businesses to sell their products at a global scale without jumping through a series of hoops.
Where competitors can only offer slight discounts on international shipping rates for users that want to shell out the extra dough for a premium or advanced plan, Elliot takes the heavy lifting off your shoulders by taking care of shipping labels and all the international stuff, allowing you to focus on other tasks. Oh, and did we mention that free plan even includes custom checkouts? Dope.
It only gets sweeter when you come to realize it’s free to use. Where other e-comm companies make money off of subscriptions, Elliot makes its money off a flat shipping rate completely removed from the user’s storefront. When your customer buys a product, Elliot handles the shipping labels and logistics and takes a cut from that, rather than charge its users. No subscriptions. No tiers of functionality for an extra fee. No bullshit.
The future of e-comm
These two things make Elliot more than just another e-commerce contender. It exists to show online sellers that things don’t have to follow the business model that has been set up by other e-commerce platforms. You can have the benefits of starting a store or expanding a store onto a platform that doesn’t need a costly subscription in order to use, and add on the extras like global shipping.
What we get with a startup like this isn’t a brand new invention, but rather, a way of innovating what’s already there. By adding functionality in ways that make you think “why hasn’t anyone done this before?”, Elliot is proving that e-commerce is still growing and evolving. The future of e-commerce isn’t going to be shaped by the foundations of the industry. Instead, it’ll be shaped by the tinkerers and fine-tuners who can make you wonder why this hasn’t been done earlier.
If you want my advice, Elliot is the company to pay attention to. If you’re an investor, their business structure will have you whistling. If you’re a creator, their no-code store builder will make you wish you’d done this earlier. If you’re an already established business, their free-to-use platform will save you time and money. And if you’re just interested in buying some really cool shit from some really cool businesses, you’ll see first hand how Elliot is changing the e-commerce landscape.
Update — July 7, 2020
It’s been two and a half weeks since June 18. That was the day Elliot was supposed to launch. A lot has happened in the last two and a half weeks and I feel like it’s my duty as a tech journalist to write this update and give a brief summary as to why, as one of my readers put it, “this didn’t age well.”
While Elliot promised some impressive and much sought after features for an e-com platform, nothing is completely without flaws. According to Elliot’s team, a DDoS attack on the day of launch had rendered the platform unusable and sabotaged servers. As the day went on and the attack didn’t let up, the team was scrambling to get things back in order. However, a strange twist of internal events left Elliot in shambles of what it was. Much of what unfolded is unknown to me, but the end result is plain to see: the startup is no more.
The future of the tech behind the name and the founders who worked on the tech remain uncertain. Whether we see the tech reappear under a different name is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, the people who made Elliot what it was — from the founders, to the core team, to the engineers — are moving on in their respective ways to start new endeavors.
From a consumer and reporter standpoint, it’s always sad to see a product that I come to love and respect so much fail. I can’t speak for anyone who works at Elliot, but as a fan of what it promised to do, I can confidently say I know this is difficult for everyone that was involved.
It’s also worth mentioning (for the other startup lovers like myself) that 90% of new startups fail each year and 34% close within the first two years. While it hurts that Elliot didn’t launch, it doesn’t mean the story has ended for the talented folks that ran it.
On to bigger and better things.
Joe Staples is a tech writer based in Brooklyn, NY. When he’s not exploring the latest and craziest tech companies, he’s questioning if getting a Hey account is actually worth it, because he’s actually pretty fond of reaching Inbox Zero. He publishes his articles weekly on Substack, along with news tidbits he finds throughout the week. He’s also usually found on Twitter, keeping tabs on what’s new in consumer tech, entertainment, and all things nerdy. And the best part: he’s for hire.
You can contact him via email or Twitter.
@joeisastaple | joeisastaple@gmail.com
