--- title: "Zlio Launches in US – Build Your Own Online Shop" date: 2007-02-08 author: "Richard MacManus" categories: - name: "ReadWriteWeb" url: "/category/readwriteweb.md" tags: - name: "2007" url: "/tag/2007.md" --- # Zlio Launches in US – Build Your Own Online Shop ![](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820im_/http://rww.readwriteweb.netdna-cdn.com/images/zlio_logo.jpg)French startup [Zlio.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://zlio.com/), a service that enables any Internet user to start a virtual store, has just launched in the US and also has plans for a UK version. It’s a free template-based system and you select the products you want to sell from a list of pre-approved merchants. There are 75 merchants in France, 25 in US. At this time you can’t sell your own products, but that functionality is being worked on. Example shops include a [Woody Allen shop](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://woodyallen.zlio.com/) and a [kids sports store](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://sportkids.zlio.com/). Note that we first mentioned Zlio back in September, in our [Top Web Apps in France](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/france_web_market.php) article. ## The competition More than 35,000 shops have been opened in the last 5 months in France and Zlio is hoping for similar success in the US. Right now they have competition in the form of [MyPickList](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://www.mypicklist.com/), a slick widget-based online shopping app. [Loomia](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://www.loomia.com/) is similar. Also there is [aStore](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://astore.amazon.com/) from Amazon (only amazon products) and [Shoplinc](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://shoplinc.com/) from Chitika (for people who already have a website). [CafePress.com](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://www.cafepress.com/) is kind of in this market too, although their focus is on customizable goods and services. What I like about Zlio is its straightforward positioning, which they’ve only recently changed. Zlio.com originally opened in November 2005 in France as a “recommendation service”. Their positioning at that point was: “Recommend your favorites products to your friends and make money”. Zlio CEO [Jeremie Berrebi](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://www.berrebi.org/) told me they got “thousands of subscribers” but it was very difficult to manage and maintain – users would recommend once, 2 times, 3 times, but after seeing that they only made a few Euros, a lot of users didn’t want to use the service anymore. So in September 2006 Zlio totally changed its market positioning – now Zlio is a service that “allows any internet user to create his own online shop even if they have nothing to sell.” ## Usability Zlio has a nice wizard-type sign-up process. It took me just a few minutes to sign up, select a template, and ‘open’ [my store](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://readwriteweb.zlio.com/). The control panel for adding products is slick and easy to use. My one complaint is that I couldn’t see any way to add bulk products, or a whole category. I had to individually add each product, which is time consuming. It would be great if I could tell Zlio to add “all microsoft office products” or “all Apple iPod products”; even better if I could say “add any Apple iPod product that has at least 4GB of memory” etc. There are also some useful promotional tools, such as creating a video to show on “Zlio TV” and a widget to display on your blog. There’s also an area called “boosting tools”, which includes a wizard to help you copy your store into your blog. ## Business Model Zlio has two business models: CPA & CPC (in France). For the US launch, it is CPA only for now – but CPC will be introduced in the US soon. The CPA model means that when someone buys a product through a shop, the shop owner makes money via a commission (they are paid through PayPal). The company is based in France, but half the team is in Israel and they are planning to open a US office in the coming months. ## Conclusion All in all, it’s a nicely designed app and very well positioned in the market. It kind of reminds of Swickis, which are custom search engines. Having a niche custom online shop will be an attractive (and possibly profitable) proposition for a lot of people. It nicely plays into the need for specialized and focused online properties, which are increasingly the [success stories](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/6_startup_lessons_2007.php) on the Web. In other words, if I am a Woody Allen fan then what better way to shop for his products than on a dedicated Woody Allen shop? So I like what Zlio enables and I’ll be watching to see how much uptake it gets. Also I need to work on that [R/WW shop](https://web.archive.org/web/20111007010820/http://readwriteweb.zlio.com/)! 🙂 *Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/zlio_custom_online_shop.php))*