Lee Hnetinka understands how to stand out in the world of e-commerce; There are thousands of online stores without any brick and mortar business, offering high demand products and goods to consumers; But, getting those products in a timely manner has always been a challenge. Hnetinka has developed a process for getting products purchased online to consumers more efficiently, in a shorter period of time.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 22, 2017 / To fund his new venture, Hnetinka has received 1.4 million dollars in seed funding from PivotNorth. The aim of funding is for Hnetinka to expand Darkstore in several large, metropolitan markets. Darkstore already operates in 3 of the largest markets in the U.S.
The point of Darkstore services, is to get products to consumers faster, using a unique fulfillment model. Hnetinka locates unused warehouse space or additional capacity, for fulfillment of e-commerce orders. Typically, orders are fulfilled within the hour or day, depending on the company and the products being offered. This type of fulfillment can potentially increase consumer demand, as buyers spread the word about how fast they get their products.
While this is a new concept in fulfillment, it is one that is likely to increase in demand, due to high volumes of business to consumer sales taking place online every day. Consumers don't want to wait too long for their orders to arrive. Businesses that sell directly to consumers online often don't have the logistics processes in place to fulfill orders in a timely manner. Darkstore is a fulfillment business seeking to bridge that gap. The strategy Hnetinka uses is to take advantage of extra storage space, in locations near where people live and work, to get products to them faster.
But Darkstore doesn't just serve large corporations and direct to consumer manufacturers. Both he and Tim Connors of PivotNorth believe their model can serve smaller start-up companies as well, when it comes to order fulfillment. Darkstore currently serves companies in the home furnishings, home entertainment, electronics, apparel, fashion accessories sectors. But, Darkstore doesn't just provide fast delivery services. It offers those services at a cost that might otherwise be prohibitive to both the online business and the consumer.
SOURCE: Darkstore