Storenvy has an interesting model, but I'm a bit skeptical about their scalability. I started a fashion brand in HS (backpacks, apparel) and we launched a Storenvy store pretty much off the bat since there was no cost. The issue is that they don't seem to have accountability for their customers. They didn't run any checks to make sure my business is legitimate (obviously it is), that we actually sold product before, that we even had a website. This is polar opposite to Amazon, which runs several screens to make sure sellers are legitimate (getting our products on Amazon took nearly two months).<p>Perhaps even more importantly, the marketplace model for e-commerce does not align with individual sellers. Marketplaces are focused on expanding, adding more sellers, and expanding product portfolios. Sellers, meanwhile, prefer to be one of few on marketplaces so that they have greater visibility. With Storenvy's model (basically no barriers), I don't see much value being provided to sellers. Even if there is 0 cost to the seller, there is little incentive for them to invest time into building out a profile and attracting customers on the platform.
Curious -- I see a lot of baked goods for sale that look prepared from a home kitchen. Is this legal? That's assuming many of these for-sale foods are not FDA inspected. I'm not sure I would buy any baked goods from personal storefronts if it was sold out of state.
I just launched a custom store front for Storenvy that I built on Foundation 3.<p><a href="http://malibusown.com/" rel="nofollow">http://malibusown.com/</a><p>It was more difficult than I had hoped to develop for. One of the biggest issues in my opinion right now is the lack of proper mobile support. The stores need to be responsive. With that said, I was able to have a discussion with their community manager and it sounds like they are working to make things better, no doubt this round will help greatly!