Success on CrowdFundMe for a sustainable e-commerce platform

The equity crowdfunding campaign of Econviene.it started with an impressive donation within the first 24 hours. Econviene.it is the first e-commerce portal linked to the distribution of “zero waste” health and beauty products that would risk remaining unsold, or destroyed, due to defects in the packaging, expiration less than 6 months, or takeovers from failed companies.

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The fundraising campaign on CrowdFundMe

A few hours after the launch of the crowdfunding campaign, on Thursday, April 30th, on the CrowdFundMe platform – the only platform of crowd investing (equity crowdfunding, real estate crowdfunding and corporate debt) listed in Piazza Affari – the startup has received an investment of $216,000 (€200,000) from Friulia, and is now preparing to reach its first economic target of $324,000 (€300,000).

Econviene.it has been able to find an effective and sustainable response to waste

Founded in 2017, and with constantly growing numbers, Econviene is the result of the idea of Alberto Monico, Giuliano Filippi and Diego Zancarini, three entrepreneurs living between Padua and Udine, with great experience in the pharmaceutical sector. They wanted to give a strong signal of change with respect to the waste emergency that afflicts the world of health products.

In the Italian pharmacy channel, in fact, there is an unwritten rule that leads merchants not to purchase, or manage, products with a residual duration of 6 months. The same can be said for goods with slightly damaged packaging, or at the end of stock. This “precautionary” rule comes from the drug market, but it has now been extended to a large part of the parapharmacy and, consequently, also to the whole food supplements and cosmetics sector in general.

Thus, every year, thousands of products remain unsold by companies and wholesalers, or are withdrawn from the market, most of them ending up in pulping.

An emergency to which Econviene.it has been able to find an effective and sustainable response, saving thousands of items from destruction and then redistributing them to the general public, online and with discounts of up to 50% on the “over-the-counter” price. All this without forgetting the quality, guaranteed to the consumer through the careful and continuous controls operated by Econviene’s Technical Management, for a real final benefit: combining an economically convenient purchase with a “reuse” policy. The portal also aims to become a reference point for the fight against waste, expanding the range of products on offer, in addition to parapharmaceutical products and looking with interest at the European markets more sensitive to environmental issues.

Friulia wants to be part of Econviene’s new business model

“I am happy to announce an operation that I particularly cared about – stressed the President of Friulia Federica Seganti – The online platform Econviene, is in fact the promoter of a new business model, based on the trade of products for the person close to expiry or whose packaging is slightly damaged, but still perfectly usable. It is a valid project not only from an ethical point of view, with the aim of significantly reducing waste, but also from an economic point of view, as it has ample growth prospects in the coming years.”

Seganti continued: “It is precisely starting from these assumptions that Friulia has decided to make its skills and resources available with the aim, not secondary, of supporting an initiative that we are sure will contribute to the dissemination of good practices among the population.”

Ecoviene’s circular economy

Econviene is a true example of circular economy, an activity that, numbers in hand, has already proved to be a success. In the last six months of 2019, the company processed about 550 orders per month, saving 20,000 products from destruction. The company’s turnover was up by 388% compared to the previous year and in the first four months of 2020, due to the great use of e-commerce.

As a consequence of the quarantine imposed by the COVID-19 emergency, the company recorded an average of about 1,000 orders per month. Another important figure is customer satisfaction, considering that 20% of orders represent a buy-back, the value of which represents about 40% of total turnover in the period.

Currently, Econviene.it wants to take a further step towards its users, calling them to support the project as capital partners through the CrowdFundMe platform. The initiative was made possible also thanks to the support of the lawyer Nadir Plasenzotti from the PF&P studio in Udine and Dr. Alberto Rigotto from the Rigotto studio in Cervignano del Friuli, who participated in the realization of the project and support in the creation of the campaign.

The e-commerce website plans to collect between $324,000 (€300,000) and $541,000 (€500,000), figures that will be used to strengthen the platform’s software, e-commerce, logistics and marketing and to hire new professionals. An ambitious goal that, according to the company’s forecasts, will bring a significant growth in turnover of $3.9 million (€3.6 million) over three years.

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(Featured image by annca via Pixabay)

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First published in affaritaliani.it, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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