Alice.com, the retail platform for household goods, has raised $3.6 million in funding from an undisclosed group of Spanish investors. This current round brings the total funding amount raised by Alice.com to $18.2 million.
Launched in June, Alice.com’s retail platform allows consumer packaged goods manufacturers, like Procter & Gamble, to sell directly to consumers instead of going through retail channels like Target or Wal-Mart.
On the consumer side, Alice.com lets users create a profile of their household (i.e. how many adults, kids, babies) and then the site will keep track of items and reminds users with emails when they are running low and need to reorder. Each shipment is bundled together in a single ‘Alice’ box, delivered directly to the consumer’s door, with no shipping costs.
The e-commerce marketplace is now home to more than 600 manufacturers and thousands of household brands – from large household names, to smaller niche brands. In the past year, Alice says it has seen a 200% increase in the number of direct-to-consumer online storefronts the platform powers for CPG brands. These brands include Kellogg’s, Slim-Fast, BIC, Seventh Generation, 3M, Ecover and Solo Cup.
Last year, the company announced a merger with spanish company Koto.com to expand the marketplace to an international European audience. Alice launched in Spain last year, and plans to debut similar sites in Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom in 2012 and 2013.
Alice says it will use this latest round of funding to enhance its consumer offerings through site advancements and new features.
Alice.com will be an open, online retail platform for consumer packaged goods, focused primarily on linking manufacturers of essential household stuff like tooth brushes, toilet paper, trash bags etc. to end consumers directly. Consumers currently lack a convenient way to shop for household essentials on the web, while manufacturers of consumer packaged goods are in the market for a fresh alternative to the large bricks-and-mortar retailing services. The Alice.com model will be unique both in terms of how goods are...
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