Kraams, A New Sales App For iPad, Appeals To Small-Scale Businesses

A new iPad app called Kraams is hoping to become the sales platform of choice for small businesses reliant on face-to-face pitches with clients. The point of the app, which launches today, is to enable users to easily tweak their story lines for any given presentation and, more importantly, to change tack in the middle of that same meeting.

Founded in Poland two years ago by a group of advertising vets, Kraams is based on the idea that there is no better way to achieve credibility with a client than to deliver a customized pitch. The app places product images on cards, which the salesperson can shuffle, group, and swipe away in reaction to the client’s responses. It’s more agile than slideshow programs, especially relevant when appealing to only a few people’s opinions.

In addition to programs like PowerPoint and Keynote, Kraams is directly competing against customizable sales apps like Showpad and StoryDesk. The differentiating point, co-founder Adam Smilowski told me, is the emphasis on targeting SOHO and SME businesses, since many other apps are oriented toward serving large companies and supporting the whole sales process.

The company, which is currently bootstrapped, follows a freemium model. The free, basic app is meant for small-scale use and has restrictions on the number of Kraams — also the name of the cards — a person can create. Upgrades are available for single users without limitations, teams with a shared product library, and enterprises. Although Smilowski said the app is meant for small business owners, there’s no reason to exclude large businesses in case it takes off, right?

Down the line, Smilowski said he hopes to turn Kraams into a shoppable platform for consumers that could replace the need to browse multiple sites online. By subscribing to different brands, users would receive a live stream of new products, editable by the companies at any time.

“We treat this app as a starting point into a total change in the online purchasing experience,” he said.

Big words. Kraams has enough competition with its sales app, without getting into the pursuit of e-commerce domination. For now, first things first: getting traction when the app goes live today.