Akinon

Akinon develops Akinon Commerce Cloud, a cloud-native, headless and composable digital commerce platform that lets retailers and brands build and operate online storefronts, marketplaces and omnichannel retail operations from a single system. The platform unifies B2C, B2B and D2C channels and is delivered as a modular set of services rather than a monolithic suite, with front-end and back-end APIs for integration and customization.

The product suite includes Commerce for omnichannel journeys, an order management system (OMS), an In-Store App for store sales and fulfilment, Omnitron as the operational back office for channels, product information, content, pricing, inventory and promotions, an Integrator low-code integration environment, Seller Center for marketplace and seller governance, a Composable App Store of ready-to-use and custom applications, Unified Network for connecting retailers, brands and suppliers, an open-source headless Storefront, App Maker for cross-platform iOS and Android apps, and a B2B Commerce module. Omnichannel fulfilment scenarios supported include click-and-collect, ship-from-store, ship-to-store and store-to-store transfers, and the company also cites live commerce capabilities. Infrastructure is described as fully managed and auto-scalable on a Kubernetes-based cloud-native design, with packaged business capabilities (PBCs) available as reusable building blocks.

Founding story

The company was established in 2016 by a group of professionals with more than 20 years of combined experience in the online retail industry, with the stated aim of building commerce solutions shaped around retailers' operational needs.

Business model

Akinon licenses its commerce platform as a managed cloud service to enterprise retailers and brands, with a modular structure in which customers select and pay for the components they need rather than a single monolithic package. Deployment and extension are supported through professional services, an app store of pre-built and custom applications, and a network of solution and integration partners.

Platform-based commercial model in which customers subscribe to selected modules of Akinon Commerce Cloud, described by the company as paying for exactly the capabilities used; additional capabilities are distributed through the Akinon App Store.

Traction

Company milestones report growth of 17% and market leadership in Turkey in 2018 with more than 300 staff, expansion to 10 countries in 2019 and 17 countries by 2021. Published customer outcomes include a 90% conversion increase at Koton, 196% revenue growth and a 300% increase in app installations at Flormar, 300% growth and 196% revenue growth at Madame Coco, a 115% increase in new users and 106% revenue growth at Atelier Rebul, and at Sportive an 83% shipment rate from store inventory, 26% logistics cost reduction, 350% transaction growth over two years and 68% organic traffic growth.

Latest developments

In 2023 and 2024 Akinon expanded its partner ecosystem, signing a memorandum of understanding with Mall for Women at Seamless Africa in September 2023, adding Snaptec in Riyadh as a partner in September 2023 and Webtonic Solutions as a solution partner in December 2023, partnering with Instaleap for grocery and pharmacy fulfilment in August 2024, integrating with retail media provider GoWit in October 2024, and announcing a partnership with Codilar Digital in November 2024.