Yandex Money and Simtech have launched Merchium, a cloud service which will enable anyone to create their own online store. The service, which uses the e-commerce software CS-Cart, will provide users with all the necessary features of any online store, such as a catalogue and shopping basket.
The companies have stated that the creation and hosting of stores using Merchium will be free. The solution has an in built checkout which uses Yandex Money’s payment aggregation solution, allowing stores to receive payments via popular Russian e-wallets, bank cards, mobile accounts and cash payment kiosks.
The platform is also integrated with other Yandex services. For example, it is possible to register delivery destinations via Yandex Maps or to upload your catalogue to Yandex Market.
“Merchium is a universal platform. It suits both those experienced in the e-commerce market and complete novices. In the future we plan to add new payment methods and to integrate Merchium with even more Yandex services,” said Roman Ananyev of Yandex Money.
“Merchium works with CS-Cart, which is used by more than 35,000 online stores across the world. The platform offers all the same functions as CS-Cart but via cloud technology,” stated Simtech General Manager Vladimir Kalynyak.
“At the moment it is geared towards the Russian internet, but in the future we plan to bring it to the European and US markets, where CS-Cart is already fairly well known. We predict that in the next two years around 10,000 online stores will be created using Merchium,” Kalynyak concluded.
Among Merchium’s competitors is ECWID, a leading international e-shop builder based in Ulyanovsk, Russia.
A leading Russian electronic currency and payment aggregator, Yandex Money is a joint venture of Yandex, the Russian search giant, and Sberbank, the national savings bank.