Zlio.com is a site that allows users to create their own online store. The site has partnered with over 1,000 Internet merchants to sell their products and allow users to earn commission on the sales. The user creates their store, picks the products they wish to sell, and all of the logistics are handled by the Zlio.com site and its partner merchants. Opening a store is easy-- first, the user chooses a name for the store. Next, the user chooses an address, which is a subdomain of the Zlio.com domain. The user then selects one of over 30 predefined templates for the look and feel of their store. Next, the user must enter their company name, address and telephone number for legal reasons. After these steps have been completed, users can start adding products to their store. Users can search the Zlio.com database of products by keyword and choose the items they wish to add to their store. Products can be organized into categories which are defined by the user. Once products are chosen and added to the store, they immediately appear in the store when someone visits the users web address. The store is automatically published in the Zlio.com store directory, and at this point the user can start promoting their store through other means. Zlio.com was launched in November 2005 by Jeremie Berrebie, who is currently Chairman. The site has offices in France and New York. Competition to Zlio.com comes from the major Internet retailers such as Amazon.com and BizRate.com. Amazon.com sells products from its own inventory as well as a large number of partners. BizRate.com does not maintain its own inventory, but refers customers to partner sites. So Zlio.com is like a cross between Amazon and BizRate. Both have these sites have a huge customer base when compared to Zlio.com. The Zlio.com site has a very Web 2.0 look and feel. The site is clean and uncluttered. The site is very responsive, with page loads happening quickly. Navigation is intuitive and the interface is user friendly. The tools provided by the site for building and maintaining a store are easy to use and work well. The resulting stores are quite professional, with a clean look and easy navigation. There is no advertising displayed on the Zlio.com site, however users can choose to add advertisements to their stores. Registration to Zlio.com is free and is required to use the site. The registration process asks for email address, password, screen name, first and last name, country and gender. Validation of the email address is not required. A free account is limited to 5 stores and 50 products per store. 3 types of premium membership are available. The first plan offers a custom domain, 10 stores and 200 products per store, and costs $8.90 per month. The second plan offers extra tools, a premium template, 20 stores and up to 500 products per store, and costs $10.75 per month. The third plan is all inclusive of features, allows 100 stores with 2000 products per store, and costs $11.59 per month. The site accepts Visa and Mastercard as payment for premium plans. The Zlio.com site is recommended to anyone who wishes to quickly and easily set up an online retail presence. All of the logistics are handled by the Zlio.com site, so the user can concentrate on promoting their store. The site is very easy to use, and the results are quite professional.

• Users can set up an online store in less than an hour
• Users can select products from over 1,000 Zlio.com partner merchants
• Products can be organized into categories
• The site is very easy to use
• A free account allows up to 5 stores with up to 50 products per store
• 3 premium plans are available

http://www.zlio.com/