For Philly-based startup
Zecozi, which provides an ecommerce site focused on environmentally sustainable products, its agreement to be the exclusive US online distributor for California-based
Cherrypal's CherryPad, a 7" energy efficient Android tablet priced at $188, was a big deal. But by late October, people who had placed orders and were expecting imminent delivery saw no sign of the product, nor could they find any tracking information on the shipments. Considerable noise was made on Internet forums, a few major blogs
picked up the story, and some were questioning whether the CherryPad actually even existed since no one reportedly had seen one. Zecozi took much of the heat for this, even though it was not their job to ship the orders. The problem was heightened by a percieved lack of communications from CherryPal as to what was going on.
Although this was not Zecozi's fault (and they did their best to ameliorate the situation), what happened to them in this case is an inherent business risk if you are going to take orders for a product that you don't keep in inventory or don't have any control over the supply chain, particularly for a new and unproven product that is just coming off the the line for the first time.
Now, according to tweets and blog posts, shipments of the CherryPad are beginning to flow and be received by customers. There have been several initial reviews; some
fairly positive, some
not so positive, although the major complaint that it is pretty stripped down is not surprising given its price. But the product does exist and in general appears to be functioning properly. At this time, though, Zecozi is no longer showing the CherryPad as being available for order from its online store (not sure why).
Zecozi recently graduated from
GoodCompany Ventures' incubator program and has raised $370,000 in venture capital, according to the
FormDs website that tracks SEC filings (if I understand the filing correctly). It calls itself a "shared shopping" site which emphasizes interaction and information sharing among its users. Philly entrepreneur Deana Zelenka is founder & CEO.
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