Israeli start-up Joyned, a SaaS platform letting retailers provide social shopping experiences directly to consumers rather than through third-party social platforms, has raised $4m in seed funding.

By leveraging natural social engagement, Joyned provides its merchant partners with qualified organic web-site traffic, while increasing profitability and lowering acquisition costs. Moving shopping-related social activity from traditional social media platforms and onto retailers’ own web sites and ecommerce platforms can lower customer acquisition costs, optimise conversion rates and build loyalty.

Retailers have experienced an overall sales increase as high as 6 to 15% after users invited their friends to engage using Joyned, as well as up to a 250% retention rate and a 40% increase in traffic for those who clicked to use the platform.

“The ecommerce landscape is rapidly shifting towards social media platforms, and threatens retailers’ ability to build direct relationships with their customers and increases customer acquisition costs,” saidJonathan Abraham, CEO of Joyned. “But by using Joyned, brands can infuse some of the social aspect into shopping experiences within their own ecosystems without having to rely on a third-party platform. Providing brands with a direct social-to-sale pipeline not only increases revenue but also increases customer engagement on-site.”

Joyned’s code is lightweight and designed to use few resources on the back end so it will not slow a retailer’s web site, as compared to third-party platforms that may experience unexpected downtimes.

“Joyned is a win-win for both consumers and retailers,” said Abraham. “Retailers can directly engage native brand ambassadors who are excited to complete purchases and invite their friends to do so as well, while all shoppers get to enjoy a new kind of streamlined social experience.”

While collaborative apps allowing people to work and play together in real time have been around for years, Joyned says it is the first tool of its kind filling the gap between offline and online shopping. Allowing consumers to shop and collaborate online with friends and family directly on their favourite shopping sites can lead to an overall smoother and more pleasant experience for end-users across multiple demographics.

“We ultimately envision an online retail ecosystem connected by Joyned, where consumers can shop socially and collaboratively across a network of retailers that offer the platform,” said Abraham. “This financing brings us closer to realising this vision.”

Funding was led by a trio of respected names in the retail and technology industries: Arthur Stark,former long-time president of Bed Bath & Beyond; Yair Goldfinger,founder of Dotomi and ICQ; and Rafael Ashkenazi,managing director of Hard Rock Digital and former CEO of Stars Group. The funding will be used to expand Joyned’s US presence and scale its business to help meet the demand for its product among fashion, travel and consumer electronics retailers.

Joyned is a social marketing platform that allows merchants to own the entire shopper journey and helps them leverage natural social engagement for better business results. It empowers retailers to capture and grow their customers through social media on their own sites, reducing reliance on third-party social media platforms, and generating customer insights through real-time analyses of shopping behaviour. With Joyned, online retailers can offer their customers a way to connect seamlessly, share ideas and complete their paths to purchase, while providing shoppers with the ability to shop collaboratively on their favourite ecommerce and shopping sites.