Anastasiya Illinska, has been an amateur dressage rider for 20 years and her experience and passion for horses led her on a journey to where she is today with working for a new horse tech start up called Horsense.shop. The idea for Horsense.shop started ten years ago when she opened an online tack shop in Kyiv, Ukraine. Over time she transformed it to a boutique store in the city center. “Having the shop really helped shape the online experience along with helping us encounter and manage all the problems of a typical business,” stated Anastasiya. 

From Concept to Reality
Anastasiya along with her husband Sergiy, an IT project manager, and team of web developers and content managers are excited to be involved in this start-up venture. “In 2017 we decided to upgrade our e-shop and discovered that despite the overall increase of SaaS (software as a service) market there’s no such service for the equestrian market.” For today’s brick and mortar tack shops it is expensive and time-consuming to develop and maintain a high quality online experience. “With this in mind and with our backgrounds, we thought why not to create such a service ourselves?” 

“We are initially targeting established tack shops in Europe that want to improve quality of their online presence and increase sales,” said Anastasiya. “I suppose that most of them already know how difficult, expensive and exhausting it is to develop an e-shop,” she added. They are also planning to expand their service to the U.S. shortly.

One Stop Shop
“Our goal is to not only feature eye-catching products but to increase sales with the help of modern marketing tools including loyalty programs, email communications, SEO, Google and Facebook ads integration, and up-sell.” 

The pricing model starts at ‘basic’, which is free (excluding hosting services) and clients get an e-shop with limited features. If you are looking for more promotional tools and additional services, there are two pricing plans named ‘Pro’ and ‘Partnership’. Pricing depend on your shop’s sales volume.

“We’re currently finishing working on a platform and at the moment have two e-shops being customized and will launch shortly,” reported Anastasiya. 

The Platform Advantage
You get the best of both worlds as a “partner” by leveraging a global network from the use of the software and the power of digital marketing assistance. “Each client gets their own e-shop which works in a standard way and they can also offer any of their own products with a discount to other “Horsense” clients,” explained Anastasiya. The advantage is that it helps expand the inventory of stock for an online supplier. In addition, clients can expect customization, tech support and the strength of having a network of e-shops that support one another.

Mastering Marketing
“Marketing in today’s environment is getting more complicated,” she pointed out.  “Any shop, equestrian or not, should always be ahead of the competition and aware of the changes to maintain a top position in the market.” The reality is that most tack shops can’t afford an analyst’s cost let alone digital marketing agency fees to plan and execute a strategy. “At Horsense.shop we know the equestrian tack market and know how to effectively use marketing tools. As a result, our services are affordable and it allows owners time to focus on the shop, products, customers and the staff.” 

The Future of Equestrian Shopping
We are starting to see around the world the explosive growth of online sales, impacting most industries. “Particular to the horse tack market, volume and quality of online sales are growing,” stated Anastasiya. Combined with AI (artificial intelligence) the online shopping experience will become highly customized and relevant with retailers offering products based on your previous purchases and views. “Just think how great it will be to have your own virtual shopping consultant who will save you time on buying your next horse show outfit,” she said. “The future of equestrian shopping is closer than you think and at Horsense.shop we will plan to integrate intelligent systems into our service to get you there faster.”

Horsense.shop Website