The Shareconomy Shift: Krannert Grad Co-Founder of France's Hottest Delivery App

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Imagine avoiding jam-packed grocery stores, never-ending lines and the general hassle that comes with running multiple errands throughout the month.

Now, imagine receiving anything you need at the touch of your fingertips, while simultaneously contributing to the livelihood of thousands of independently contracted and reliable local shoppers (i.e. social entrepreneurship), all from the comfort of your own home. There’s an app for that, and it was co-founded by Krannert MS Entrepreneurship graduate Antoine Cheul.  

“It’s important to have an entrepreneurial mindset, because whatever we do we must do it with passion. What I do is a way to put those words into action.” –Antoine Cheul

Having graduated from Purdue Krannert with an MS in Global Entrepreneurship in 2013, Cheul, a native of Vitré , France , co-founded Shopopop in 2015. Possessing an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, Cheul’s optimistic and hard-working charisma laid the initial foundation for his future success. After obtaining various degrees from EM Lyon, Asia Pacific Institute of Management and IDRAC, Cheul was looking for yet another meaningful and challenging experience that would assist him on his path to business plan implementation and social entrepreneurship before selecting Purdue. In terms of his experience at Purdue Krannert, Cheul fondly recollects on his experience in the classroom:

“I loved studying at Krannert. I remember attending classes where teachers were there to motivate us rather than overwhelm . Also, I enjoyed meeting so many amazing people, especially Paroon Chadha, founder and CEO of Passageways (Purdue Alumni). He shared his experience and introduced me to his teammates.”

Additionally, Cheul expands on his time outside the classroom:

“The sport center was absolutely amazing. My time at Purdue was the only moment during my studies in which I used to swim and play basketball.”

Just shy of 3 years old, Cheul’s business gets an A+ from Purdue Krannert, with a special note: exceeds expectations.

Shopopop, headquartered and originated in Nantes, France offers a peer-to-peer delivery application system which has exploded in demand and usage since its recent conception. Essentially the business idea focuses on the sharing economy model, specializing in peer-to-peer shipment of various items (i.e. groceries, flowers, wine, clothes). With an interactive and precise interface similar to Uber, customers can quickly and easily locate the closest shopper via GPS, receiving most any type of delivery in record time. To date, The Shopopop team is present in 4 cities in France and partnered with all major national retailers. Additionally, the Shopopop community consists of around 10,000 people. Cheul explains that the business is creating a similar delivery standard just as Blablacar did with transportation in France (similar to Uber, except longer and pooled rides). 

Even if you are not familiar with Sharing Economy, most of us have heard of the superstar peer-to-peer pioneers such as: Uber, Lyft, and AirB&B. The secret to their major success? These companies were founded with the principle of allocating resources on demand, with the simple idea that people own less and borrow more, creating a profit for both the enterprise and involved participant. In the case of Shopopop, the business promotes social responsibility and sustainability, especially since most of the shoppers deliver items by bike or foot. Sometimes referred to as Collaborative Economy, there is usually a transaction involved that facilitates community based wealth, affecting the triple bottom line: people, profit and planet. As Sharing Economy continues to expand, more and more names are popping up, such as Dogvaycay, Go Bike and NestAway, just to name a few.

Here at Krannert we wish both Cheul and Shopopop continued success and are extremely proud of this exciting and promising new business. 

While in the process of expanding on a national level, Cheul does not rule out the idea of expanding Shopopop’s peer-to-peer delivery solution to other countries soon.

Fingers crossed for the U.S. and Boiler Up!