Montreal’s Salesfloor is moving forward after it raised an undisclosed series A round of funding from WhiteStar Capital.

Salesfloor is a retail technology platform that enables customers to shop online with their local store and sales associates. Some of its clients include Toys”R”Us, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Harry Rosen. The company, founded by Ben Rodier and Oscar Sachs, says it has created “key partner projects” with Macy’s, Kiehl’s, Bloomingdale’s and Lord & Taylor in the works.

Despite a Canadian population that largely prefers in-store shopping, there exists companies like Salesfloor that crunch data pertaining to people’s online behaviour to better understand the market, foster customer loyalty and make projections about future spending habits, wrote the Montreal Gazette’s Tracey Lindeman.

“Generally, Salesfloor is an omnichannel software company. It uses computing and technology to make the transition from in-store shopping to online and app-based queries more seamless,” wrote Lindeman. “Specifically, it enables sales associates to use online chat and personalized digital storefronts to make shopping experiences more relevant to the individual.”

Salesfloor boasted some fancy numbers in a release. It said retailers have used its technology to increase their customer base by 12 per cent while growing ten times in conversion rate and a 50 percent increase in average order values.

Lindeman expanded on those claims: “Joe Milano, Saks’ senior vice-president of digital retail, has said he’s seen 10 times the volume of online conversions and a 75-per-cent increase in shoppers’ average basket size. Rodier says the ensemble of Salesfloor’s customers have seen the value of customers’ online baskets grow by an average of 50 per cent.”

Moreover, Salesfloor expects its revenue to more than double by the end of the year. It has offices in Montreal, London and New York.

“Today’s retailers know how powerful of an impact in-store associates have on the online shopping experience, and that the expertise and knowledge they provide has been severely lacking online,” said Sachs. “We are helping our retail partners to achieve sales increases not possible without the personalized interaction that sales associates bring to the table. This is the new way for retailers to sell online.”

Salesfloor previously raised $3 million in seed money led by BDC Capital IT Venture Fund and two London-based angel investors Jamie True and Jon Claydon. That round came in February.

The company seems to be taking a bet on people enjoying a human-t0-human online experience more than with chatbots.

“There is no replacement for the human touch of a real-life sales associate,” Sachs told Lindeman. “When it comes to transactional questions about inventory levels or shipping policies, bots make sense. But what about the value of an expert opinion? Can you really trust a bot to tell you how two items should be worn together?”